Die, Grandpa, Die

Die, Grandpa, Die is a dark and sad story of 12-year-old Chris Pittman. For reasons known only to Chris, he shot and killed his grandparents, then burned their house down on top of them. The emotion in this story is so heavy that it is difficult to read it without being affected greatly, especially if you are a grandparent and have a young son his age. I am convinced Chris loved his grandparents but never fully understood what a huge mistake it was in murdering them. But as criminologists and psychiatrists tell us,children have goals-even though they are way off base and misguided ones-and shed themselves of people who are obstacles to their goals, as if they were characters in a video game. It appears he hated his father so much that he would have done anything-including murder-not to go back to him. I also read in the book that Chris loved playing video games so maybe this is what was running through his mind at the time he shot and killed his grandparents. This is a tedious book and will not appeal to the squimish or weak-minded, as it takes a lot of intelligence to take in and then retain the complicated medical and psycholopharmalogical testimony from the expert witnesses, as well as compare and contrast what they were saying in relation to Chris's guilt. But it is well worth the wait. I have read all of Dale Hudson's books and think this is probably the best one he has written yet.

I give Dale Hudson 5 stars on this controversial case. It is well written and thought provoking. This book is one of his best. Whether or not you agree about teenagers using anti-depressants, this book is definitely worth reading because of the way the information is presented. In every crime there is always a need to blame but Hudson writes brilliantly by presenting many factors in the story.

Well Dale, you've managed to write another great true crime book. IMO, this is your best. You told both sides of the story so the reader could make up their mind as to Christopher Pittman's guilt or innocence. I felt as though I was a juror listening to the defense lawyers and prosecutors while reading the book. A lot of research went into this book. Joe Pittman's "memory book" was a great addition and clearly proves that he was not abusive.

Sorry, folks, I know that I am going to get a lot of criticism when I write this, but I just don't get this defense. No doubt that this kid was on medication and it had some sort of effect on him (from what I read in the book, he was actually getting better on the medication), but I don't see anywhere that he was so zonked out (involuntarily intoxicated was the term used by the defense)he didn't know what he was doing. IMHO, he knew enough to know that if he burned their house down it would give him enough lead time to escape. And he knew enough to fabricate a story about being kidnapped and blaming the murders on this black guy. (hey, isn't that the same guy that kidnapped Susan Smith's two boys? this guy really gets around). The kid had enough guns in his car that he could have had a nice standoff with the police, if he had a mind to do. Thank God, he didn't go postal and do something worse than he had already done. I will stop my ranting here, other to say that this book is tops on my list. Dale Hudson did a nice piece of investigative journalism here and I'm going to recommend it to my friends.

I had watched the trial of Christopher Pittman on Court TV and was fascinated. It was hard for me to believe this youthful 12-year-old was a killer. For several years, I was on the same drug as Christopher was for my depression. It did cause me to do some strange things. I never felt like killing anyone but I did feel like killing myself at times. It is easy for me to see he could have been so depressed and down that he thought the only way out was killing his grandparents. I think that, or I want to think that. I just don't see if he loved his grandparents, how he could just kill them. This was the only question that Dale Hudson didn't answer for me in the book. Now, that I think about it, I am glad he presented both sides of the case so I could make up my own mind. I have never read anything Dale has written until now, so I didn't know what to expect, but his writing is wonderful in that he makes everything so clear and easy to understand. I thought I would get as lost in the court case, as I was while watching it on court tv, but I felt like I was in the courtroom, sitting beside him and watching it all over again. His style of writing is so engaging, I felt like I was sitting right next to him and waiting for him to explain it all to me. I recommend this book to all true crime readers and give it 5 stars. It is a book you'll have a hard time putting down.