Poison Mind

I liked this book because it went into a lot of detail. I felt I really knew about the crime when I finished reading.

If George Trepal really did poison his next door neighbors, he will go down in history as one of the sickest minds to ever live. If on the other hand, Trepal didn't do it, he will be remembered as a victim of great injustice. Either way, the book is superbly written. How one human being could cause such terrible suffering on his fellow human beings will perplex me till the day I die.

I could not put this book down; an unbelievable true crime tale that boggles the mind. to imagine a person would kill another person (by poison), because of something as petty as the music being too loud-it is absolutely frightening. It is to the detectives' credit who investigated this case that they were open enough in their investigation to go beyond the family members and look at other suspects, ultimately discovering the neighbor next door as the probable culprit. Susan Goreck was extremely courageous going undercover and she also reveals her humanity as she had feelings on various levels while trying to get this man to give his secrets to her; if they had not found the thallium in his old house, they would never have been able to prosecute him successfully.

A thorough, clear, well-written book of an unusual case. As a member of the same Mensa chapter, I have talked with people who knew him and something about the case, and there is some distortion - among other things, the victim's family caused neighbor problems well beyond just playing music loud, and Trepal's wife seemed just as suspicious - but the book accurately shows how courageous and Herculean efforts by police can bring people to justice for even superbly planned crimes.

This book does an very good job in detailing the events surrounding the most bizarre true murder case I can recall. The story is told by the police detective who went undercover- as a fellow mensa member- to crack this case. Since I do not want to give away any of the surprising twists and turns of this book (i.e., the case itself), let me just say that this story could very easily be described as a case study in moral evil. A must read.

It was one of the best true crime books that I have ever read.