Rating: 
Summary: A fraud, but not perhaps a deliberate one.
Review: Sorry, kiddies and students, but McGinniss really is a distasteful, publicity-grubbing worm. The more I look into this case, including personal interviews, the more I realize just how unethical McGinniss really was, and still is. The forensic case doesn't add up, and never, ever did.By the way, anyone who would ever take a polygraph test under any circumstances is definitely a fool. BUT NOT NECESSARILY A MURDERER. I would never take one under any circumstance, no matter what. Then again, unlike many who apparently get their information from Montel Williams and Maury Povich, I've actually done my research about the technology.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping
Review: FATAL VISION provides a gripping account of the 1970 MacDonald murders. Did Army doctor Jeff MacDonald murder his wife and daughters (as much evidence suggests), or was he beaten unconscious by late-night intruders who committed this brutal crime? When the case finally went to trial after nine years of legal wrangling, Dr. MacDonald hired author Joe McGinnis to cover what doctor hoped would be his acquittal - but the jury (and separately, McGinnis) concluded that he was guilty. McGinnis then wrote this page-turning account of the crime, investigations, six-week trial, legal maneuvers, plus additional facts the jury never saw. The author concludes with a shaky psychological conviction based on MacDonald's arrogant, self-absorbed personality. Seemingly more persuasive is evidence suggesting MacDonald abused a dangerous amphetamine for weeks leading up to the crime. Whatever your take, this compelling true-crime drama leaves many convinced of MacDonald's guilt, but others harboring enough doubt to stimulate debate. MacDonald's supporters attack this book as inaccurate and unfair. They point to investigative errors, [substance abuser] Helena Stoeckley, and disturbing claims of suppressed evidence from a book of similar title (FATAL JUSTICE) that requests a new trial. But MacDonald secretly flunked two polygraphs in 1970 - after refusing an army polygraph to clear his name - and the absence of blood, splinters, and pajama fibers in the suspiciously tidy living room appear to refute MacDonald's claim that he battled several intruders in there. FATAL VISION doesn't prove MacDonald guilty, but it's a compelling read.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books of all time
Review: This book displays the arrogance, narcissism, and total lack of empathy of Jeffrey MacDonald. My heart aches for Colette, Kimmy, and Kristy and for everyday that they didn't get a chance to live because of total selfishness and coldblooded-ness. McGinniss really reveals a sociopathic personality. Every narrative in the book written by MacDonald is self-serving and all about him. He is definitely someone who is in love with himself. He claimed to have loved his wife very much, but cheated on her right and left. Doesn't sound like a faithful husband to me. From reading this book, I concluded the reason Jeff MacDonald killed his wife and children is because they got in the way of his womanizing. Combine that with a mix of an argument between Jeff and Colette and Jeff's frequent abuse of the diet pill Eskatrol, and you have a very bloody scene. MacDonald's story about Manson-like hippies slaughtering the family is so tired and boring. He's told it so many times that he's actually starting to believe it. Colette, Kimmy, and Kristy MacDonald were savagely butchered and Jeff barely had a scratch on him. If that isn't enough evidence, I don't know what is. What few supporters MacDonald has, they are following him blindly and have no clue. These are the same type of people who support that cop-killing scumbag Mumia Abu Jamal and that other waste of human life, OJ Simpson. They are clueless, misguided, and need to face facts, no matter how much they don't want to believe. I recommend this book to anyone. Joe McGinniss tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Jeff MacDonald is a consciousless, soulless murderer. Nothing could convince me otherwise...
Rating: 
Summary: A well written summary of a sad, true story
Review: Joe McGinnis does an excellent job of relating the story of Jeffrey McDonald. In spite of being very long, the style was easy to read. I am around the same age that the McDonald girls would be had they lived so I have no memeory of the actual murders, or even the trial. But I was left with no doubt that he is guilty--guilty of being arrogant and self-centerd, of being a cheating husband, and most importantly, guilty of the murder of his wife and girls.
Rating:
Summary: the perfect true crime book
Review: This book was my entry into the genre of true crime.
After reading some others, in my opinion it is still the best.
Because I'm too young and because I'm from Germany I did not hear about the MacDonald case before.
But this book leads you so deeply and detailed into it, that you really feel being able to make up your mind, if (that) he did it. And that's what I find exiting about reading true crime.
I mean, you never really know, who the murderer is.
But the author has to present to you a logical theory, what he believes in. And that's what Joe McGinnis perfectly does in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for a rainy night
Review: I guarantee that once you pickup this book, you won't put it down. Perfectly written the author tells the sad story of Corinne McDonald and her beautiful daughters brutal murder. The sickest part of all is that her husband Dr. Jeffrey McDonald is the killer. The Author states in the begining that he thought McDonald was innocent but what he uncovers changes his mind. At first even Corinne's parents stood by Jeff McDonald until her father started to peel away the lies McDonald was spewing. This book is right up there with Helter Skelter and The Stranger Beside Me. Read it, you won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: What true crime drama should be.
Review: Along with "The Stranger Beside Me" and "Helter Skelter", one of the best of the true crime genre. Fascinating, detailed, wholly involving. One of those wonderful read-till-4:00 am books.
Rating:
Summary: What the doctor didn't order
Review: Many years ago, I read "Fatal Vision" with an open mind on the subject. The key elements in this book are keenly subjective, wavering in favor and disfavor of the author's client: Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald. Much has been made of the current effort to free MacDonald on DNA technicalities, with a cadre of trial lawyers, laboring under the altruistic term "Pro Bono", meaning "without charge"...(As if a trillion dollar civil damage suit won't be filed nanoseconds after MacDonald is sprung) presenting their "newly discovered" evidence, which is thoroughly outlined in the book "Fatal Justice". What HAS come to light in the wake of this tragedy is the fallability of military justice, which the book clearly exposes in paragraphs devoted to errors and prosecutorial misconduct made by Army investigative authorities, security personnel, hospital forensic evidence technicians, and command level jurists. There is no doubt in my mind that the prima facia evidence refutes MacDonald's sworn testimony. Blood type evidence, in addition to the pajama top theory, clearly shows MacDonald's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. What irks me is the fact that the Army's investigation errors were instrumental in delaying justice for two young girls, and their pregnant mother.
Rating:
Summary: A great work of fiction
Review: I first read this book about 10 years ago and it blew me away. I had seen a documentary on MacDonald on the BBC and the TV film Fatal Vision, and I thought this was brilliant. I also was convinced that MacDonald did it. Now I am not so sure...The book Fatal Justice, which supports MacDonald, may not exonerate him and show him to be a totally guilt free angel - he is clearly an arrogant narcissist, but it does show that there is a reasonable doubt as to whether or not he did it. Isn't it just a little bit lucky that he would create this scenario of a gang of hippies attacking his family, and then out of the blue a couple of hippies who match the description should admit to it? And just because MacDonald was very successful and loved himself is not indicative of guilt.And what about a motive? Just 2 months before the killing Colette wrote a christmas card saying how life had never been better and how she was expecting a third child. This doesn't paint a picture of a family in trouble. And the image of MacDonald as a psycho who went beserk and killed three people just doesn't add up. Everyone who knew him loved him, and he had never had any trouble with anger or violence. There was just no motive for him to have committed such crimes and I am waiting for one that is believable - certainly not one about drugs. But there was motive for a gang who tanked up on drugs wanted to teach him (or his family) a lesson. And who knows what a gang of druggies in the early 70s would do - they might well go to the fridge and help themselves to a drink whilst they stabbed the family. I still think there are unanswered questions which may point to MacDonald having been involved in some way with his family's death (eg: the suspiciously tidy living room), but there is evidence to support his version of events and it should be heard properly....
Rating:
Summary: An Unforgettable Story
Review: Like Fisher's book about the Lindberg Kidnapping, this is a true crime story I find myself picking up to read again and again. There is something just so haunting about Doctor McDonald, a man who had everything and destroyed it all in about two minutes of blind fury.I'm struck by the hostility expressed in some of the reviews to Joe McGinnis. It seems so misplaced. As the author himself pointed out, "Fatal Vision" did not convict Jeffrey McDonald. That was done by a jury of his peers in a Federal court in North Carolina. Those people --one of them a former member of the Special Forces-- were exposed to far more information (text and graphic) than any book could possibly contain (and that includes "Fatal Justice"). And having heard it, those twelve people voted to convict McDonald. As for McGinnis, he just wrote the book. He was not a factor in the trial. Maybe he was less than candid with McDonald. Maybe his tactics in winning McDonald's trust were repulsive. But anything McGinnis did pales in comparison to the unspeakable crimes that the defendant committed. On a final note, I would advise any would-be author of true crime stories to study this book's organization and style. I found it very useful when I wrote my book (which was published in Ireland). Bottom line: I will always be uneasy about "Fatal Vision." The mind rebels against the notion of a bright, charming, talented doctor savagely murdering his pregnant wife and daughters. But I'd be even more uneasy to see "Doctor" Jeffrey McDonald set free.
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