Fatal Vision

Rating:
Summary: A "I can't put it down" reading
Review: From beginning, the writer compels the reader to go on. In the end, you are left with only a shadow of doubt. You will remember this book for many years.

Rating:
Summary: Grabbed by your mental stem.
Review: This is an outstanding crime/mystery book. But there is no mystery -- three people are brutally killed in a dwelling, and the survivor happens to be a physically fit man with a knot on his head. If this scenario was from the ghetto of Detroit, no doubt at all would form in the minds of the police and the public as to the identity of the guilty party. But it was hard to picture a military doctor slaughtering his family back then. Now, the thought is not so hard to imagine. Well written, gripping, and in the end, enough to scare one out of their wits. What other "subtly constructed reflex machines" that look like humans are out there?

Rating:
Summary: This book is too hard to put down.
Review: I've read this book twice and each time I just get so involved in it, kind of like if I were there. I believe MacDonald did it but then again, he'll never talk. I would love to sit down and talk with him one on one. just to find out if he did or did not for sure. Great book!!

Rating:
Summary: Very heart breaking, and over whealming
Review: I have read the book several times and each time I find it more and more mind bogling. How can someone not think that he did it, is beyond me. I think that Joe McGinness did an excellent job at writing this book, and formed his opinion based on evidence that was presented to him. I think the Kassobs are the ones that truely brought Jeffery Mcdonaled to his justice. But I am interested in the aftermath of this case. I want to know if Jeffery has gotten the justice system to review the new evidence that has "supposedly" come to light. Also, I want to add that Joe McGinness is not the one who brought Mcdonnald to justice, the courts did.

Rating:
Summary: Read it, been thinking about it ever since!
Review: I feel JM did a good job of relating the facts as he saw them. Of course, one would need to know if MacDonald is truely innocent or guilty to make it complete. But since the man isn't talking, this will not be known. The book is worth reading. I do intend to read the flipside, too

Rating:
Summary: Chilling
Review: This story will haunt you long after you finish reading the book. Although, no one will ever be sure what happened that night except Dr. MacDonald. Regardless of his guilt or innocence, the death of his family is a tragedy not soon forgotten

Rating:
Summary: A dangerous book.
Review: As a participant, for the defense, in Dr. MacDonald's trial, I read the McGinnis book when it first came out and was totally alienated from JM and all he represented. As time has gone on, as new information has continued to surface, and as one learns how the government apparantly failed to reveal critical evidence, I find myself swinging back to my original position re JM's guilt. Now to the book. I say this is a dangerous book because MCGinnis selects header quotations that cast the narrative that follows into the darkest possible light without ever having to come up front as author and make the charges imbedded in the allusions. Whether McGinnis is correct or not in the details of what he says of JM's life after the murders, I have no way of knowing. But I will never forget the dishonest force of his book nor the years it took for me to forget his suggested thesis. I would encourage readers not to read the book. Even if the good doctor is wholly guilty, this author's tactics are without ethics

Rating:
Summary: Dr. Jeffrey McDonald -- Psychopath or Framed?
Review: One of the most intriguing books I have ever read. Remembering the basics of the case adds to the in-depth study done by Joe McGinniss into the very essence of an Army medical doctor turned killer of his own family. A revelation into a strange, obsessive personality that even Dr. McDonald can not and has not admitted. Yet one minute you think he is innocent but the next you know he really did it. This vacillating continues from start to finish as the evidence is masterfully dissected. It makes you keep reading more. Even by the end I still wasn't 100% sure. We may never know ..

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: Great For Law Students!!!
Review: I wont delve too much into the book much as so many reviewers have dealt with that quite well. Also, Im not going to discuss MacDonald's guilt or innocence much. Lets just say I find the book well written and believe MacDonald is guilty.

Now that thats done, let me give you an interesting angle to the novel. I first picked up the book when I was in the Army. I enjoyed the beginning up to MacDonald leaving the Army and the final chapters after he was found guilty. The middle portion was not quite to my liking then.

Fast forward a few years later and Im in law school taking the required evidence course. This class can be a bit dry and complicated. While delving into the minutia of how courts pick what evidence can be considered, I pick up Fatal Vision again. Wonder of wonders, that middle part I didnt like is chock full of evidence issues! Now while Im sure some will argue the Judge in this case incorrectly used the evidence rules, the analysis used in such matters is there and its applied to a truly interesting subject. Thanks Joe, you helped me ace Evidence! For that Im truly in your debt.