Hastened To the Grave (Bookcassette(r) Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Jack Olsen sets the standard for investigative reporting
Review: This is an average book for Jack Olsen ... that is, a masterpiece in all respects. No other contemporary true-crime journalist can assemble facts thick enough to clog a Jurassic artery and *then* make them flow like a river of liquid Teflon. Here, he spools out an account of a special brand of terrorism that chills even as it enthralls. Jack Olsen sets the standard for investigative reporting ... and does it with writing so taut it would make any novelist jealous. It sure did me.

Rating:
Summary: It is hard to believe that Jack Olsen wrote this book.
Review: We have always thought of Jack Olsen as the "king" of true crime, however this book is a major disappointment! It reads more like fiction that was written by the central character (the female Private Investigator). Either that, or Jack Olsen was totally smitten with the female private detective to the point that it distorted his own writing style. And, for those of us who love Jack Olsen, this is truly a crime. WE WANT JACK BACK!

Rating:
Summary: Not a great book, yet I couldn't put it down.
Review: While I was out of town, some strange stuff happened in my old neighborhood, so I grabbed this at the public library to read on the bus to work. BAD CHOICE: The laundry sat, the kid whined, bedtime came and went and the book didn't make it through one morning's commute. Who were the good guys and the bad guys? Why do some people attack wrongdoing with tenacity, and others just treat it like business as usual? I wish some fact checker had gotten out a map of the city so they hadn't displaced Balboa Street to the Sunset, and moved Colma into the city. You wouldn't know if you live someplace else, but details is details. The story is riveting. I came on line to research it further (yeah, sick.. but it coulda been one of my parents: they went to West Portal for deli), and found this reviews section. My recommendation: Read it and think about it. What would you have done? What are you doing? What can you do?

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing!!
Review: Who cares what the "beautiful" Fay Faron aka Rat Dog Dick ate for breakfast! This book is full of minutia about this woman's life and none of it has anything to do with the "story." I was so dissatisfied when I skimmed through the last five pages just to get it over with, that I threw the book away!! I was so sick of Rat Dog and the endless glorification of her that I would NOT recommend spending time or money on this book. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out why it got all the accolades.

Rating:
Summary: The article in Vanity Fair was as informative as this book.
Review: Yuck, just flat out yuck! Without all the refernces to what Fay Faron has for breakfast, her need for money, her ability to take vacations when she needs money and owes her vet money, this book would not have been much longer than the article in Vanity Fair magazine on this case. I was just really disappointed in this one. I haven't read an Olsen book before, and this one just didn't do enough for me that I would even bother to pick up another one.