Monster: My True Story

Rating:
Summary: Monster: My True Story
Review: One would be led to believe that Aileen Wuornos wrote this book prior to her execution, however, it is a book written by Christopher Berry-Dee with some quotes in it by Wuornos.
It is a general overview of information already found in Sue Russel's book "Lethal Intent" with little new information to add.I felt as if I were rereading most of what I already knew.
I would suggest Russel's book instead as it has more detail and is better written.


Rating:
Summary: A candidate for the trash bin
Review: ALL of Dee's books on killers are extracted from a few letters he may coax out of them, the rest is out of his own imagination and what he gleens from the newspapers and perhaps a court record. His choice to wait to publish this particular work until after her death shows he believes she has no estate to come after him. He did not know her, did not visit her, and misled her as to his intentions. Ghoulish to have waited for her death to publish and use her name.

Dee is a con man and one of the scams he does well is writing these 'true-crime fictions' and passing them off as the truth. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison in the UK by the Crown Court for his con games. He has been in and out of court for various scams and cons since his incarceration. This is verifiable via the archives of the Southern Echo (a UK Newspaper). What has been posted by him or his publisher here on Amazon is false hype. He is not a bona fide criminologist(no credentials and having been in prison himself does not make him any kind of expert on crime since he is continually being caught in the cons and scams he's tried since), his so-called Criminiology Research Centre is a vanity web site where he runs contests (if one pays) and one must pay to 'enter' it. Legitimate criminology web sites are free to users, and are usually sponsored by a University or Professional body.

Readers, save your money and read the newspapers or books by legitimate authors of the true crime genre who have done their research on the subject.

Rating:
Summary: Monster Reading!
Review: Having read Sue Russell's account - which I found to be generally informative but lacking in spark - and now this recent addition to the Wournos story I would have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The scene with the poor old guy and Lee's abuse of him though of a serious nature did have me smiling a little. It is this unique blend of dark humour coupled with what is obviously very serious subject matter that makes this book more palatable overall. Yes she was a bad woman and I believe 'Monster' does not shy away from that fact. But there is also a certain humility at work here and the author has pulled this intriguing blend off flawlessly. Read 'Lethal Intent' by all means if you haven't already done so, but 'Monster' truly shines

Rating:
Summary: A Fair Account
Review: Having read the other reviews on this book I was a little cautious bout buying the thing. But I just had to know all the angles on this lady. I've read each account on Aileen Wournos and have to say that this is something special. It reads more like a novel at times, and I had a hard time putting it down. All credit to the author, he surely seems to know his stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Masterful Stuff
Review: I had a great time reading this book. Having seen the movie a few months back I decided to purchase 'Monster' to see what else went on with this story. What a tale! So much more to be known about Wournos and written by a man who has clearly had a lot of experience talking with this woman. Using his extensive interview experience with other serial killers he has created the definitive portrait Aileen Wournos. Those who enjoy reading about this kind of crime should check out 'Talking With Serial Killers' by the same author. Again, using masses of interview material Christopher Berry-Dee has produced an absolutely chilling document. And whats more, this guy can write!

Rating:
Summary: This book is not written by Aileen
Review: It seems that the author (and I'm not talking about Aileen here, since she didn't write this book, no matter what Berry-Dee is trying to convince you) has taken lots of newspaper clippings and put this book together in a quick way to make money. Although it's not badly written there is something missing. There is hardly any references to her childhood and very much about her being interviewed. Lots of stuff I believe is taken from Nick Broomfield's Aileen documentaries. It's an ok read and I'm glad I got this one from the library and didn't buy it!

Rating:
Summary: Misleading
Review: You would be led to believe that this is the secret hide-away book Aileen herself wrote prior to death but NO! It's false advertisment IMO. It's written by Christoher Dee and used Aileen's quote's and interviews to write this book. Aileen herself had nothing to do with it. I recommend Sue Russels "Lethal Intent" and Michael Reynolds "Dead Ends". Both very informative and interesting books and much better written then Dee's. It seems we all will never really know what Lee's actual life and thoughts were but Lee herself....and since she's dead we will NEVER know.