Death Scenes: A Homicide Detective's Scrapbook

Rating:
Summary: "Death Scenes" Disturbing but Real
Review: This book was just pages and pages of black and white crime scene photos (like the title states), but even though they were black and white, they were very disturbing and real. If you can stomach the grotesqueness of bullett-riddled heads and decapitated babies, then this book's for you. As for me, I was barely able to look through it once without feeling sick-to-my stomach. The author did an excellent job portraying the crime scenes and getting the feeling across of how disturbed some humans can be and that we really do bleed, even in black and white, so I did rate this book high.

Rating:
Summary: Some people didn't read the Preface apparently
Review: To appreciate this book you have to read the preface. There are not many details written about the crimes because the dectective who collected these photos didn't write much about them. Granted, there are a few that have more details than others... but for some of them, you honestly don't want to know what happened. The pictures are in black and white and "grainy" because they were taken in the 30's (I believe) but they have been restored. I think some people just want too much from this book, when everything they need is right there within the pages. It is tastefully done and like I said, if you read the preface you have a better perspective and respect for this book. This isn't a book for the weak stomach or overly sensitive. You just have to take a deep breath and slowly examine the photos. In seeing death, you appreciate life.

Rating:
Summary: Not for the faint-of-heart
Review: What can you write about a book you liked that also made you nauseous? Being a morbid individual since I was little (my teachers used to send notes home, asking if I was always so fascinated by death), I was thrilled when I found this book, and looked forward to looking through it. The photos were fascinating, but invoked in me the same feeling I used to have before Anatomy lab -- the feeling of "I can take it -- I can take it". I can't take it. I have an even greater respect now for people who have to deal with this as a function of their job. I think they're underpaid. After finishing the book, I felt I had to undergo therapy and/or be sedated.

Rating:
Summary: A scary book
Review: When I first saw this book, I quickly returned it to the shelf, suddenly I found myself thumbing through it again. I left the store and returned 30 mins later and bought it. Like other reviewers I said to myself "I can take it". It gave me an insight to a side of human nature I had never seen before. It unsettled my nerves and could not view it in one sitting, I kept picking it up and putting it down, until I had the courage to look at it in depth. NOT for the faint of heart, but a great education.

Rating:
Summary: This book makes me afraid...so I had to buy it.
Review: Would that more books were published that looked so unflinchingly at this world. When I bought this book people thought I was crazy, and my roommate said, after flipping through it, "Don't... like, show this to a date or anything." Whoo boy. But the book made me flinch, so I had to have it. I was afraid to sleep with it in my room. But I love how Katherine Dunn writes that "There were no good old days," that politicians and others who have a vested interest in making those days seem sane and ordered live in a fantasy world. I think this is an important work, and it's too bad people think those who are interested in this stuff are just gorehounds. Yes, I love the edgy and macabre, but I also like serious, detached, and eloquent approaches to it. This is for a special type of reader, but I truly believe our interest in this field is (mostly) healthy. What are you waiting for? Get the book!