Slow Death

Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: I first heard of this book when two of the victims were on the Montel Williams show. I could not wait to get the book. I was very disappointed in it. I really did not learn much that was not on Montel. I thought most of it was boring and I day dreamed through much of it. I would love to know more about Ray and what he did, and less about the prosecutor, ect.

Rating:
Summary: Another Suggestion
Review: I like true crime for the puzzle of how they're solved, and was drawn to this one out of morbid curiousity. I thumbed through it for a good half-hour, then backed away in horror after reading the opening paragraph, which made clear what the story was about. There's nothing sensual about this story, folks, and for the FBI to claim snuff films aren't real is a tragedy. I thumbed through this book 2 months ago, and it's imprinted my psyche unlike anything else. I had to take sleeping pills to fall asleep for 2 nights, and the images from this book continue to haunt me. (And I thought nothing would bother me after watching "Texas Chainsaw Massacre.") What do we do about people like David Ray? How can we prevent others from becoming like him? I have no idea, only that nothing on this Earth can punish such cruelty and wickedness.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: I thought this was a very good book, the author told just enough about the torture to keep it interesting and not make me have nightmares. I read true crime all the time and this was one of the worst cases I've read about and I was able to finish pretty quickly.

Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: I to heard of the book from the Montel Williams show and all I can say is WOW. The book was extremely well written. I was very interested in the trial part of the book. I didn't think it would turn out how it did. It's hard to imagine something like that actually happening in real life, but this is proof that it does happen.

Rating:
Summary: Another Suggestion
Review: If you did not like the way this book was written but would like another version, try reading Cries in the Desert by John Glatt. He tells the same story, but it is very well written.

Rating:
Summary: lacking
Review: in the book they have the fbi claiming this creep David Parker Ray killed anywhere from 60 to 90 people...and it's probably true...but where is the full story? you won't find it here. frustrating and tiresome. a confederacy of halfwits. the woman who helped DA Yontz in the second trial appears so be fairly sharp, so does the second judge--but the rest? not too bright. i mean even the serial killer actually appears to be a better writer than the guy who wrote this book. i'd like to see the whole/complete horror tale written by someone better suited than this particular writer.

Rating:
Summary: not very effective
Review: Not well done at all. The writer jumps around needlessly, therefore destroying any suspense in the telling. Also too many halfwits in this tale, and that includes the attorneys--it's because of the prosecutor that the first trial ended in a hung jury, mistrial.
Hate to say this, but about the only individual with any intelligence at all appears to be the twisted sicko named David Parker Ray.

yes, there is definitely a powerful, gut churning story here and ought to be told/written by someone who knows how to do it.
About 15, 20 percent of this is worth reading--as far as the rest? A waste of time. Exchanges beyween DA Yontz and teen reporter Frances Baird are tiresome and go nowhere, never add to the story or keep moving it along at all.
We also feel that the whole story was not told here; too much was left out, pieces missing. someone needs to tell this story from the very beginning of Rays' childhood, and track down all the people who knew him, etc.and keep the story moving in chronological order. As it stands, this book is a frustrating mess. Fielder hops around too much. This writer should go back and re-read Truman Capote's In Cold Blood to see how it's done. Slow Death is one of the dullest true crime books I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: The real story
Review: The account of this case by Jim Fielder is the closest you can get without having access to the case files of the State Police and the FBI. Fielder did not get his information from court transcripts but was present for the hearings, trials and sentencing in this case. While other books and articles guessed as to what the items in David Ray's "toy box" looked like, Fielder gained acces to the photos used as evidence and presents them to his readers.

The information and accounts are accurate. His fresh approach to the book, as a story rather than "just the facts" gives the reader some insight into the persons who participated in this case which lasted 2 1/2 years. While Fielder takes some license as far as the interaction between the participants in this case, nothing about the case is factually inacurate. Jim Fielder takes you on an eye-opening journey into the world of criminal sexual sadism practiced by David Ray, a man the FBI described as so dangerous that if he were ever released from custody "he would re-offend before he got home." How do I know how accurate the book is - I prosecuted the case. Jim Yontz, Deputy District Attorney, Albuquerque, New Mexico