Murder in the Family

Rating:
Summary: well written
Review: A while ago I read this book after living through this horrific tragedy first hand. In my intitial rating of this book I did not give it a very good rating. I would like to revise it at this time. After giving more thought to this, I realize that the author was just telling the story and not making judgement or light of the incident. Therefore, I would like to let him know it was very well written and thank him for keeping my family members "real people".

Rating:
Summary: SHOCKING AND PUMMELS THE SENSES!
Review: BURL BARER GIVES AN EXCELLENT, DEEPLY-INFORMED TRUE CRIME READ WITH THIS BOOK! I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN! SAD, SHOCKING, AND ULTIMATELY UNREASONABLE MURDER BY A DERANGED PERSON.

Rating:
Summary: No ballistics; plenty of brilliance!
Review: Having read and reread MURDER IN THE FAMILY several times, the negative review (huh?) from Seattle is obviously about a different book all together. There are no ballistic tests in the book at all -- this is the story of ... murder -- the killings accomplished by stangulation, stabbing, and beating. No guns. No bullets. None. There are, however, brilliant insights into the rage released by the psychopath, Kirby Anthoney, provided by Dr. Robert Hare and other experts who work with and/or train the FBI. The dedicated detectives of the Anchorage Homicide Response team, and the crime scene investigators come off as real people wrestling with the intense personal emotions stirred by this most horrid crime -- ... I found the book exceptionally well structured, with easy flow from one chapter to the next, which may be due to the professional editing job we have come to expect from Pinnacle's True Crime series. Obviously researched in depth, and written by an Edgar Award winning author, I suggest this book to anyone who reads true crime, especially if they can keep track of them so they don't post the wrong review about the wrong book. Ballistics, indeed!

Rating:
Summary: Scary
Review: If only the Newmans had changed the locks on the door and kept their windows locked.....This is a sad and disturbing story of a mother and her two little girls who were brutally murdered by a family member! I found all the trial talk a bit boring. I really doubt an interview with the killer himself would add anything, since Kirby Anthoney is nothing but a lunatic liar, and who could believe him? I think it would have been better if the author focused on how Anthoney became the monster that he is. There was a hint that Anthoney had an abusive father but further insight would have been better. Not that it would have excused Kirby of this heinous act, but it would have been interesting to find out alittle more about him. What started out as a book to give you nightmares, wound up putting me to sleep.

Rating:
Summary: A very touching story............
Review: Mr. Barer did a great job researching the correct information for this story. I found alot of the same info in the Anchorage daily news. I couldn't stop reading this book. I still am haunted by these events that took place. I felt almost as if it happened to me. I'm also left wondering what really happened at the time of the murders. If the mother, Nancy, really did watch her two precious daughters get murdered. If she did that would've been even more tragic. I also would like to know if Burl Barer tried to interview this monster. Is he still denying that he did this? The photos of the actual crimes scenes are too small to view and in b&w, but the crime scene diagrams of the actual crime are bigger.

Rating:
Summary: This is an excellent True Crime book!
Review: One of the best true crime books I've ever read. The case is very disturbing, so be prepared. The crime is real sick, and so is the killer. This book is exceptionally well written, and not easy to put down, but you might have to just to keep from having nightmares about Kirby Anthoney, the young man who raped and murdered his own aunt and her little girls. You might have seen this case on The New Detectives. The book is most interesting in that the author gives as much space to the killer's defense as he does to the prosecution. One of the most shocking true crime books, and one of the best.

Rating:
Summary: The author reviews his own book
Review: This book, and this crime, is heartbreaking, dramatic, touching, and REAL. I was pleased to see Ms Eastman remind readers that this is a TRUE STORY. I don't know if she gave the book only one star because of the painful memories or the nature of my prose. I shall assume for former.

Researching the Newman murders was emotionally draining and painful. My own daughter is only one day younger than Melisa Newman, raped and murdered by Kirby Anthoney. The crime scene photos haunt me to this day. While writing the book, I kept full color school photos of the two little girls taped to my computer monitor so I would never allow myself to forget that they were real people, not characters in a book. When I staarted this project, my friend and fellow true crime author Gary C. King said, "be prepared to cry a lot, and either be loved or hated by the victims' families for telling the story -- some will help, others would rather not. " My other true crime compatriot, Jack Olsen, said that any true crime book that doesn't talk about why and how the killer became a killer is nothing more than pornography.

Having now read my own book, and knowing how difficult these are to write, I honestly give it five stars, with 3 stars of it going to my editor, Karen Haas.

Buy the book, then write your review.

BB

Rating:
Summary: Good book. Question for Burl.
Review: This was a fascinating book on a horrible crime. I have a question for author Burl Barer. In some books of this type the authors have interviews with the killers. In Bitter Harvest Ann Rule spoke with Debora Green who murdered her children. In another book about night stalker Richard Ramirez the author spoke with the killer on death row. I'm just curious if any effort was made to obtain a jailhouse interview with Kirby Anthoney. I'm sure there was a reason that there was none and I'm just curious what it was. Was a decision made by the author that an interview was unnecessary? Did the DOC inform the author that no interviews were being granted at this time, or did the killer himself decline any interview that was proferred? If the author Burl Barer could respond in this forum I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Rating:
Summary: A very touching story............
Review: When I started reading this book I could not stop. I really felt for this family. I think Mr. Barer did a very nice job in researching the correct information and writing this book. I still have alot of questions even after finishing the whole book. I'm left wondering what really did occur when the murders took place. Did Nancy the mother have to watch her two children get murdered? Has Kirby Anthony taken responsibility for this gruesome murder, or is he still denying it? The photos of the actual crime scenes were too small to view and in b&w, but the diagrams shown instead were large enough to view and make out the details of the crime. After reading this I still could not stop thinking about the whole story. I did indeed have nightmares. I give this book 5 stars.