Rating: 
Summary: Mercy Killing in the Desert
Review: Not quite in the same league as the more famous "Midnight In The Garden Of Good and Evil" which it somewhat resembles, particularly in the courtroom drama toward the end, this journalistic work has many good things going for it and in a way does for Carlsbad, N.M. what "Midnight" did for Savannah, Ga. I enjoyed the various vignettes: the trip preparations in the East; the references to Jack Kerouac and to Rte.66;Austin, Texas; the fateful decision to take very little bottled water into the canyon;the struggle to find a way out; the colorful New Mexico characters, particularly the sheriff, the prosecuting attorney, and the defense attorney, formerly a cowboy; the manner in which the victim's family thoroughly forgives the defendant,the testimony of the girlfriend, and the various historical vignettes about the Carlsbad area, the science of dehydration, and the legalities of mercy killing, which is illegal in New Mexico, so "involuntary intoxication" is the defendant's plea. Fortunately for the defendant, the prosecuting attorney and sheriff ends up believing his story. I feel sorry for the victim's family, but I learned something as well.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic page turner based on a true-crime, spectacular.
Review: As of right now I have not finished the book. I'm on page 171 and I have seldom come across a book that is so...irresistable. Yes, there could have been some more interviews about what happened in the desert and I believe Kodikian should have had an interview with Kersten. One should remember that this is a book that is based mainly on what really happened. It is interesting, educational (flora, fauna, desert), and really produces a sensation in the reader of "Wow, it's like I'm standing here right with them". Read it, you will most certainly enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Well Worth Reading
Review: Best friends, Raffi Kodikian and David Coughlin packed up a vehicle to move David cross country to begin a new stage of his life. Along the way they decided to camp overnight in the desert, specifically Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The desert temperature was over 95 degrees during the day. It was suggested to the young friends that they have one gallon of water each. Since they were only planning on an overnight stay, they had 3 pints and a bottle of Gatorade between them. One of the bottles was wasted boiling hot dogs. It was late when they finally set up camp and called it a night.
In the morning they packed up and headed back to the car but they never found it. One night turned into three before someone came looking for them. By then David was dead, killed by his best friend.
Journal of the Dead explores the making of the friendship, their similar backgrounds, and events leading up to the murder as well as the final fallout.
In the introduction Kersten states he presents the details as fact to "leave it up to the reader to believe it or not." Kersten poured over testimonies from the trial, a journal found at the scene, physical evidence, interviews and field trips to the murder site. Raffi refused to be interviewed so info is from logged court testimony.
From the moment Raffi was found, he maintained the act was a mercy killing. "He asked me to do it..." for Skepticism is raised from the beginning. David was painted as a friendly, carefree, healthy athletic man who took joy in spending time with his friends, especially Raffi and his girlfriend. While Raffi was supported by David's parents there was always the underlying unanswered question of his true motives. I felt that Raffi's act was that of murder and not a mercy killing. By the end, I felt Kersten did too. The way the "facts" were presented may have biased my opinion of Raffi but then, he did murder his "best friend." The story makes no bones about whether Raffi did the deed but it makes you consider why someone would take it upon themselves to kill a loved one.
Kersten's imagery of the friendship, towns, home environment, and the place of tragedy are vivid. He provides background information on the territory and desert survival to accentuate the graveness of the situation the boys found themselves in. Kersten also settled many myths about surviving in the desert, like vultures and drinking one's bodily fluids.
Journal of the Dead has all the makings of a mystery/crime novel; keeping the reader's attention, challenging beliefs in right and wrong, and not letting all the important details out before the conclusion. Without coming out and asking, it makes you question what you would do if you were in the same situation. This is a wonderfully written story. It just breaks my heart it is not a piece a fiction. Journal of the Dead is well worth the read.
Review Originally Posted at http://www.linearreflections.com
Rating: 
Summary: Raffi is a natural born killer
Review: Check out internet listings of the torso found in his dumpster which he was questioned about. Half of the dead Swedish nanny Karina Holmer was found in his dumpster. I also filed suit against this punk and his employer for harassment. Also check out his front page travel section writings on traveling in the desert before he killed his friend. He wrote these articles for the Boston Globe which launched a cover up campaign for him. This natural born killer knew exactly what he was doing. He just wanted to be another Jack Kerouac and wanted to make a story to sell.
Rating:
Summary: Bizarre Tale Told Well
Review: Could you kill your best friend if he were dying in the dessert? The moral dilemma posed by this question became a real life choice for Raffi Kodikian in July of 1999, and the aftermath of his decision is the basis for this excellent tale.
A few years ago, the murder of David Coughlin by his best friend, Raffi Kodikian during a brief hiking trip through the Carlsbad Caverns made headlines and raised eyebrows. Jason Kersten has made the tale vivdly compelling and oddly sympathetic to all parties in this recounting of the tragic events.
Kodikian allegedly killed his best friend "to ease his misery under the roiling sun" - the two had roamed the Cavern trails for three days in searing heat, and with no water. What was originally planned as an overnight camping expedition became a three day journey, plagued by vultures, hallucinations and a sense of desperation on both mens part - even though they were within a few hundred yards of a ranger's station.
The ensuing criminal investigation, and arrest of Kodikian (he eventually pled guilt to second-degree murder) ellicit great sympathy for Kodikian, even though the author suggests there may have been more of a motive than was originally presented in the press. Yet the book shows that the dilemma faced by Kodikian impacted every aspect of the invesatigation, as well as confounding the investigating and legal parties involved. The real joy of this book is reading the mental wrestling engaged in by almost everyone involved, from the prosecutors, to the families, to Kodikian's own attorney, who admits the matter befuddles him to this date.
This page is a suprising page-turner - the writing style is very free flowing, and the characters are extremely well presented.
Rating:
Summary: A harrowing, true-life narrative
Review: I feel conflicted pushing people to buy a book about something really terrible that happened, and only jusr recently, but that's the power of this story. The author doesn't need any embellishment or fancy structuring here, and even if one might miss Krakauer's touch (and comparisons to Into the Wild are appropriate), Kirsten brings a clarity and economy that make for a swift, focussed reading experience. We seem to get just enough characterization and backstory, applied just when it's needed, while the tragic story moves relentlessly forward. In the preface, Kisten explains how the incident in the canyon led different people to take different sides, and how on researching the book, he was no exception. It's certainly to the author's credit that he is able to let the events tell whether, as suggested in the subtitle, the story was ultimately about friendship or murder.
Rating: 
Summary: As comprehensive case books go, this one falls short
Review: I found this book after seeing the film, Gerry (loosely based on the Kodikian case).The first surprise upon reading this was how fluffy Kersten is. The chapters read more like treatments, or barely annotated outlines, than conceptual entities offering ample information. This is, after all, the definitive work on the case thus far. There are at least three occasions where an editor missed an entire word (of note, a "the" is missing as the first one I spotted). As one reviewer mentioned, there is no Kodikian interview, or even a mention of an attempt. I purchased the book to learn more about the case than I had online, perusing articles. Such a desire was left unmet. How this was sent out into the market is beyond me.
Rating:
Summary: As comprehensive case books go, this one falls short
Review: I found this book after seeing the film, Gerry (loosely based on the Kodikian case). The first surprise upon reading this was how fluffy Kersten is. The chapters read more like treatments, or barely annotated outlines, than conceptual entities offering ample information. This is, after all, the definitive work on the case thus far. There are at least three occasions where an editor missed an entire word (of note, a "the" is missing as the first one I spotted). As one reviewer mentioned, there is no Kodikian interview, or even a mention of an attempt. I purchased the book to learn more about the case than I had online, perusing articles. Such a desire was left unmet. How this was sent out into the market is beyond me.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but an interview with Kodikian would've made it better
Review: I had not heard of this case when I discovered this book at the library. I'm not a fan of the true-crime genre, but the jacket description intrigued me. A man murders his best friend as an act of mercy in an unforgiving landscape. I must admit, I couldn't put it down. I read it straight through in one sitting. I even enjoyed the historical anecdotes, the desert lore, descriptions of flora and fauna, and the quite useful information the entire story provides in the form of a textbook "what not to do" case. The book states that the only interview Kodikian granted was with Connie Chung for 20/20. It's a shame the author did not get one for this book, but the information of the journal entries and testimony rounded the story out adequately.
Rating: 
Summary: A fantastic debut
Review: I knew this book would be of interest simply due to the morbidly unusual circumstances of the case itself, but Kersten's journalism is what makes this a genuinely good book. His prose is a pleasure to read, economical but with a flair for the romantic and an excellent instinct for presenting the case in a larger context, vis a vis the southwestern desert and the very human relationships involved. He never moralizes or takes sides, letting the stark ambiguity of Kodikian's story reasonate within each of us as a reader; the result is an absolutely harrowing read.
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