Kristin in Columbus

Interesting Idea, Extremely Unsubtle Execution

Revisado: 06-07-19

This book was entertaining enough, but the writing was deeply frustrating sometimes. The dialogue never felt remotely like the way people actually talk, and the author's representation of Narcissistic Personality Disorder was dangerously sensationalistic. (If you do read this book, please don't walk away from it feeling like you know something about NPD, and especially about children of people with NPD - go research it yourself.) There were also a series of twists that just didn't come together in a satisfying way. As other reviewers have said, this author could benefit greatly from learning to "show, not tell."

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Could've used another draft

Revisado: 06-17-17

The arguments proposed in this book are compelling, but it reads like a draft, not a finished work. His definition of "work" seems to morph throughout the book, and some of his arguments aren't fleshed out enough. Still worth a read.

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Interesting case; poor writing

Revisado: 06-12-17

The Jodi Arias case is fascinating, so no matter what this book was going to be interesting. However, the writing was quite weak. Martinez often described totally irrelevant things in even more irrelevant detail (e.g., why he doesn't eat at his desk and therefore getting up, going down two flights of stairs, and purchasing a snack at a vending machine, even though this incident had nothing whatsoever to add to his description of the prosecution).

Additionally, he often ascribed as fact things he could not know, including what people were thinking. He would not say that someone "seemed like" they were thinking something, but rather that they were, which was passing of his assumptions as fact. The book relies on his logical, methodical analysis of the facts, but this sort of simple error made him seem slightly less analytically solid.

He also left the sentencing phase of the case as an afterthought in the epilogue, even though two years and two mistrials mean that there was certainly more story to tell about this case.

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Entertaining but Flawed

Revisado: 04-29-17

This book can be entertaining, but it's often painfully repetitive. Gregory never writes something once when she could write it five times. By contrast, books like "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up The Bodies" by Hilary Mantel are as lush and poetic as they are subtle, dealing with similar subject matter.

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