Rosseaux

Great overview of a T.C. author's experiences

Revisado: 05-30-23

The author does excellent work exploring the victims's lives, the crime, and the larger social issues at work including same-sex relationships in the 90s and hiking culture. She places herself within the narrative by continually exploring her own feelings and experiences as the wrote the book; a style which doesn't necessarily detract from the victims, but definitely makes this as much an author's memoir as a work of T.C. non-fiction.

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Riveting!

Revisado: 03-27-23

Absolutely my favorite book in the series despite a discordant ending. Hannibal's growth throughout the series gets a little rangy in this volume as he edges close to becoming an antihero cliche, but Harris' prose is so lush and mesmerizing, the flaws didn't register. If you want to lose yourself in a story, this is one you'll love--just don't listen to the last few chapters during dinner.

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Lee Harvey Oswald fan fiction.

Revisado: 02-19-23

23+ hours of *extremely* detailed conversations the author claims to recall after 50+ years. Every word. Every gesture. Even detailing the meals they ordered. More like a script for a Lifetime Movie than a serious account of an assassination plot. As with the JFK case in general, it's hard to figure out what's true, what's conjecture, and what's straight-up fiction.

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Great stories, lousy production.

Revisado: 11-01-22

Excerpts from an iconic Stephen King anthology read by an excellent narrator with poor sound quality. The audio sounds like it was ripped from an ancient "books on tape" collection and the unnecessary sound effects drown out the narrator's voice at times. Hey Audible, why chop a complete collection in half? Better yet, why not rerecord the whole thing with decent sound quality? I'd pay a premium for that.

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Well-trodden ground

Revisado: 12-03-21

More hand-wringing about beliefs in the paranormal. While Dickey examines a diverse array of Fortean topics, his analysis often feels like a Sociology 101 cliche: Bigfoot is about a post-war crisis of masculinity; the paranormal reflects a primitive desire to experience magic and wonder; believers are deluded or malicious. Virtually every paranormal experiencer has heard these arguments yet most remain steadfast in their beliefs and Dickey fails to provide fresh insights as to why this is. Absent also is a comprehensive analysis of the other side of this intellectual battle, namely the culture of debunkers and skeptics. This faction, in their eagerness to disprove the paranormal, often posit their own dubious or absurd theories that lack scientific merit. So what pathologies and prejudices drive them? How is the "scientific community" itself sometimes a victim of its own politics and groupthink? So much of our current culture wars are between believers and skeptics so a deep analysis of current events requires stepping back from both sides and examining the interplay between them. In selecting one side over the other, however, Dickey failed to fully comprehend the bigger picture.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

For die-hard Keel fans only

Revisado: 10-06-21

Definitely among Keel's driest works, this book nonetheless gives insights into the author's early thinking on UFO topics as well as his responses to various UFO events and controversies. The narrator has a strange, halting delivery that makes for a very bumpy ride. I doubt that Keel’s original manuscript used the word “Supposably” but I heard it here at least twice.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

More extraordinary claims...

Revisado: 09-08-21

All claims to the supernatural are improbable but some are straight-up absurd. This is one of them. This so-called "diary" reads like a carefully constructed fiction without any of the spontaneity you'd expect from an account written by an eyewitness. The so-called haunting is a grab bag of weird events that everybody in the family just seems to just shrug off. Really? If I had a broken clock that chimed, I'd take it to the Smithsonian. Overall, the tepid response the diarist shows through her bizarre ordeal translates to the overall tepid flavor of the book. Apparitions. Moving objects. Ghostly visitors in the night. Somehow this book makes the improbable seem rather humdrum.

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The best kind of rabbit hole

Revisado: 08-28-21

The product of his lifelong obsession with the Son of Sam case, Terry's book is a wild ride of dogged research, fascinating theories and a touch of paranoia. While he was clearly influenced by the so-called Satanic Panic of the 1980s, Terry does makes some convincing arguments for connections between Berkowitz and occult groups in the NYC area. And even when he's not so convincing, his arguments are still thought-provoking. Is it possible that the Manson murders were related to cult activity? Did Berkowitz have accomplices? His writing is clear and detailed, in the spirit of his journalistic pedigree, and he throws so much information at the reader, you might have to take notes to keep up. If you liked Graysmith's "Zodiac"--even with its flaws--you'll probably like this one too.

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Excellent light suspense

Revisado: 08-28-21

Nice teen drama with some good twists and turns. The 90's "updates" are clunky--bring back the vintage version and you'll have a 4 star book.

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Poor man's "Exorcist"

Revisado: 08-28-21

Bleak and grotesque. Martin's accounts--whether they're fictional or not--contain all the horror of Blatty's work, but none of the humanity or redemption. The author's writing style makes it unclear how much of this work is literary and how much is (supposedly) factual. How does he know what the subjects are thinking and feeling? Did they tell him or did he imagine it? In any case, many readers will have their fill of potty-mouthed demons before they're halfway through. I sure did.

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