The Onion Field

By: Joseph Wambaugh

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 18 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Hollywood. Saturday night. A broken taillight leads to a routine traffic stop. It shouldn’t have changed the lives of the four men involved, but it did. The Onion Field is the frighteningly true story of a fatal collision of destinies that would lead two young cops and two young robbers to a deserted field on the outskirts of Los Angeles, towards a bizarre execution and its terrible aftermath.

The Onion Field is the basis for the movie starring James Woods and John Savage.

©1973 Joseph Wambaugh (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“More ambitious than In Cold Blood and equally compelling.” ( The New York Times)

“Wambaugh is the best in the business.” (Kathy Reichs)

“No other writer illuminates the heart beneath the badge better or more honestly than Joseph Wambaugh" (Robert Crais)

Police murder

I am the daughter of an LAPD police officer killed in the line of duty about 3 years after the officer in this book. It is a disturbing book no matter who you are but especially for me.
The character development is good, but the narration is monotonous, and it’s difficult to know is which character the author is talking about because of the flat narration. I think an actor with better voice distinction would help greatly. However, still a good read.

Sad.

This true story pulls at your heartstrings and will keep your attention throughout the whole audiobook.The Narrator did An excellent job kudos to him.

Inside Job

So many books are written from the standpoint of the police; this book puts you into the slippery mind of the criminal.

What a Tragically Magnificent Listen!

I’ve seen the movie several times and read the book at least twice so, the account of what happened is very known to me. This audio book does the story justice on all fronts. It’s a faithful rendition of Wambaugh’s masterpiece - well read and told with the appropriate amount of respect and humility. Our court system is truly broken .. probably beyond repair.

True crime

Fascinating true story of two policemen abducted by armed robbers.
The lives of the two criminals and the two cops are examined in detail.
The horrific night in the onion field is explained and the subsequent history of the criminal trials is covered.

Pulse-pounding and gripping! Couldn't put it down!

Joseph Wambaugh, a master at storytelling, I found this book almost too heard to continue listening... he puts you right in the middle of the event! At times too frightening!

loved it!!!

always wanted to read the book, this was better. will be using this app more.

prepare for an epic story!!

how some people become psychopathic can depend on the psychological strangeness of their parents. this is a study on many levels of psychopathy and sociopathy, and the deep impact of being affected by such people's casual evil. what a powerful story of how many courtroom battles are about many things except truth. a very sad story .

Lawyers

Broke out laughing when he said he didn’t care if the defendants went free just lock up the lawyers.

Good but not exceptional.

I have to admit some disappointment in this book. The writing itself is very good, however the book is excessively long with a LOT of extraneous detail. I appreciate when an author paints a complete picture of the main characters & events, but there is so much here that I simply do not need to know to understand this tragic event. This is the ONLY time in my life I actually wished I was reading an abridgment. The narrator did not help; he reads at quite a slow pace. Eventually I actually turned up the narration speed to 1.25x the normal rate, which I have never done before. One final note: the author comes across as quite homophobic. I suppose that was more acceptable in 1973, but I did find it annoying. I do not consider this book to be the same quality as In Cold Blood, which is exceptional.