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Edgelady

Has its positives

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2016

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This book is a mixed bag, my review won't be too unlike previous reviews that I read prior to purchasing the Kindle version. It appears two people wrote the book and then attached one version after the other, so much of it is repetitive, which could've been fixed with editing. They try to explain the actions of Charlie Brandt from a historical and semi-psychological viewpoint, but use Scott Peck's "People of the Lie" for a baseline, which I found pretty strange. Especially because a relative of the victims was a psychiatric nurse, I would've thought more researched and documented books or information would've been used. It would leave an uninformed or person not educated with some psychology rather confused.

Charlie Brandt, murdered his mother and severally wounded his father with a gun when he was 13. He would've killed his older sister except the gun didn't fire, so he tried to strangle her. He was in the local jail for several months then went to a mental institution until his father got him out. Psychiatrists and psychologist were puzzled and didn't give a concrete diagnosis. One can understand a reluctance back then, to "label" a boy only 13. Then it was never discussed, his younger older sisters were not told of it (they thought their mother died in a car wreck), and they moved to a different state.

Then Charlie developed into the monster he became, hidden, unknown, for a number of years. There were people who thought him odd, "different", etc. There were clues, but because the majority of people have never encountered someone like Charlie they didn't recognize the red flags at the time, only in hindsight.

Bad/evil people do exist - it's not just in scary novels or movies. If you want to learn about them I would suggest you start out with the classic book "The Mask of Sanity" by Hervey Cleck. He was the first one to write a book about sociopaths/psychopaths and in this book he gives examples from the psychologist who is intimate with his clients, to a serial killer -- there's a range from kinda bad to absolute evil. Common denominators are (1) no conscience, no remorse and (2) lying -- lying when you don't even have to lie and (3) most of them are quite charming. Charlie was definitely a psychopath, and further complicated by having borderline personality disorder (couldn't relate well to people in social situations).

I knew this story from watching it on TV, but chose to get the book to try to get some more background on Charlie. While I did glean a bit more from the book, much of it is lost to time because it was little known to the community and rarely spoken of by the family. But those that did know about it still kept their tongue, wondering if they were over-reacting, wanting to make sure Charlie had an opportunity to a life, or thought it wasn't their business. That's how so many of us react, it's so human to respect even "odd" characters. And it's only in hindsight that you wish you'd said something. And if you do say something (I have), it's not usually met with gratefulness, you're just trying to stir things up.

What is positive about this book is that a foundation has been started to educate people about those around us who are more than "off" and to bring up conversations about young people who commit violent crimes and what the long terms outlook is for them. These are conversations we should have to protect ourselves and those we love.

Paige Harrison

Invisible Killer

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2014

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This is quite honestly the worst book I have ever read. The writing is on maybe a third grade level and clearly the publisher is unfamiliar with the concept of proof reading. Many sentences are missing essential words that render many incomprehensible. No insight whatsoever is gleaned and there is a dearth of genuine evidence. Basically this is all speculation. The hyperbole is atrocious and the authors' prejudices distort almost every chapter. The book is deeply unorganised and the sources cited are pathetic. This is basically an hysteric's novelisation of a terribly sad story which had the potential to be fascinating and informative but instead this is simply a waste of time. I read on average between two to four books a week and of the 357 books I have read in the two years since I began reading electronic books this is maybe the third time I have ever given a book one star. Do not waste your money on this book. It will only annoy you.

Love to Read

Oops - Wish I hadn't purchased

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2014

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I had seen the Dr. Phil show with some of the individuals from the story and was eager to read the book. I paid the full $9.99 to only find out a few days later, the book on Kindle is now $1.99......To make matters worse, the book was awful. The editing job was awful. In a space of 3 pages, it was repeated at least 3 times that the killer was afraid to be alone and mentions his sister Angela and pleading with her not to leave him on the night of the original killing in Indiana. Did no one proof read the book. Because it wasn't just those three times that sentence was repeated. I'm not sure what the detailed autopsy report did to move along the story. I've never given any type of book review before because I didn't want to be harsh on the authors, but seriously this one should only be purchased if it drops below the $1.99 price to free purchase.

Kate

It's too late for me, but you still have a chance!

Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2014

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I don't like to give 1-star reviews. If a book is that bad I often don't say anything. But this? This is so bad that I want to write a review so that nobody else throws away their time and money. This is the worst true crime book I've EVER read. This is the Plan 9 From Outer Space of True Crime. The writing is sloppy and adolescent. There are missing words and typos on nearly every page. Please do ANYTHING else with your time.

eg

If ever a non-fiction book needed a good editor, this would be it

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2017

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One of the most fascinating true crimes of recent years and one of the most poorly written books. The author confuses dates and does not present the narrative in a coherent fashion. Slogging through the book is difficult and only because the crimes were so bizarre is the reader compelled to finish. If ever a non-fiction book needed a good editor, this would be it.

ivylass

Great research, okay writing

Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2013

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I worked with Michelle, so this book really hit home for me. I was horrified to learn the details of her murder and the extent that Brandt hid his true nature from those who supposedly knew him the best.

That said, I found the book rather poorly written. Punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors abound. Sentences are awkwardly written and repeated several times, leading me to wonder if this was not the final draft, that some sections were copied and pasted prior to a final edit.

A chapter on a psychic had me rolling my eyes and in my opinion, was not necessary at all and diminishes the credibility of the book.

On the plus side, the authors clearly did their research and had intimate access to those most affected by these murders. I feel for Mary Lou Jones, who lost both a sister and a daughter. I would recommend this book with the caveat that it is not one of the best written books available. Still, if you want a scary bedtime story, this book will curl your hair.

Sharan

Not well written

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2018

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The storyline was very disjointed and hard to follow. Too much extraneous detail that was not relevant to the actual events and made it seem like a poorly written fiction rather than an actual series of events over many years.

Top reviews from other countries

Kristy

Average

Reviewed in Australia on May 22, 2018

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I’d like to say more than average but I thought it was a little light on content. It would have been better if the authors were able to dig up any of the paperwork from when he was assessed in the institution or even have gotten some modern day assessments from psychiatrists.

smokey

Disappointing

Reviewed in Canada on May 2, 2014

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This is a true crime story and as such it covers the basic events, but i was disappointed with the way the information was organized. Since two writers were involved I expected better. They could take some lessons from authors such as Ann Rule.

Deanie L. Kolybabi

Don't bother!

Reviewed in Canada on July 2, 2014

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The writing and flow of this book is terrible! Reading it was like ploughing and developing context from the characters difficult. Had it not been for an interview on television with the same characters in much of this book, I would not have bothered to finish what could be a fascinating story.

Amazon Customer

Poorly written and repetitive. The stylised writing was awkward ...

Reviewed in Australia on December 3, 2014

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Poorly written and repetitive. The stylised writing was awkward and counter productive. I regret paying for this book; although I suspect my negative views should not be attributed to Diana Montane's work, but rather to the contribution of the co-author Sean Robbins.

Marius

Very disappointing

Reviewed in Australia on June 25, 2014

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This book was very disappointing . I didn't read any fluidity, the punctuation was atrocious exclamation marks everywhere. There was so much repetition of the same thing - not the book I thought it would be at all. I only got halfway before noticing its was a waste of time.

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