And the Sea Will Tell

By: Vincent Bugliosi, Bruce Henderson - contributor

Narrated by: David Colacci

Alone with her new husband on a tiny Pacific atoll, a young woman, combing the beach, finds an odd aluminum container washed up out of the lagoon, and beside it on the sand something glitters: a gold tooth in a scorched human skull. The investigation that follows uncovers an extraordinarily complex and puzzling true-crime story. Only Vincent Bugliosi, who recounted his successful prosecution of mass murderer Charles Manson in the best seller Helter Skelter, was able to draw together the hundreds of conflicting details of the mystery and reconstruct what really happened when four people found hell in a tropical paradise. And the Sea Will Tell reconstructs the events and subsequent trial of a riveting true murder mystery, and probes into the dark heart of a serpentine scenario of death.

©1991 Vincent Bugliosi and Bruce B. Henderson (P)2019 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Grips you by the throat from beginning to end." (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The book was way too long

I slept through a lot of it and had to backtrack. The story was interesting but so much of it did not pertain to the crime.

intriguing and unique

A mystery that will truly never be solved. Good insight to the preparation of trial.

Killer true crime, masterclass in defense law

The first half is an edge-of-your-seat true crime tale threaded with beautiful nuance. Even if you know the story, VB develops the players’ characters with enviable skill. Appropriately, as much attention is given the victims as the (admittedly more intriguing and scary) villain and his judgement-deficient girlfriend. I was 100 percent invested by the second half, which provides a painstaking account of the trial. Not every reader will be into this level of detail but I loved it. I feel like I went to a semester of law school a la Elle Woods and had the experience of defending a most interesting case. And the conclusion was delivered with such masterful storytelling that I became emotional. Phenomenal. The author/lawyer might be proud or even arrogant but he has every reason to be.

Fascinating g story, well told, but...

This is a well written and well narrated book about a decades-old double murder on a remote tropical island that I was not familiar with. A fascinating and haunting story, narrative at times a little self serving as the author almost gleefully recounts each courtroom point (some quite minor) and skillful manipulation scored as if this were a tennis match rather than a search for justice. The author repeatedly emphasizes how much he believes in his client's innocence, and claims that fighting for her acquittal WAS seeking justice, and he must have written the book in a way he hoped would influence the reader to his point of view (as he put the defense case together to do this with the jury). But for this reader, at least, the opposite happened, and I was left thinking he is lucky I was not on that jury! For all his confidence that he could with certainty show his defendant had no knowledge of the crime, was a "good" person (REALLY?), and did nothing more egregious than tell some lies (but for "understandable" reasons, as if that excuses them even if you buy the reason), she came across as manipulative, self-serving, and callous. And, for every neat scenario he put forth that showed her as an innocent, somewhat naive but good-hearted girl caught up in a terrible situation, each of which which he claimed was the only reasonable conclusion, I could think of others, in some cases to me much more plausible, but also much darker and clearly indicating her involvement in the crime at some level. Bottom line the book was interesting, engaging and made me curious for more information because of the disconnect for me between the author's opinion and mine.

Great story (first half)

Very interesting first half. The second half is written with such incredible arrogance by the author about his great skills, that it was an incredible turn off. I also was not convinced about his defendant’s innocence and he was really trying to convince us!

very long.

good story and Vincent seems like a great Lawyer. but got repetitive at the end during the trial which i felt unnecessary.

Long but engaging from start to finish

I honestly love Vincent Bugliosi’s writing style and I love his detailed and exacting writing
I can see how some people would get bogged down in
The legal procedure or the wordy passages of background information but I love it.

Sea worthy

I love everything Bugliosi writes and this is no exception. There is a lot of lawyer- ease in this and you definitely feel like you're on the island and in the courtroom. But it is a very sad story of greed. It's sad that there is so much violence in this world that will find you even on a "deserted" island.

As good or better than ‘Helter Skelter’

It’s a long listen which I prefer and definitely worth it. Truly creates a vivid picture. Incredible case. Bugliosi is an amazing writer as well as an attorney. I see that there is a movie which I will watch as well.

I Liked it!

I had never heard of this case prior to listening to this book, and was as engaged and interested as if I were a member of the jury. I went back and forth as to whether I thought the defendant was guilty. There were times when I found the author obnoxious and narcissistic (what’s the word for someone who is self-righteous, only instead of being thoroughly convinced of their own moral superiority, it’s their intelligence they think is superior? Anyway it’s obvious the author thinks himself a genius) This book might be too detail-oriented for some people, but I enjoyed listening to it, smug author aside. I didn’t care for the reader’s voice at first, but it grew on me as I continued to listen. I would also like to complain here that another reviewer spoiled the outcome of the trial for me after I had almost made it to the end. So shame on that guy. Anyway the first half is an enthralling, almost novel-like account of what happened on Palmyra back in the seventies. You’ll forget your listening to nonfiction. Very easy listening. The second half is every detail you could possibly want of the trial, which is where many reviewers seem to get lost. I still like it, and if you are a fan of true crime you likely will too.