Poison Candy

By: Elizabeth Parker, Mark Ebner

Narrated by: Karen White

Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

In August 2009 former madam Dalia Dippolito conspired with a hit man to arrange her ex-con husband's murder. Days later it seemed as if all had gone according to plan. The beautiful young Dalia came home from her health club to an elaborate crime scene, complete with yellow tape outlining her townhome and police milling about. When Sgt. Frank Ranzie of the Boynton Beach, Florida, police informed her of her husband Michael's apparent murder, the newlywed Dippolito could be seen on surveillance video collapsing into the cop's arms, like any loving wife would do. The only things missing from her performance were actual tears.

And the only thing missing from the murder scene was an actual murder.

Tipped off by one of Dalia's lovers, an undercover detective posing as a hit man met with Dalia to plot her husband's murder while his team planned then staged the murder scenario - brazenly inviting the reality TV show Cops along for the ride. The Cops video went viral, sparking a media frenzy: twisted tales of illicit drugs, secret boyfriends, sex for hire, a cuckolded former con man, and the defense's ludicrous claim that the entire hit had been staged by the intended victim for reality TV fame.

In Poison Candy, case prosecutor Elizabeth Parker teams with best-selling crime writer Mark Ebner to take listeners behind and beyond the courtroom scenes with astonishing, never-before-revealed facts, whipsaw plot twists, and exclusive details far too lurid for the trial that led to 20 years in state prison for Dalia Dippolito.

©2014 Elizabeth Parker (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Why?

Would you try another book from Elizabeth Parker and Mark Ebner and/or Karen White?

Nope.

What could Elizabeth Parker and Mark Ebner have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Um... not written it? Or perhaps written a book on another case?

How did the narrator detract from the book?

She was terrible. I honestly couldn't tell whether she was a computer or not. She seemingly paused every couple words like a text-to-voice thing and the inflection on the different voices was very, very slight. You could barely notice it so all you got, in the end, is this really terrible reader who pauses every other word or so. It was really frustrating.I know this book didn't have much to begin with but this narrator just made everything that much worse. I've actually put her name as the first on my 'never listen to again' list, which is new to me.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment in that this was made into a book and boredom.

Any additional comments?

The problem here is that there isn't enough for a book so everything is drawn out. You basically have a woman who tried to get her hubby killed (and failed) then was tricked into making the deal with a fake hit man (aka a detective.) That's all you have here. There's nothing else. This should not have been made into a book. Perhaps a 'Who the Bleep did I marry' 30 minute episode, but certainly not a book.

On top of that, I found the writers to simply be obnoxious. The authors kept belittling the wife in pretty every way when she was in a scene. I do believe that she is guilty, obviously. They have her on tape but it just grew really, really old really quick. Like all her tears were 'fake' or the authors would say something like 'and who'd honestly marry an escort?!' and it just made me want to chuck the book.Also, I felt that the authors tried to white knight the hubby. They were continuously trying to make excuses for his behavior. He was a petty criminal who failed at setting up a ponzi scheme. He owe almost 200k in fines and he hasn't paid anything while he's driving around in a porsche. Am I supposed to feel bad for him? I honestly don't feel bad. I honestly felt relieved that the wife wasn't pregnant because this hubby was just so freakin' stupid that it felt imperative to get his genes out of the pool, so to speak.

In short: everyone of the players were bad people and so were the authors (who, silly me, I'd expected to act like professionals.) I would skip this.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Sampson and Delilah

What did you like best about Poison Candy? What did you like least?

I liked the message, but felt that this book was far to long.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The fact that the protagonist was apparently so blind to his wife's bs was interesting. On the other hand this made the book redundant and it drew out a pretty open and shut case.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

The narrators pace was fine, but her voice was obnoxious.

Could you see Poison Candy being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

This is a 48 hours or dateline special and I enjoyed the hour segment much better.

Any additional comments?

Odd title for this book.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Awful Narration

I tried 3 times to listen to this book but the narration is so awful. I felt the narrator was a robot. I can not finish it but know I have to since I used a whole credit to purchase this book.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

How she thought she would get away with it defies belief....

The only thing that would have made this audio book better is if the narrator spoke with a lisp when speaking as Dalia