An OK book.
I listened to this on CD and noticed myself checking the clock when things seemed to go on a bit long.
While this may have been based on a true story, it's been done better (Bonnie & Clyde, for example).
I listened to this on CD and noticed myself checking the clock when things seemed to go on a bit long.
While this may have been based on a true story, it's been done better (Bonnie & Clyde, for example).
LB takes a detour into Jim Thompson territory and gets lost. Based on the Starkeather-Fugate murder spree of 1957-58 and appears to be an attempt to understand why it happened. While psycho drifter Jimmie John Hall doesn't ring true as the real life killer (he's just a stock JT character), Betty Dienhardt does seem to capture his teenybopper moll as well as her motivations very well. One has to wonder why LB didn't write a true account of the real case. The continuous scenes of carjackings, hold-ups and murder are meant to shock but Block pulls his punches. For example: Starkweather killed Fugate's mother,stepfather and halfsister in their home and the two young lovers stayed there and played house together for the next 6 days. Here, Hall kills Dienhardt's parents and her senile,flatulent grandmother who is substituted for the reallife 2-1/2 year old Betty Jean Bartlett who was knifed and then clubbed to death with a rifle butt. Yes,real humans are a lot worse than fictional ones are! There is no mystery or suspense here and one has to wonder what was the point of this story,it's a waste of the reader's time. Charles Starkeather died in the electric chair. Caril Fugate was sentenced to life in prison where she still should be today. Unfortunately, she was paroled in 1976 after serving 17 years and is now married and living in another state. TPB
