Customer Reviews

At Large: The Life and Crimes of Randolph Franklin Dial (St. Martin's True Crime Library)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Maybe this man who thinks he is above everyone else, who thinks nothing of ruining the lives of all who come in contact with him, will walk away from this apparently successful evasion! I received and read this book in one night, and thought the author did an excellent job at researching this man's past. However, I also feel that he has just scratched the surface. It is true that Dial is a very complex individual, but Mr. Sasser was successful in exposing this man as someone who has a constant need to feel important. If he can't do it with the truth, he makes something up to put himself in the center of attention, and laces it with enough truth to make it believable! His continued evasion is an outrage, and I do not believe that Bobbi Parker went with him willingly. I felt that Mr. Sasser revealed this through the source he quoted. She only met her twice, and saw the integrity with which Bobbi led her life. I would have liked to have read more from people who actually know her. I am proud to say that I have known Bobbi for almost 14yrs, and she IS that special! Thank you Mr. Sasser, for an intriguing look at the world, or should I say illusion that this man has created for himself. To the family of Mr. Hogan, God's speed, and to Bobbi... we all love and miss you very much!

This book was captivating, easy reading, but yet confusing. It almost seems like a few of the "badges" were tainted, and that's why they stopped pressing to find out who paid Dial to kill Hogan. Could the warden's wife really have made "almost identical" calls? Or was it the same, maybe taped, message? There are too many unanswered questions. If Dial is still alive, I am sure of this; He has a copy of this book to add to his collection of his personal accompishments, and, He is an artist that is proud of his work, and he will surface again,with more of his creations, and stories to tell.

It was disappointing that this guy has been able to elude authorities for so long - people don't just disappear off the face of the earth. But Dial must be very good at what he does cause he is able to go underground or just keep out of the limelight for long periods of time without detection. I do think that the warden's wife went willingly and that she is still alive. Shocking tale! Some parts read slow but the end of the book is absolutely amazing! He's still "at large!"

I so enjoyed this book it was hard for me to put it down. The story of Randolph Dial has interested me for years and I like to read/hear other's theories. This author is a talented man that knows his stuff and presents his information with candor. I saw this writer on national television and was impressed with the way he presented himself and his subject. Well done, Mr. Sasser!

I used to live in Tulsa and knew of some of these people. Good research and good writing. I enjoyed it.

Dial has been captured, with the warden's wife, too. Dial, a sculptor and painter, was convicted of the 1981 murder of a karate instructor. He had obtained trusty status at the Oklahoma State Reformatory, and he ran an inmate pottery program with Bobbi Parker and had access to the couple's home during the day in staff housing on prison grounds.

Bobbi Parker's mother received a phone call from her the night of the 1994 disappearance traced to Hurst, Texas. "I can't talk now," she said, crying. "I'm OK. Tell the kids I'll see them soon."

A day later, she made a second call, this time from Fort Worth to a friend. It was the last message her family got from her. "Tell the kids I love them and I'll be home soon," she said.

In a jailhouse interview with reporters Tuesday, Dial, 60, said he took Parker at knifepoint when he escaped.

"I was a hostage-taker and will probably live to regret it," Dial said. "But now I don't. Doing a life sentence, at my age, I wouldn't trade it for the past 10 1/2 years."

Dial said their relationship was never romantic and that they lived in separate rooms. He likened Parker's relationship to him as "Stockholm Syndrome," where kidnapping victims become sympathetic to their captors over time, often out of fear of violence.

"She was living under the impression if she ever tried to get away, I would get away and I would make her regret it, particularly toward her family," Dial said. "I didn't mean it, but she didn't know that."

What an amazing story this is now! Even better!

The amount of information is thinly stretched out in this...thin book! The writing is good but the stories are recycled over and over and not much is discovered. Dial, to me, came off as a big B.S.er. I didn't find his philosophy or effette personality to be remotely interesting. Keep this book in a glass case---read only in the event of an emergency(nothing else to read!)