Customer Reviews

Baby Be Mine: The Shocking True Story of a Woman Who Murdered a Pregnant Mother to Steal Her Child

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

 

 

First, it was published too soon. When I got to the end,I discovered the suspect in the case hasn't even had a trial yet. When I read a true crime book I want to know the conclusion of the case. Second, apparently there wasn't enough information for a whole book because the author had to resort to using numerous other unrelated cases as filler. And that is what makes the third thing wrong with this book. The author jumps around from case to case so much that it is distracting. I got a headache just trying to keep all the names, places and cases in order. If you still want to read this book; at least wait until they print an updated version after the trial is over. Then you will know how the story ends.

Diane Fanning, in my opinion, should either return to penning novels or enter the news or magazine writing arena.

Most of her books appear to be written too soon and be woefully lacking in detail. I see people writing about her 'research' for this particular book; but I don't see the results in the book itself, at least with regard to this specific case.

The book includes more research on this 'type' of crime; which appears to be prevalent, but the seemingly endless detours into other cases, coupled with the lack of information about this specific tragedy, are very distracting to the reader trying to glean information about the crime committed by Lisa Montgomery against Bobbie Jo Stinnett and her family.

'Baby Be Mine' is an example of another incident becoming much too prevalent; rush-to-the-press, poorly-written, underdeveloped true-crime books that do not do justice to the victim's lives or to the genre.

Thankfully the outcome of the crime was completely just, even if this book was not. Montgomery was found guilty and given the death sentence by the jury. At least there will be legal justice for Bobbie Jo's memory and family. A better-written book would have included the trial and its outcome.

I would not recommend the purchase of this book as it leaves the reader entirely unsatisfied and feeling as though the entire exercise of the writing and reading was a waste of time. Bobbie Jo's story is not justly told in 'Baby Be Mine'.

While this book was interesting, I agree with the other reviewers who felt it was written too soon. If the author had waited for a trial, perhaps it wouldn't have been necessary to fill the book with pages upon pages of other unrelated crimes. While the "bully of Skidmore" story is interesting, it really has nothing to do with this case. Likewise, the death/disappearance of Bobbi Jo's relatives don't have anything to do with this case. All of the paragraphs detailing other women who had babies cut from their wombs, while at least similar to this case, really seemed to be added just to fill up space to make enough pages for a whole book.

Of the 246 pages in this book, less than half had anything to do with the title story. Since the suspect in this case was apprehended with the baby within about 24 hours of the crime, there really was no story to write about. The author instead filled in with other crime stories not connected to this case. Those other stories were actually more interesting than the main story. This book was also proofread poorly - there were a number of typos, even phrases that were missing words. This was obviously written in a hurry to sell books. This was one of the poorest true crime books I've ever read.

I agree with the reviewers who said this was written too soon, and was too short on information on the title case. That said, the other incidents that the author wrote about are just horrid. I wasn't familar with the other caesarian abductions in more than a very general way. The Brandon Perry disappearance was new to me also, and the likely circumstances of his death is one of the most disturbing things I've read in a true crime book.

Overall this book made me feel very sad and hopeless about humanity.

bought this book to read about the gruesome killing of this young woman by this phyco lady, but to my disappointment the book is 75% about some other cases and 25% about this killing.

I can't stand these ambulance chaser true crime books. Way too soon with no trial and very little information. The author barely squeaks out enough pages for this to be called a book and instead pads it with all sorts of filler from other unrelated cases. Poor writing and worst of all it's boring. Stay far away from this terrible stinker.

I've been a fan of true crime books for many years and have several favorites that I read. However, in March of 2006, I met Diane Fanning when I moderated a panel she was on at the Festival of the Book. To prepare for our panel discussion, I read two of her books and I was hooked. She takes the true crime book to a new level that I appreciate.

She doesn't just give the well publicized facts of the case, but she digs deeper. In Baby Be Mine, she gave a lot of information which some may consider to be unnecessary and I was a little confused at first. However, as I continued to read, I realized she was giving us information about the collateral damage that was caused by this act of violence. The repercussions were felt by many people in many areas and not just the immediate family of the victim.

I found the information she wove into the book about similar crimes to be very enlightening and it gave more depth to the Bobbie Jo Stinnett murder. For this case, murder does not seem like a sufficient description of the crime perpetrated on her. I appreciated the additional information that was included in the book and feel it made the content even more compelling. I have two other books of Diane's in my to be read pile and hope to read them soon.

I enjoy the writing style of Diane Fanning. I feel as though I know the people involved by the time I finish the book. I feel their anguish and pain of losing a loved one in such a horrendous way. The crime is what most true crime readers want to read about. With this case, anyone can probably guess the outcome of the trial. In my opinion there is obviously mental issues as with Andrea Yates in cases like this. I had no idea there were so many caesarian abductions so that information was a plus.

It was obvious the author went to great lengths to conduct interviews and put a great deal of research into this book. I had no idea there were so many c-section abductions which was a plus through the research Ms. Fanning included in the back of the book. I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a well researched book.