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Behind the Mask: A True Story of Obsession and a Savage Genius (St. Martin's True Crime Library)
 
 
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Behind the Mask: A True Story of Obsession and a Savage Genius (St. Martin's True Crime Library) [Mass Market Paperback]

Stella Sands (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)


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Book Description

June 2, 2009 St. Martin's True Crime Library

Forty-year-old William Coday lived the quiet life of a scholar. He spoke six languages and held degrees in history, literature, and library science. As a librarian in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he was known to be unfailingly kind and helpful. But you can’t always judge a book by its cover…

When Coday failed to show up for work one day, a concerned colleague looked for him at his apartment…only to discover the body of Gloria Gomez. Coday’s ex-girlfriend, Gomez had been bludgeoned to death with 144 blows by two hammers and a knife. Police at the scene had little doubt that Coday was the killer. But other, darker secrets from Coday’s past had yet to come to light…

In one of the most shocking crime cases and legal appeals in Florida history, an extraordinary courtroom battle began.What the jury did not know was that Coday, when he lived abroad, had beaten another ex-girlfriend to death; the courts there had deemed him insane. Who was William Coday: Mentally unstable? Or perfectly capable—and guilty—of murder in the first degree? Soon it would be up to prosecutors to prove who the real man was BEHIND THE MASK.

Behind the Mask is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.


Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A mild-mannered man who worked in a library.

Forty-year-old William Coday lived the quiet life of a scholar. He spoke six languages and held degrees in history, literature, and library science. As a librarian in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he was known to be unfailingly kind and helpful. But you can’t always judge a book by its cover…

The beautiful woman who broke his heart.

When Coday failed to show up for work one day, a concerned colleague looked for him at his apartment…only to discover the body of Gloria Gomez. Coday’s ex-girlfriend, Gomez had been bludgeoned to death with 144 blows by two hammers and a knife. Police at the scene had little doubt that Coday was the killer. But other, darker secrets from Coday’s past had yet to come to light…

A history of obsessive love and brutality…

In one of the most shocking crime cases and legal appeals in Florida history, an extraordinary courtroom battle began.What the jury did not know was that Coday, when he lived abroad, had beaten another ex-girlfriend to death; the courts there had deemed him insane. Who was William Coday: Mentally unstable? Or perfectly capable—and guilty—of murder in the first degree? Soon it would be up to prosecutors to prove who the real man was BEHIND THE MASK.

 

With 8 pages of graphic photos!

About the Author

Stella Sands is Executive Editor of Kids Discover, an award-winning magazine with over 400,000 subscribers geared to children 7 to 12 years old. She is author of the true-crime book Baby-faced Butchers, as well as other works including Odyssea and Natural Disasters. Her plays, Lou Passin’ Through, Black-eyed Peas, and E-me, have been produced in Off-Off Broadway theaters in New York City.


Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime; First Edition edition (June 2, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312944705
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312944704
  • Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #975,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
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1 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Stay Behind the Mask, July 22, 2009
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This review is from: Behind the Mask: A True Story of Obsession and a Savage Genius (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)
Being a big fan of true crime, I was interested in the topic of genius run amok...it's not very common in the annals of crime and I was looking forward to reading this book. However, over half way through, I was ready to set it aside. There was no one I cared about in this story: not the victim, not the perp - well maybe the parents of the first victim, but that was based on their photograph. There was no character development to speak of, no historical perspective and no insight into what went wrong with the perp. (See, I can't even remember his name and I was reading it last night.) Ultimately, it was a chronicle of the court case and as such, was quite unsatisfying, and worse, boring.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, November 20, 2009
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Behind the Mask: A True Story of Obsession and a Savage Genius (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)
About 50 pages of this book are about the crime itself. The rest is desperately dull, boring, and awful trial info. No real insight into Wm. Coday, who was probably an interesting guy.

I usually whip through true crime books in a couple of days. This one took me 2 months, including a week when it was "lost".

Ms. Sands should stick to kiddie lit.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars The cover starts with a lie. It goes downhill, January 14, 2010
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This review is from: Behind the Mask: A True Story of Obsession and a Savage Genius (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)
I only read this because I know several of the parties involved in the case. The problem with this book starts with the cover which says Coday committed a "double murder." WRONG. He murdered two people, years apart. That is NOT a double murder. The actual book is ok, written fairly straightforward, but not too lively. The "shocking" or "graphic" photos are neither. At least the story wraps up in under 300 pages.
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