Customer Reviews

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

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

As a true crime junkie, I know that not every true crime paper back is going to be a gem. Some are, most at least try. Stella Sands didn't try, so pity me, the poor true crime reader, stuck with this boring, boring book. Right from the start it becomes clear that Sands didn't care at all about this criminal, not one bit. What in the world did she imagine her readers would feel after 10 or 15 pages? I can't even finish the thing. Some advice for the author - don't take on jobs you don't care about.

we know who the killer is, there is no suspense there...and he basically killed 2 women in a 20-yr period because of his jealousy when they wanted to move on...not very original on his part. The majority of the book is about whether he is mentally ill, planned the murder, etc...and i just did not care that much. I couldn't imagine that any jury would let him off so i ended up just skipping thru a lot of this book (which is pretty skimpy to begin with)just to check the outcome of the trial but could have just checked on google and saved myself some time.

I read a lot of true crime and this is not one that held or captured my interest at all.

"Behind the Mask" kept me awake half the night with its twists and turns. At the outset, it's about the senseless and brutal killing of Gloria Gomez by her ex-boyfriend William Coday, a seemingly mild-mannered librarian in Fort Lauderdale, FL. But the murder is just the tip of the iceberg. As the case unfolded, there were revelations about Coday's secret criminal past and the failure of the justice system to hold him to account for his previous actions that left my stomach in knots. What's more, Coday wrote his own creepy "novelistic" account of the murder that's judiciously and juicily quoted--and which essentially served as his confession. The death penalty trial that followed put the reader in the position of being the jury---presenting all the evidence for and against executing Coday. The trial is surprisingly gut-wrenching, and I was in nervous suspense as I turned the pages toward the final (surprising) outcome. If you're into the legal side of things, as I am (I'm a huge "Law & Order" fan), you'll especially appreciate what a great job the author does in illuminating the characters of the attorneys on both sides of this disturbing case, along with their strategies.

I loved this book. The writing was out of this world. Twice I arrived late to work because I was reading in bed. i love stories about geniuses-gone-awry. And I loved how beautiful the writing was. That's not a given in true crime. Sometimes good writing seems like an afterthought. But with this book, if the riveting plot and characters don't pull you through alone, the writing will. It's that good.

Its very sad that a person who was given so many gifts of intelligence felt the compulsion to commit
such brutal murders.
The human brain is so complex its hard to understand the inhumanity of these people.
The question that haunts me is who is to blame?
Truth is stranger than fiction and these stories are intriguing and it was written
very well.

I'm not a major true crime fan, but I was hooked on this story from the first page. I think it was partly the story itself--a gentle and learned man in the library with a secret truth--partly the author's in-depth detail, and partly her lean writing. Without wasting a syllable, Sands keeps the intrigue going throughout the entire tale. She quotes just the right amount from trial transcripts and the 'novella' that Coday, the defendant, wrote. I also enjoyed learning the legal thinking behind trial strategies the lawyers employed, and in fact, recommended the book to my son who is a young public defender. If all true crime books read like this one, I might just become a fan.