Customer Reviews

The Blood of Innocents: The True Story of Multiple Murder in West Memphis, Arkansas

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is typical pulp-novel fare for the bathroom/airport reader of trashy true-crime books. "Guy Reel, et al." are no Joseph Wambaugh.

In its attempt to chronicle the West Memphis Three case, this book has many flaws which render it almost unreadable to anyone having knowledge of the case. First, the authors unfairly characterizes the defendants, overemphasizing the pseudo-occult nature of Damien Echols' behavior that led to the prosecution's "Satanic Panic" theory -- one which was supported at trial by testimony from an "expert" who received his degree from a mail-order diploma-mill. This genius testified that one sign of occult behavior was the wearing of dark clothes, "black dungarees ... sometimes they will tattoo themselves." Under this standard, half of Philadelphia could be argued to be Satanic. Yet, despite this incredible theory and even more incredible testimony, the authors really have nothing to say about it.

Moreover, the authors gloss over the patent weaknesses in the prosecution's case, including a total lack of physical evidence linking the defendants to the murder. Unless, that is, you count black T-shirts, many of which were seized from Damien Echols' house, as somehow being dispositive of guilt under the "Satanic Panic" theory.

Most disturbingly, the book almost completely fails to mention that the West Memphis PD's investigation of the murders was botched to perfection -- including the coerced confession of Jesse Misskelley, who was borderline retarded, and the failure of the police to investigate John Mark Byers, father of one of the murdered boys, despite somewhat strong evidence which arguably linked him to the murders.

All of this likely led to three innocent boys being placed on Arkansas' Death Row while the real killer roams free.

For a much more balanced and thorough portrayal of the case and the investigation -- or, more appropriately, misinvestigation -- read _Devil's Knot_ by Marla Leverett, who covered the story for the _Arkansas Times_

Although this book seemingly attempts to present Damien, Jesse and Jason as guilty; the authors piece together a poor attempt at presenting hard evidence that the three had anything to do with the Robin Hood Hills Murders.

While there are a lot of facts left out of this outdated book, and while new evidence has surfaced, as well as some of the testimony being recanted or proven false, I found it a good companion to Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt.

I also encourage any reader of this book that is not familiar with the case to do some extra research...there are a TON of people online that have been very willing to help and answer questions if you are confused.

As long as you don't rely on everything this book has within it as fact, and it is used as a companion with new and current information, I suppose it is worthwhile.

This book is long on supposition and short on objective fact. In a nut shell, the book seems to say "The WM3 are guilty-take my word on it-don't be confused by facts, the story flows so thats all you need to know." Unfortunately the Arkansas penile system (and jury pool)seems to think this way too. The book is a must read for anyone interested in the case...if for nothing else than to get into the heads of the other side.

This terribly biased book portrays the West Memphis Three as guilty and evil. Skip it and read Devil's Knot and watch the movies instead.

Two books have been written on this case; if you're only going to read one, though, do not choose this one. This case has turned out to be a very controversial one with seriously troubling questions about the manner in which the defendants were identified, incriminated, and prosecuted. But these authors, two of whom covered the trial as newspaper reporters, pretty much miss the story concerning those issues and instead choose to report on every lurid bit of unsubstantiated rumor and gossip concerning Satanic rituals and orgies and sacrifices that they can find; no tale is too absurd, no accusation too outrageous, to be harped on. A goth magazine found in the trash of one of the defendant's girlfriends gets twice as much ink (two pages worth) as the trial testimony of a defense expert witness on false confessions, an issue that is perhaps the central point of contention in this case. Two more pages go to a juvenile in confinement who is obviously improvising a false story about local Satanic street gangs affiliated with Bloods and Crips, while another defense expert who testifies about the lack of factual evidence or scientific basis to support the then-trendy theory of a national occult crime wave gets less than one page.

Like national reporters who have recently been embarrassed by simply believing and uncritically reporting stories from government officials about things such as the Jessica Lynch ordeal, stories which it is now obvious were largely invented by those officials, these reporters basically accepted the word of the authorities - prosecution and police - hook, line, and sinker without doing any critical investigatory work. To take one example that represents the blind trust that these reporters had in the accuracy of what they were being told by officials, the authors repeatedly express how amazing of a coincidence it is that the case number happened to be 0666; it seems so improbable that a case in which the police claim teenage Satanists were involved would happen to get, just by chance, the number of the beast. But they quote the lead detective as their authority that this is purely a coincidence, and they accept his word. Had they only paid a bit more attention to the case files, though, they would have discovered what the author of the other book on this case discovered, which is that the earliest reports from this case were originally numbered 0555; apparently, this was not some "coincidence" after all, but a deliberate act.

The book's Postscript, written years after the rest of the text, does acknowledge, though, that the authors may have erred when they wrote the disputable claim that, at the conclusion of the sentencing phase of the defendant Damien Echols, "all doubts that police had the wrong man began to evaporate." Apparently with the benefit of some hindsight, they have revised their stance and now claim that "given the void of evidence in this case - and developments since the trials - Echols' contentions [of innocence] may merit another look."

And another book. "Devil's Knot" is a superior account in almost every way. However, all of this is not to say that "The Blood of Innocents" is not worth reading at all. It can be seen as a supplement to the other book; it does contain some useful background and interesting descriptions of the towns involved, and it describes early leads and police interrogations of other initial suspects that went nowhere. But for a detailed, accurate, insightful account of how this case unfolded, you have to look elsewhere.

After seeing HBO's movies "Paradise Lost" and "Revelation" I had to know more.

This is actually a very difficult book to find so get it now if you want to read it it may not be available tomorrow.

This book goes more in depth into the actual case that HBO's documentaries do. The book is also reported without any of the favor that the documentaries showed the kids.

But, by and large this book did exactly what I though it would do. It solidified my opinion and belief that the kids convicted in this case are without question innocent.

The West Memphis, Arkansas PD should be investigated and prosecuted for their inept investigation and the so obvious disdain held for the convicted kids that the whole process from investigation to prosecution was a formality because this conviction was going to happen no matter what evidence was brought to light...

After watching an interesting documentary about the case featured on HBO, I bought the book in hopes of learning more. Unfortunately, this book is very dull and tends to focus more on the landmarks of neigboring towns than it does the case itself. The background and interests of the "alleged killers" are vague and definitely need to be worked on. In addition to the poor profiling of the accused, there was also very little information about the crime scene. The "shocking photos" really aren't all that surprising. In fact, I found them to be quite dull. What could have been a very interesting, dark book turned out to be a lame attempt at capturing innocence lost.

I read this book when it first came out in 1995, and the best thing I can say about it is that it ignited my interest in this case. Although the book is completely biased, I found enough inconsistencies and doubts to continue researching the case. In the years since, many new details have emerged and with them an ever-growing group of supporters who believe in the innocence of the boys that were convicted.
I hope that anyone who reads this book does so with an open mind and a willingness to learn more about the case. I would strongly recommend viewing the "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" and "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations" movies as well as reading "Devil's Knot" by Mara Leveritt and visiting the website - www.wm3.org.

The book, which tends to lean against the three, and the movie, which tends to lean for the three, both show two sides trying to get the facts out to the public...The "proof" - Damien was talking about the murders at a game?! In both the book and the movie, it clearly says that the girls were lying! Damien was already in jail at the time this game took place- How does he get out jail to go to a sports game?! This case and the police is a total injustice....

I bought this book and The Devils Knot for a report for school. Based on some of the reviews, I was expecting that these authors were biased and assumed the West Memphis 3 were guilty. This is NOT the case. The authors who wrote this in 1995 did an EXCELLENT job of showing us ALL the facts that were available back then. They presented many suspects that we never even knew about in watching Paradise Lost. They showed how witnesses lied and changed testimony throughout the investigation. I read this book in 24 hours, stopping only to sleep. My hats off to the 3 authors who not once showed us their bias, but let US as readers make out own choices by simply following the trail of evidence.

This case has changed my life. I have switched my major from Nursing to Criminology. I may not be able to stop everyone from being wrongfully convicted, but if I can stop one, that is a start.