Cruel Doubt [Paperback]

Joe McGinniss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1992

"There's no way you can hurt her. This is a woman with nothing left to lose..."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

McGinniss's ( Fatal Vision ) forceful account of a 1988 murder plotted by avid players of the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons spent two weeks on PW 's hardcover bestseller list and was a Literary Guild special selection.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Like Jerry Bledsoe's Blood Games ( LJ 9/15/91), McGinniss recounts the terrible events of July 25, 1988 when Lieth Von Stein was fatally stabbed and his wife Bonnie severely injured. Suspicion quickly focused on Chris, their son, and his friends, college students immersed in a world of drugs, alcohol, and the game Dungeons and Dragons. While Bledsoe's more straightforward account focuses on Chris and his friends, particularly James Upchurch III, who was found guilty of the actual murder, McGinnis tells the story from Bonnie's perspective, portraying a widow who relentlessly pursues the truth about the crime while acting also as a loving mother, unwilling to accept the truth about her son's involvement. In a book that's more a psychodrama than a detective story, McGinniss has drawn a riveting portrait of parental devotion that flies in the face of the truth. His reputation as a brutally honest storyteller ( Fatal Vision , LJ 9/1/83; Blind Faith , LJ 1/89) will attract many readers. Highly recommended.
-Sandra K. Lindheimer, Middlesex Law Lib., Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (June 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671775391
• ISBN-13: 978-0671775391
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,211,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real thriller, June 12, 2004

By 

Andrea Egger, author of Grave Accusations (Gallup, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cruel Doubt (Paperback)

I don't usually comment on others' reviews, but I found a recent one not to be fair, in this case. McGinniss gave his usual, awesome description of this horrible murder, including detailed interviews with the investigators and especially Bonnie Von Stein and Chris Pritchard. A criticism was that it was one-sided. As a true crime author myself, I know that often the "other side" won't talk to the author, and I suspect this was the case here. In Bledsoe's "Blood Games," another excellent depiction of this awful crime, it's obvious Bledsoe had cooperation from the defendants' families -- and it might be looked upon as one-sided since he didn't have too much cooperation, it seems, with Bonnie. The two books together, both dramatically and frighteningly written, give readers a full picture of what went on in that case. I give both books 5 stars. This case has intrigued me since I saw the movie Cruel Doubt, and I was ecstatic that Bledsoe, another great true crime author, also wrote a book on the subject!

One main reason that makes me think McGinniss wasn't able to get interviews with the defendants is the fact that his book doesn't mention "Bart" as the nickname for James Bartlett Upchurch III. How would anyone know that unless they'd interviewed the family? Sometimes it looks like, when people won't talk to us, that we just didn't bother to try to talk to them, but that's absolutely not true. I'm sure Mr. McGinniss tried and tried to get the defendants' and families' interviews.

McGinniss is just one of the forefathers, it seems, of terrific true crime with awesome imagery -- which makes the reader picture the crime and people in their heads without a movie being necessary! Mr. Bledsoe also is a top true crime writer. Neither book detracts from the other. Both are sublime depictions of one of the most bloody crimes police have seen.

My hat's off to both authors!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Completely Brilliant but not enough photos!, May 16, 2007

By 

Sylviastel - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

I guess true crime was coming into it's own with authors like Joe McGinnis and Ann Rule. I saw the mini-series starring Emmy Winner Blythe Danner as Bonnie Von Stein and her Oscar Winner daughter Gwyneth Paltrow as her daughter Angela Pritchard. The movie version is quite faithful to the book and the events itself which I highly recommend as well. The book does delve into the story of dungeons and dragons which becomes an obsession of Christopher Pritchard and the horrible murder of his stepfather Leith Von Stein in a small North Carolina town and the near murder of his own mother. The case is riveting and the story is told with complete details and information. I can still see the cast which included Ed Asner as one of the lawyers and Miguel Ferrer as the police investigating the case. The title of Cruel Doubt is about the fact that a horrendous crime has been committed, the motive was for the inheritance, and the fact that the sister Angela slept through the entire event without hearing a sound. A mother must come to terms with her son's crimes against his own family while trying to convict the men who actually carried it out. McGinnis has also written Fatal Vision and Blind Faith about family members who are involved with the death of a relative. I recommend reading those books as well. Cruel Doubt is almost forgotten. The mini-series is worth seeing though and i wished that they put more photos or pictures about the people and places involved.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dungeons and Dragons, April 15, 2008

By 

Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Stepfather, Lieth, was dead, and mother, Bonnie Von Stein was in intensive care. By contrast, Angela, the daughter was unharmed, and son, Chris, a student at North Carolina State University, reached the bedside of his mother and cried. The resident agent for the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, Lewis Young, felt someone had tried to stage a break-in at the family's house.

Lieth Von Stein had worked for National Spinning, a textile company, as a director of internal audits. Lieth, an alcoholic, had lost patience with Chris and Angela when they became teenagers. Bonnie and Lieth had been reclusive. Living in the community of Little Washington in Beaufort County, they hadn't made any close friends.

Neighbors told investigators to focus their attention on Chris and Angela Pritchard. At North Carolina State Chris played Dungeons and Dragons and used marijuana and LSD. The title of the book draws upon Bonnie's dilemma. It is wondered whether her children were in some manner responsible for the death of Lieth.

The investigators in the case moved slowly. Most of the leads were fruitless. The law enforcement contingent was dismayed when the family hired some of the best lawyers in the state to represent their interests.

This is a good book. The realistic details shown in the search for answers drive the piece.