Customer Reviews

My Daughter Susan Smith

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This book is pathetic. Linda Russell has spent her time blaming everyone else for what her daughter did. There is no doubt that some of the people in Susan Smith's life behaved very inappropriately but in the end it was Susan who decided to murder her children and then lie about it. I really believe that she murdered her children because she still thought she would have a chance to be with Tom Findlay.

Linda Russell has no difficulty in blaming other people for what her daughter did but leaves herself out. Ms. Russell was pregnant and married at a young age to a very unstable man. She did not choose to get out of this situation but decided to bring two more children into it before he killed himself. She then married another man and stayed with him even after finding out that he had sexually abused her daughter on a number of occasions. Maybe if she had taken more responsibility for her own life those beautiful little boys would still be alive.

Ms Russell indicates that Tom Findlay is not an honourable man. I believe that he was very truthful with Susan and do not see how this makes him dishonourable.

How much did she get paid to write this junk? The only good that could become of this book is if she has decided to donate all of the profits to an organization that is interested in the protection and of children.

I have followed the Susan Smith case since the horrible day in 1994 that the press broke the story. After reading numerous accounts of the tragedy, I still ask "why?"

Linda Russell's account of the murder of her grandsons is the most self-serving, vengeful work I have read. She uses the book not as a "quest for understanding," as she claims, rather as a tool to point the finger and retaliate against those she deems "guilty"...the press, David Smith (the boys' father), David Smith's relatives, and so on. Not once does she look in the mirror and wonder about her own fault...what if she had filed for divorce from her husband (Susan's stepfather) the instant she discovered he had touched Susan inappropriately? What about the second episode? Was there a third? I believe she selfishly avoided the social stigma (of sexual abuse and divorce) by sacrificing her daughter.

Her hate of David Smith is likewise evident. She blames David for "helping put the children in their graves" by being "mentally abusive" to Susan. Many women in this country suffer mental abuse--and worse--daily, yet they do not use it as an excuse to commit murder. Susan Smith, and Susan Smith alone, pulled the hand brake on her car and allowed her sleeping children to roll to their death by drowning. Though Linda Russell tries mightily to excuse her daughter's crime by pointing a thousand fingers, she fails. (A small postscript here...Linda forgets that she effectively endorsed Susan's sexual abuse in her own home by allowing the perpertrator to continue living there...in doing so, didn't she "help put the children in their graves" also?)

Members of the media, Linda Russell claims, "spied on (her) family, misinterpreted (her) feelings, invaded (her) home, manipulated the truth to fit their biases," and so on and so on and so on. One wonders if Linda would have been as angry at the media had the outcome been different? What if the media's presence, and willingness to keep the story on the front page day after day, had been the tool that found the boys? Linda is angry only because the press portrayed her daughter as the murderer that she is, and deservedly so.

Save your money...don't even bother to read this obvious attempt at revenge. Instead, donate...to your local children's library. The money would be better spent.

This book made me sick. How dare this woman basically blame David Smith for the murder of Micheal and Alex? Susan is the one who sent those babies into the cold, dark water of John D. Long lake to die. David lives every day, including yesterday, which would have been Alex's 13th birthday, without his sons. It is this woman's daughter who is responsible - no one else. Don't waste your money on this piece of trash.

It seems to me that Linda Russell is putting the blame on Michael and Alexander's deaths on everyone else but the person most responsible--Susan Smith. No matter how bad your home situation may be, may I emphasize that there NO excuse whatsoever for killing innocent children, let alone kill them and then lie about it for nine days. The book was very informative and well written, and it shed light on the events leading up to the tragic murders. Also, I feel that it was not at all appropriate to be using the book to point fingers at David Smith. No one knows what goes on in people's relationships, and Linda Russell would have been better off staying out of their marriage. No matter what David Smith may have, or may have not done during the marriage, that outwardly blaming David for "helping the children into their graves" was uncalled for. Susan, and Susan alone is completely responsible for causing those children's deaths, and she must endure the consequences for her selfish actions. As you will read in sections of the book, her main concern was about Tom Findley; she was more worried about him than about her own sons!
Michael and Alexander, wherever you are, rest in peace, precious Angels.

I don't think a Grandmother should write a book that is going to make her money about the deaths of her grandchildren. Her daughter is a murderer & just because a book was written saying different isn't going to change anything.

After reading this book, my first response was that the wrong person was prosecuted for this crime. Susan's mother knew she was being molested by her stepfather and continued living with this man. Her daughter threatened suicide and even tried, yet she still ignored her, not wanting the stigma of mental illness hanging over her family. I am not defending Susan's actions at all, but this woman was by no means a mother or role model to her. The only good thing I can say about Linda Russell is she must have a lot of nerve to display her negligence to the world or else she must have needed the money badly.

Despite my criticisms of the author's character, I believe this book should be read by troubled teens and their mothers.

What a joke this book is. This woman accepts virtually no responsibility for either herself or her daughter. she denied her daughter psychiatric care, stayed with a man who abused Susan and made excuses for her during her whole life. Plenty of people have bad things happen to them when they are kids and don't kill thier own children and then lie and make excuses about it. whoever published this should be ashamed of this vindictive, nasty, biased and inaccurate piece of trash! I can understand someone wanting to defend their child but a bit of reality please...

For Linda Russell to throw darts, the way she does in this account, to David Smith, who after his two dead babies is the one and only victim of her murderous daughter, is shameful; and really not worthy of the person she pretends to be: a Christian. Hypocrisy and a desire for revenge is what comes through the pages of this pathetic story. Mrs. Russell would do well in looking at herself in the mirror, and she should ask herself some questions. She does not need to tell us the answers. We already know them. Susan Smith is a murderess, and she should have been given the death penalty. Michael and Alex didn't get justice. Sleep with the angels babies. And Union is a County of cowards.

Isn't this the same woman who told her daughter the night before her marriage to David Smith that she had no right to wear white "because you're sleeping with my husband"? ''

Ah yes...Linda's husband.....Susan's stepfather Beverly Russell. That good, solid Republican and high-ranking member of the Christian Coalition who had been molesting Linda's daughter for years.

A prior reviewer is right....Linda is too busy playing CYA to see the truth.

Seems to me Linda Russell is blaming everyone but Susan Smith for what happened. Russell is a concieted know it all. I did enjoy the book but could not help but see through the Linda Russell.