Customer Reviews

The Day the Catskills Cried: A True Crime Story

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

 

 

I enjoyed reading this book for the most important reason is that it happened in my home town and I know all the people and locations in the book. The only minor problem I found was how the author is saying what Trudy Resnick Farber said to her killer in the woods. It does not mention in the book that Ron Krom told the investigators that this is what she said. So I am assuming this is an assumption on the wrtiers part.

Former New York State police officer, Wayne Beyea's self-published work of "true crime", THE DAY THE CATSKILLS CRIED, is one strange endeavor. The story is that of the ransom kidnapping and inadvertent murder of Trudy Farber by Ronald Krom, a bitter 25-year-old schizophrenic in 1976. I refer to the book as "true crime" in quotes because due to a highly irritating abundance of omnipresence, it morphs right from the start into what I call true crime/fiction. The four pages of the preface consist of Beyea's reporting Krom's thoughts as, alone in the woods, he prepares for the kidnapping.

Next, on page 1 of chapter 1, the following dialog is reported in quotes:

Trudy says, "Roger, you sleepyhead, it is a glorious morning. Don't waste such a beautiful day in bed."

Roger stirred from sleep, rubbed his eyes, then ran his fingers through his mop of dark hair and muttered, "What time is it?"

"Time for you to get out of bed and go make some money." Trudy responded with a laugh. We'll toss a coin to see who gets to prepare breakfast."

I could do this all day, but please understand that this is not an anomaly. Still, the first 78 pages, which consist of the crime, the investigation, and the arrest of Ronald Krom, are reasonably interesting and readable.

The next section, a too long and eventually somewhat skimmable 45 pages, consists of a verbatim report of a preliminary sanity hearing for Krom. This section, too, is interesting in that the reader sees just how insane Roger is. Maybe verbatim. I say that because nowhere is there a statement that Beyea is quoting actual transcript. You may think I'm being gratuitously tacky here. Why, after all, would I question the veracity of quoted trial transcript?

Well here's why. The next section consists of 116 (count `em) pages of "quoted" trial transcript. But not really, because prior to writing about the trial, Beyea writes,

"The following trial testimony is neither meant nor intended" - whatever the difference may be - "as a facsimile of the testimony or behavior exhibited by witnesses, judge, prosecutor, defense counsel or defendant in the matter of the People of the State of New York against Ronald Krom. However the trial - as envisioned by the author - is a reasonable portrayal of the actions and testimony that took place, as related by witnesses who participated, jurors recollections of the proceedings, police reports and documentation provided by the Sullivan County District attorney's office."

In other words, HE MADE THE WHOLE THING UP. 226 pages of fabricated dialogue!

It would have been acceptable had Beyea used the material he gleaned as the result of his interviews and documents to present a narrative summary of the trial, though - hopefully - the final product would have comprised far fewer that 116 increasingly tedious pages.

Additionally, since he was making the whole thing up in the first place, he could at least made up some new material, but he didn't. For the most part Beyea fabricates the same material he has already provided in the sections about the police investigation and the competency hearing. So what you get is not only fabrication, but boring re-fabrication.

And as a parting shot, Beyea has throughout the entire book - and most exceptionally at Krom's competency hearing - stated that, since there has never been any doubt that he committed the crime, the only real issue at trial would be whether he was sick enough to not have realized the consequences of his actions. And then, he devotes 6 of the 116 pages of the fictionalized trial to psychiatric testimony.

On a final note, I always enjoy absurd similes. THE DAY THE CATSKILLS CRIED has blessedly few of them, but one is such a doozy that it must be exposed to the light of day: "Silverstein had skipped lunch, instead using the time during recess to freshen up and prepare his first witness, who physically displayed the angst displayed by a mouse under the shadow of a swooping hawk." All I can say is that that's SOME angst, and also that it may have been my favorite part of the book.

Aa a resident of the Ellenville Community from 1957 to present, reading this book was awesome. I could not put it down for one second. It was written so well that one could imagine being a part of the story, especially having grown up here and personally knowing each and every character. It is a must read for everyone who has grown up in the community.

Retired investigator Wayne Beyea has crafted another masterpiece, though it isn't fiction. No one can tell an accurate story of a murder in the Catskills the way a former New York State Policeman can. Beyea shows his reader the analysis that must come to bear on the crime scene, apprehending the malefactor, and then sewing up minute details in a case for the prosecution, so the villain doesn't escape justice. One aspect that I, once Catskills resident, enjoyed was the closeness of the residents there, where any crime victim is almost certain to be known by many. Beyea takes us through the criminal case, permitting us to have verbatim testimony, but also showing the little personal quirks that both prosecution and defense witnesses are sure to exhibit in a capital case. This story is presented so well that folks from any state will remain glued to the pages until the story is resolved.

but this book did not grab me at all. I am sure if would be different if i had lived in the region, but otherwise, it was just a stupidly planned kidnapping gone wrong, with no suspense and written in a very stilted police-report type manner. I bought this an an e-book and downloaded for a weekend when i had nothing to read and was very disappointed as i read a lot of true crime and am from upstate NY (though not Catskills) but was just not very interested in this one.

THE DAY THE CATSKILLS CRIED

This book was pretty good. I thought they got into the murder too soon. I don't especially like to get into the courtroom drama too soon.

the book is a great read. disturbing for those that weren't 'around' during that time to know some of the actual events. delivery time was great!