Customer Reviews

Deadly Deception

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

 

 

DEADLY DECPTION written by Alva Busch is the story of a more-than-a-little strange sex pervert and murderer named Dale Anderson. The events took place in St.Clair County, Illinois across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.
Author Alva Busch was one of the county investigators on the case and writes about the case in the third person referring to himself as "Busch" rather than `I". I generally have found books by law enforcement about their own cases lacking. Sometime I'm wrong. This time I'm not.

Let me confess for openers that I am writing this after having read only 28 pages in DEADLY DECEPTION, and that it took me 2 days to get through them. Normally I would not do this, but in this case it is obvious to me that 28 pages are enough to provide a clear picture of this book, and the reading public needs to be alerted as soon as possible. A few examples gleaned from the first 28 pages will illustrate why I was constitutionally unable to read more:

1. Those 28 pages are more about Busch himself than the crime. "Busch hung up the phone, picked up his jacket, and walked downstairs to the kitchen. The dining room table was set for supper. His wife would be upset that he was leaving without eating with the family. Linda looked up at him as she set the main dish on the table and noticed he was wearing his jacket. `Where are you going? We're going to eat in a few minutes.'"

2. "(Busch) cleared his mind of personal matters. When he worked a murder scene, he concentrated on facts and physical evidence.

3. "Busch noticed how immaculate the place was. Jolaine kept a clean house. There was a large package of ham in the drain-rack in the kitchen sink, probably placed there to thaw for dinner."

4. John Lanman, whose wife and young son have just been found murdered in their
home, has been taken to a hospital. A detective shows up to interview him. "'Mr. Lanman, I'm Detective Miller from the Sheriff's Department. I need to speak with you.' Lanman looked at the tall, thin man standing in front of him. What did he want? Why was he here?"

5. Coroner Rick Stone has arrived at the homicide scene. "'Man, that's a damn shame,
someone doing something like that to the young boy,' said Stone in disgust.
"'But you can bet that whatever the reason was, it wasn't justified,' said Busch."

On the positive side, the cover notes that the book contains "twelve pages of shocking photos". This exceeds the standard 8 shocking pages and as such can be considered a four page shocking-photo bonus. This is especially true if you're shocked by photos of a neat and ordinary kitchen, two pictures of cops with their cars, and two pictures of suburban style ranch houses, one of which has A CAR IN THE DRIVEWAY!!!

I hope you can now understand why 28 pages was all I could take. Reviewers on this site often use the phrase `I couldn't put this book down."
Well, as much as I tried, I couldn't pick DEADLY DECEPTION up.

I grew up in Belleville, IL............I am half way through the book. I love the descriptions in the book, names i recognize and the unsolved cases. I remeber these cases from when i was in highschool, The girl found at East High School and Im hopeing he is somehow connected to Christine's case (I Knew her ) and met her daughter when she was 5 ( a beautiful little girl)

This is my first Alva Bush book but plan on reading whatever I can get my hands on.

The previous reviewer took exception with a bit of "filling" the author may've done for the purpose of continuity & fleshing out, so to speak. Ok, plenty of true crime writers add a disclaimer about "imagined dialogue". No big whoop. It's an ok book, as was "Roadside Prey".