Deadly Deception [Hardcover]

Brenda Gunn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2000

To Brenda Gunn, a hard working medical professional, it seems like a fairytale come true.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An almost unbelievable saga of how Gunn, a medical examiner for insurance companies, was systematically and, at first, subtly terrorized by her husband until she shot him is told with the assistance of Richardson, a screenwriter. By Gunn's own account, she was a never-married 35-year-old plain Jane and incurable romantic when she fell in love with and quickly married Glen, an unemployed newcomer to Kansas City. Within a matter of weeks, Glen began having violent outbursts and mood swings. Gunn also learned that he had spent 12 years in prison for passing bad checks. After Glen convinced her to take out a huge life insurance policy (to protect their future family), a series of accidents occurred. First, a fire engulfed her house while she was alone and asleep. Shortly thereafter, a car forced her car off the road. On another evening, after Glen prepared a special dinner for her, Gunn suffered a severe case of food poisoning. An avid animal lover, she found that several of the injured pets she had taken in had been killed. Gunn, na ve and blindly in love, did not suspect her husband at first. However, when she overheardDand tapedDa telephone conversation between Glen and her best friend, Jane, discussing how they would kill her for the insurance money, Gunn obtained an order of protection and purchased a gun. When Glen broke into her home, she shot and killed him. If only half of these events occurred, it's a horrific story, but this poorly written episodic memoir is strictly for the tabloid crowdDit comes across like a bad TV movie, failing to do justice to what it describes. 20-city radio tour. (Dec.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A horrific story." -Publishers Weekly

"Highly recommended...Deadly Deception is the substance of motive thrillers." -The Midwest Book Review

"The facts in this book are unbelievable." --The Sunday Oklahoman

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: New Horizon Press; 1 edition (November 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882822039
• ISBN-13: 978-0882822037
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,838,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Deception in buying this book is that---, January 29, 2001

By 

Marilyn S. Shively - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadly Deception (Hardcover)

it would be a good book, worth the money I spent for the hard cover. Well, what a big fat disappointment. This book should have been an excellent read; it has all of the elements I love in a story of True Crime. But alas, as someone else who reviewed the book pointed out, it is written like a trashy true romance novel. I understand that women can be naieve, but give me a break. I truly stopped caring about Brenda after she was almost killed after her car was rammed and she almost died; she still never suspected her husband-she actually had to overhear him talking about planning her murder on the telephone before she realized what was going on. I think if the style of writing had been more sophisticated it could have been a good read but as it is, it wasn't. save your money.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Story, Painful Writing Style, February 1, 2004

By 

"contessa2000" (Fort Worth, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadly Deception (Hardcover)

Brenda Gunn's story is compelling and frightening, and that's why I managed to finish this book, despite the awful writing. I then promptly threw it in the trash. Besides having to endure the graphic love scenes involving these very unattractive people, all of the characters were one-dimensional and spouted the worst TV-movie dialogue imaginable. And the story was so one-sided (since the victim wrote it), and left many ends hanging. For instance, what happened to Jane, the best friend whose affair with the husband precipitated all of this? What about Morgan, the guy who was stalking Brenda?

It's hard to believe that even a love-starved, lonely woman wouldn't figure out there was a problem when she was almost killed in a fire, run off the road, poisoned, set up for a lion attack, and her pets started dying off. Throughout it all, Brenda portrays herself as an innocent, naive, loving wife, which actually comes across as incredible naivete and desperation for the love of even a complete louse such as her husband.

It's a very sad and dramatic story, and in the right hands, could have been a good book. But this effort is terribly misdirected, and this book is one of the worst I have ever read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This has got TV movie written all over it..., August 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Deadly Deception (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

Agreeing with previous reviewers, the stars are for Brenda Gunn's courage, not for the writing style. It's a great story but Ann Rule should've written it. The trashy novel style is not meant to be used for true crime--I skipped a lot of pages (cut to the chase, so to speak) because I lost all patience with the writing style. Brenda is an intelligent woman who made a good living and smart investments but she married a guy only 2 months after meeting him and he turned out to be an ex-con...the entire marriage and relationship was a set-up involving the woman Brenda thought was her best friend: maximum betrayal. Hats off to Brenda for getting smart just in time to save her own life, but I sure wouldn't have gotten the tombstone with hearts and planned to be buried beside the guy who literally died trying to murder me....