Customer Reviews

Death at Every Stop (St. Martin's True Crime Library)

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This books chronicled the life and crime spree by Andrew Cunanan 1997. Motives and triggers were investigated by interviews with family and friends to explore what may have drove this person to commit these truly sick crimes. Cunanan's life was further looked into, covering his above average intelligence, Constant chameleon-like appearance changes and desire for the "high life." He was a habitual liar who told many different people many different things. It is very likely that a major precipitating factor to this killing spree was that Cunanan thought he was HIV Positive. However, this is now disputed as false that he ever though he was hiv positive. Angered at his presumed fate he turned against the world and people. An autopsy on him after he took his own life revealed he was negative. One can read this book quickly.

The author would describe what Cunanan would do, and what he would think, while he was all by himself. Does this author have ESP, or has he been channeling with Cunanan. Perhaps he hired a psychic. This is a book that had to be thrown out as quickly as possible after the media hype to cash in on it. So take if for what it is: synopses of a killing Spree that needed more depth.

All of the other reviews for this book really hammer it as the worst true crime book in the world. But if you do the research, many of the other reviewers do not have much credibility since they have only reviewed one book. While it has some flaws, I would suggest the book is not that bad.

The account of Andrew Cunanan is concise. Even with a 260 page count, the chapters are short and have an average of three pages in between chapters. That being said, the facts are largely accurate. While the author does take some liberties, such suggesting Cunanan asked for a glass of water before shooting Lee Miglin, the fabrications are not sensational.

Some of the things I really liked about the book were Clarkson's research into Cunanan's obsession with Tom Cruise. Additionally, Cunanan met Lisa Kudrow and may have targeted her for the future after her rebuffs. Before this publication, little has been documented about Cunanan meeting Gianni Versace over a year before killing him. Also, the author documents Cunanan's stormy childhood and carosel of relationships.

Certainly the book is concise but serves as a good introduction to interested readers. In other words, I hope they will write better books about Cunanan than this, though "Death at Every Stop" is adequate.

This book was the only book on Cunanan for a time. It reads like a hurriedly put-together book to cash in on the Cunanan frenzy created after the murder of Gianni Versace. I wondered how the author was able to get into Cunanan's head during his killing spree, and this tended to fictionalize the book. A more in-depth book on the Cunanan case is needed in order for the reader to get a better understanding of it.

This guy ought to be sued by The Washington Post for his word-for-word article rip-offs. You'd think he spoke with Cunanan via some channeler of the dead by the way he gives the intimate details of Andy's thoughts and motives. But I must say, it's chock full of delerioiusly scandalous rumors regurgitated as fact, nearly all of them undocumented, unnamed sources -- "a close friend" and "a famous hollywood star." This book has been a great source of inspiration for my own web site about Andrew -- but honestly, I couldn't even finish the whole thing, because it drags on worse than the 21-word title.

I have read alot of true crime books, and this one was the most unbelievable. They way it was written - like the author knew what was going on in the mind of the killer - which is impossible (since he was by himself all the time after he killed those people.. I would not recommend this book.

This ridiculous book not only misspells the names and locations of principal characters, actions, etc., but also capitalizes on the most virulent and brainless homophobia the craven author could pander to. A truly worthless , meretricious effort, written exclusively for money, with no larger purpose than to titillate imbeciles.

The author has falsified a life for Andrew Cunanan--a life mostly unsubstantiated by any facts. The bombastic writing seems intended to shock--but is there anyone who's going to read this who is as shocked (and unknowledgeable) about gays as Wensley Clarkson? His ham-fistedness is amusing at times in its over-the-top, 1950s style moralism and it's pathetic efforts to shock. To wit, here's Clarkson on "San Francisco's gay population": "The city overflowed with nightlife in the early 1990s. But it was a labyrinthine in the extreme, with a very serious sadomasochistic community, a body piercing epidemic, and a lot more besides." Also, his assumption that Cunanan was HIV-positive has been proven false by the twice-leaked autopsy report. (The rumor was begun by an unscupulous San Diego AIDS counselor. Fie on him.)

With each turn of the page, you'll find yourself drifting deeper into a tale of lies and errors, than being confronted by the truth of Andrew Cunanan and his blood-stained killing spree. Wensley Clarkson tries to unlock the mystery from beyond the grave and invite you into the world of Andrew Cunanan in pursuit of finding the reasons for his madness that held the country prisoner for three burning summer months. I believe Wensley Clarkson intended to shock, thrill and entertain his readers, but not with the truth. I came across a great deal of inaccuracies in this book, which lead to many misperceptions. In "Death At Every Stop", Clarkson portrays Cunanan's childhood as a difficult and unhappy one, claiming Andrew endured physical abuse from his father and was smothered by his mother's strick religious beliefs. Nothing could be further from the truth. Andrew Cunanan grew up in a very loving enviroment with parents who showered him with much affection. Clarkson goes on to describe in detail of certain events in Cunanan's life, such as Cunanan being at war with his mother over his homosexuality and another time where he's working the Hollywood streets in drag making a quick buck. Not true at all. These events never existed. Anyone who has done research on this case and it's background would know that Andrew Cunanan never declared his homosexuality to his family and his mother never confronted him with the issue even with suspicion in mind. There's also no evidence that proves he clicked his heels on Santa Monica Blvd. Another problem I found while reading this book, is that Wensley Clarkson takes his readers behind closed doors by recounting every move Cunanan made and every word exchanged between him and his victims. How can this be? Noone was there with Cunanan to see or hear anything go on. These are just false immpressions. In addition to these flaws, Clarkson also exaggerated various pieces of evidence found at some of the crime scences. Furthermore, the story included inaccurate dates. Incorrect dates may seem minor, but it changes the course of events and puts Cunanan in the wrong places at the wrong times. I was very disappointed with "Death At Every Stop" and feel it does'nt tell the true story of Andrew Cunanan and his life. This book will only misinform the readers and misguide them into believing a story of falsehoods.