Customer Reviews

Evidence Of Murder: A Twisted Killer's Trail of Violence

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

 

 

This is a story about a man, John Huggins, who kidnaped and murdered engineer and new mother Carla Larson when she went to a supermarket at lunch time. It is unlike most true crime books I have read in that it is difficult to tell which perspective is used by the author. There is not much said about the victim or her family, so although you feel horrible about the crime, there are no "bonds" created in the book. Most of the trial was covered with little attention paid to the important parts but way too much time spent on irrelevant things (i.e., "The following morning Jeff Ashton wore a conservative blue suit and his lightly gray streaked brown hair was carefully combed. As his bright brown eyes panned across the faces of the jurors, he began in a confident voice." The author then describes Ashton's "dramatic closing" argument without sharing any of that drama with the reader). The book is written like a screenplay, with way too much of it being quotations that are completely irrelevant and very boring (i.e., "Ashton smiled at his partner. 'Whew! This Tampa heat sure gets to me. We've walked two blocks and I'm wringing wet. My shirt is sticking to me.' 'Me too. It seems to me that Tampa is so much hotter than Orlando. Or is this just a heat wave or something? Either way I'll be glad to get inside and cool off.' When seated, Ashton reached for the menu. 'What looks good to you, Jim?' 'Something cold' he answered. 'Yeah, and a big glass of iced tea with lots of ice.'" This was the part of the book talking about the "dramatic" trial. Much of the book sounds like the author was an uninformed observer: "public defender Bob Wesley leaned his body toward Huggins and made some comment to his client, then turned to address the court and jury". What was the comment? If we don't know, why is that relevant? Repeatedly, people were described as "rising to his full six-foot-height", like they would otherwise slump to half their height? The irrelevant comments, the screenplay writing, and the lack of emotional bonding with the characters made this book less than a pleasure to read. I recommend "A Killer Among Us" by Charles Bosworth, Jr., as an example of how a writer can emotionally attach the reader to the story's characters and present the trials in an interesting and dramatic way.

If this book had been sold as fiction it would have been rejected because of the corny dialogue the entire thing is written in. Apparently the author has never read a true crime book. Most are written as narratives. I don't see anywhere a note from the author that dialogue has been reconstructed or imagined, which it had to have been. Don't waste money on this one, or time; it's not even worth reading as a library book.

Wow. What can I say but that reading all of the dialog between the two main detectives wore me OUT. I tried really hard like it, but abandoned it less than half-way through, because there was more mundane dialog than there was action or story.

I'm a true crime fan, so when I saw this book at the Dollar Tree, I figured I would give it a shot. Now I know why it was in there.

The problem with the story is the case isn't that compelling or interesting. It reads like it could've been done in narrative form in about 50 pages. Unfortunately, it's lengthened out by terrible dialogue. Within the first couple of chapters, the author goes on to mention the detectives working the case had a long history together, but their conversations read like two amateur sleuths making conversation by repeatedly stating the obvious mixed with groaning witticisms from the 70's.

I actually feel a little bad for the author, who probably spent too long researching the story to abandon it, and had to produce something. Too bad this was the something.

Has author Samuel Roen ever listened to anyone converse? Apparently not, because his dialogue as related in Evidence of Murder was horrible; who talks like the individuals in this book? No one that I know, and especially not detectives.

But...if you can get through the cheesy dialogue, there is an interesting story here. Roen relates the story of Carla Larson who fell pray to a random act of violence leading to her death by John Huggins, a career thief and wife beater turned murderer. Most interesting is that her husband, Jim Larson, lost his sister to serial killer Danny Rollings just a short time before his wife's demise. Who thinks that random killing can strike one family twice?!

Evidence of Murder by Samuel Roen is difficult to read. The story of Carla Larson would have been best suited written by someone with experience in the true crime genre. I DO NOT recommend this book, even for rainy day reading.

Carla Ann Loman Larson was a beloved wife and mother as well as sister and daughter. She was also intelligent and dedicated to her career as an architect. She was working in the Orlando area when she went to Publix supermarket where she was abducted, raped and murdered by John Huggins who was supposed to be with his family on a vacation at Gatorland. Then he steals her white Ford SUV and later burns it to the ground in Florida. His wife, Angel Huggins, helps the investigators connect him to the murder as does the eyewitnesses. Carla's body laid for a few days being infested by bugs and maggots. There was no real motive for the crime except that he is a criminal. Her husband, Jim Larson, already suffered enough when his sister was also murdered at college by a serial killer. You don't doubt that the husband suffered enough because in most cases, it's the spouse that did it. Until a co-worker of Carla called him, he had no reason to worry and then he worried when he couldn't find her. I wished the best for the Larson family as others who go through the nightmare of a stranger killing another. The book is one of hundreds of true crime books, it's not my favorite but it's decently written.

THIS BOOK IS WELL WROTE BY SAMUEL ROEN AND AS A PERSON CLOSE TO THE CRIME I FOUND THAT ITS VERY FACTUAL AND ROEN DID'NT MISS ANYTHING. THE POOR LARSONS HAVE ENDURED SO MUCH SINCE THE TRAUMA OF DANNY ROLLING AND HERE THEY ARE FACED WITH THE SAME CRIME ONLY 10 YEARS OR SO LATER WITH THEIR BELOVED DAUGHTER IN LAW CARLA LARSON A BUILDING ENGINEER WORKING ON THE FAMED DISNEY PROPERTY WHEN SHE LEFT FOR A SHORT TIME FOR LUNCH, A SHORT DISTANCE FROM WHERE SHE WAS WORKING TO THE PUBLIX GROCERY STORE IN KISSIMMEE WHERE AFTER PURCHASING HER LUNCH SHE WAS KIDNAPPED BY AN EVIL CRIMINAL LOOKING FOR A NICE SUV AND CARLA HAPPENED TO BE RIGHT THERE!ALREADY A CAREFUL PERSON BECAUSE OF THE PREVIOUS FAMILY MURDER SHE WAS DRIVEN IN THE WOODS OF DISNEY WORLD TO HER FAIT WHERE SHE WAS STRANGLED AND BEAT MERCELESSLY BY JOHN HUGGINS A "VERY WELL KNOWN KILLER" FROM HIS PAST PRIOR FELONY'S.HE WAS SEEN DRIVING HER TRUCK BY MANY PEOPLE INCLUDING HIS MOTHER IN LAW AND ESTRANGED WIFE AND ALL 3 OF HIS KIDS.. HE ALSO TAUNTED HIS AQUAINTENCES BY CALLING THEM ON THE PHONE WITH "YOUR SITTING RIGHT ON IT" STATEMENTS,MEANING THE FACT THAT HE HID THE EVIDENCE "CARLAS BELOVED PENDANT FROM HER EMPLOYER THAT SHE PROUDLY WORE EVERY DAY, AS WELL AS HER RINGS AND CLOTHES.HE HAD 2 TRIALS WHERE HE WAS SENTENCED TO THE DEATH PENALTY EACH TIME BUT REFUSES TO ACCEPT HIS FATE BESTOWED UPON HIM BY THE JUSTICE SYSTEM. AS OF NOW HE SITS ON DEATH ROW IN A PRISON IN STARKE FLORIDA WITH NO AIR CONDITIONING SUFFERING AND AWAITING HIS DEATH.. THIS BOOK IS EXTREMELY FACTUAL AND IT MOVES VERY FAST SAMUEL ROEN IS GREAT AT HIS INFORMATION AND TELLS IT LIKE IT IS .. I ALSO FEEL THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN FLORIDA WORKS EVEN IF IT MEANS YOU WILL SUFFER FROM DEATH FOR YOUR CRIMES AND JOHN HUGGINS IS CERTAINLY ONE OF THEM THAT DESERVES WHAT HE GETS!!HE ALSO HAS A PERSONAL NOW ON A PRISON WEBSITE AND STILL REFUSES TO ACCEPT HIS GUILT BY HOPING THAT SOME OTHER LONELY GIRLS WILL WRITE TO HIM ON DEATH ROW! MY ADVICE WRITE ONLY HATE MAIL! HE DID THIS CRIME AND SHOULD SUFFER AS HIS VICTIM DID! HE HAD NO MERCY ON HER SO THEY SHOULD SHOW NO MERCY ON HIM!

What makes this story even sadder is that the victim's husband lost his sister to a serial murderer years before. Now his beloved wife and the mother of his small child is kidnapped and brutally murdered. Carla Larson had alot to live for: A husband and child, a good job, and friends who cared for her. The pathetic killer who deserves the same death, tried his hardest to hide the crime, but good detective work got him behind bars.