Customer Reviews

Evil Twins: Chilling True Stories of Twins, Killing and Insanity (St. Martin's True Crime Library)

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

 

 

This was one book in a grab bag lot of used true crime that I got in an auction. I'm glad I didn't buy it new, since after reading it I'd rather not contribute to the author's pocket book with royalties.

The subject matter the author chose was interesting and I was hoping for some psychological insight to think about. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The only reason I gave this book two stars instead of the one the author deserves for his writing is that I did manage to scour some interesting tidbits from the facts here and there and others may well do the same, since several of these cases are not well publicized.

The author almost immediately establishes himself as an unreliable narrator by choosing to fictionalize many scenes, peppering them with information he cannot possibly know. As a reader, this strikes me as a ploy to keep the reader from guessing he has not done much original research on the cases by simulating knowledge. My impression was that this book was lifted piecemeal from media coverage.

To further add insult to his subject matter, he not only fictionalizes the scenes, taking unforgivable liberties, he over indulges in adverbs and adjectives, making the tragedies he's describing remind me of a Monty Python farce.

Rather than continue my little diatribe, I'll let the author kill potential sales himself with a quote taken from the book:

"Her eyes blazed as she walked into the bedroom with the knife hidden behind her.

"'Can you come downstairs for a second, honey?' she called gently..."

Skipping forward a paragraph, as she gets her young son down to the kitchen, the author continues with what appears to be glee, letting loose with some of the worst prose I've ever seen slathered on a page.

"The boy screamed as he saw the flash of the long steel knife she was holding.

"'No, Mom! No, Mom!' he shouted as his mother began stabbing him.

"Clee screamed in pain as she plunged the knife into his chest and the blood spurted. He began running away...Jane chased him out of the kitchen and into the backyard as he desperately pleaded with her to stop.

"Finally, his mother cornered him against the garden wall and began thrusting the long knife into his throat and chest. She kept plunging it in again and again until his anguished cries turned to whimpers, finally stopping altogether. The tears rolled down her face as she dragged her son's blood-soaked body back into the kitchen and left him on the floor."

Keep in mind that this scene describes the behavior of individuals who did not survive to tell the story. While it's entirely possible to track the progress of the murder from the kitchen to the garden with forensics, there is no way to know what was said, if she cried or even if she concealed the knife at all, or lured him from upstairs where he was "reading a fairy-tale book" to his sister as the author alleges, because no one present in the house that day survived to report it.

If the author enjoys evoking the mental image of a small child spraying his life's blood all over his mother and screaming in the agony of death, more power to him.

Myself, I find this sensationalizing abhorrent and I believe it totally undermines the value this book potentially had when it was originally conceived. It leaves me with the impression that the author has a lot in common with the "evil twins" he writes so gleefully about.

I read this book in one sitting. I was mesmerized by the content and the depth of the various stories. It was amazing to me how similar a lot of the twins were in regards to the behavoir pattern. I'll definitely be reading it again. The author has a real way of sucking you into the lives of the twins. I just wanted more information. It was a very good book. I could not put it down!!!!!!

This is a book I finished in one day. I am a major fan of true crime stories and this is one of the best collections I've read in eons, never knew how twins could turn bad! I gathered from many of these stories that there is usually one twin more domineering than the other, something that starts in infancy. Some stories are really horrifying, others are just plain outrageous. Every one is a page turner and you'll never be bored. Highly recommended, especially for those fascinated by the study of twins. I gave the book 4 stars due to several typos, but otherwise it's a great read.

Although the book is interesting, the editing in this book is horrid, which makes me wonder about the validity of this book. For example, in one story, there's a person named Shawn. However, possibly in the next sentence the author spelled the name Sean. Just little things like that. And he had quotes from people who were no longer living. If it's a book based on true crime, there shouldn't be any embellishments. It's was okay, but certainly not the best true crime book.

I really likes this book. John Glatt is always a great story teller. I didn't buy it at first because of the 3 star review. I found it at a used book store and I'm really glad I did. All the stories are unbelievable and reads like fiction. You can never go wrong with a book by this author. I have now read all of his books and they are all good..... look out Ann Rule. It is so nice to find such a good true crime writer

Interesting book, but because it is just short stories, the personalities were not developed enough to give them depth. It made it difficult to really try to understand the motivations.

When I was pregnant, I often wished for twins - just get it out of the way at once. Give each child a sibling.....what was I thinking of? This creepy tour through twins true crime and the irrevocable bonds of dual psychosis was not the usual real life crime book. I became increasingly uncomfortable as I read first the deed and then the personal history of the twins which led up to it. It was interesting and yet garishly tabloid-like and left me feeling even more disturbed than usual. Not for the squeamish.