Customer Reviews

Fatal Identity

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

 

 

A man seems to be missing. A headless, handless body turns up hundreds of miles away. Are they the same? This a quite a tale of blind love, trust and betrayal. This is my first foray into this genre and I was hooked right away. Barton takes the facts and weaves a story that keeps you interested from the start. Somehow she is able to take what could be a confusing story, full of disparate parts, and weave them into a very intriguing mystery. In one sense it's a sort of a real life "Who done it". The fact that it is all true, only adds to the drama. It'll keep you guessing till the end.

As a member of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's award-winning investigative reporting team, Gina Barton is a reporter's reporter, and her first book shows potential for greatness in future narrative efforts. "Fatal Identity", I happen to know from being a Milwaukee resident when the crime was committed, left cold, then re-opened and miraculously solved, is a story so bizarre that it couldn't possibly be made up. Barton knows her subject well (she covered it for several years) and approaches her first book with a journalist's love of thoroughness and a matter-of-fact tone that's consistent throughout. I wonder if it might have flowed more dramatically with a bit more flourish in the prose, but I wasn't put off by its straightforward approach. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who studies American killers, thieves and other misanthropes.

This crime involved people close to me and my family. I found the book to be an accurate and interesting read. Many of the things reveled were new to me as it includes the inner working of all the agencys involved and what it took to bring this to the correct conclusion.

It is hard to believe a person could actually commit such a strange and brutal crime. This book provides a powerful look into the mind of a troubled man who is trying to find a way out of the life that he created for himself. He is able to manipulate his circumstances and the people around him to an unbelievable extent. It is obvious that the author thoroughly researched the crime and is an expert on the intricacies of the events that took place. Great read.

This book is a well written, carefully researched account of a bizarre crime that attracted local interest in Milwaukee, Fargo and other parts of the Midwest. It ultimately attracted national interest when the author appeared on MSNBC to discuss the murder. The author takes a detailed look at the motivation and background of this disturbed killer. This book is a quick, yet intense read.

The book was very poorly written. The author fails to clarify the facts and it's very hard to follow.