Customer Reviews

Hello Charlie: Letters from a Serial Killer

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

 

 

So far, this fascinating criminal investigator's journal/report, presented to the general public as a true-crime book, has two Amazon.com reviews - one awarding it 4 stars and a misguided 2. I believe that the book deserves a 5 for its absorbing detailed character studies and how the lay reader is taken into the internal process of a veteran criminal investigator's riddle-solving gift. The very elaborate details regarding the lives and personal characteristics of the detectives involved are one of the many points that make this book unique. And, the organization and titles of the chapters of the book provide subtext as extra food-for-thought for the careful reader.

As you read this review, please consider that one of the authors - Charlie Hess - has more insight into the human condition and psychological complexities of the criminal mind than most of us ever will accomplish. The man has been a CIA operative and FBI agent, has amassed decades of experience with the polygraph process and methods of interpreting human responses and behavior and is a nationally-respected criminal investigator without peer. But he is far more than that. Mr. Hess is also a very wise empirical philosopher of the rarest form. He is the very antithesis of naïve and gullible, alluded to by one of the other raters here.

Hunt the long passages in this book for Easter eggs and wise insights into what we as people are and how we brutalize as we simultaneously cherish each other. And follow the predator/prey theme here wherein roles continuously change as the serial killer becomes the predator and back again as he is hunted down psychologically by these gifted hunters. The serial-killer subject and surface theme of this book - transparently highly-manipulative Robert Brown - is but a hook for a very expansive hat.

If you were to randomly select any one of the Best Sellers in the True Crime genre, you would be hard-pressed to tell them apart - originality has gone missing. With Hello Charlie, what you get is the absence of the obligatory banal forensic pictures of the corpses and crime scenes and the usually shallow life portraits of the cast of characters. And that makes for real True Crime drama - it is an internal journey. As the reader you have to actively engage your mind's eye to make the visuals come to life; and that makes for a great read. This book definitely is better than "the movie" would be.

Though I have seen a legion of fascinating real-life cases as a professional in the criminal justice field for over three decades now, this rare book totally captivated my attention. But I had to read it twice. It was in the second reading when the real gems here became apparent.

This rare book is priceless. It should be studied by all who appreciate true crime with a very creative philosophical twist and the under appreciated gifted trackers who chase down the psychologically pre-determined to brutalize and hunt down their own species.

Five big stars for Hello Charlie.

Books on serial killers are hardly rare, and most of them are written in a novelistic way that causes them to sensationalize the crime. This book is not your average true crime story, and rather than titillate the reader, it provides insights not usually found in most books of the genre.

The book begins by detailing the disappearance of Heather Dawn Church from her home in the suburbs of Colorado Springs. It details the efforts to attempt to find her and the person responsible for her abduction. From that point, it shifts to the lives of the three men who would ultimately come together to work as volunteers on cold cases.

After a relatively brief view into the apprehension and conviction of her killer, as well as his appeals, the book shifts focus again and begins to look at the aftermath of the crime. Robert Browne, who pled guilty to her murder, sent an interesting letter to the DA after he had lost all courtroom battles. The letter suggested that there were more bodies to be found, and that Browne was the responsible party.

The book is a wonderful look at the way a crime is solved; not with bells and whistles, but with long, hard work. It is also a look, in depth, into the game of cat and mouse that is played by the hunted and the hunters. It offers an interesting look into the mind and psyche of a serial killer.

There are no pictures, and this is not a "sensational" true crime story. Rather it is a methodical look at how police work is done in the real world. An excellent read, if you are not looking for the titillation factor.

As far as true crime goes, this book was quite a disappointment. It wasn't particularly gripping, it doesn't draw particularly strong portraits of the victims, and even the three self-appointed cold case detectives seem a bit dull.

Among other problems in the text, there is entirely too much background information given for each person working the case. I started skipping many pages of this material because it simply wasn't interesting. The writing style of the book just wasn't gripping, and a great deal of material could have been cut out. The narrative gets quite sidetracked more than once.

And some words on the "serial killer" label on the title page: it's there to sell books. The detectives were unable to locate or identify many of the victims pointed out by Browne (the killer). In fact, the impression I got from this is that Browne, like some other killers before him, was playing with detectives, upping the number of so-called kills in order to get attention and privileges. Browne is an unreliable speaker, and you begin to feel that the narrator is unreliable just for telling you all of this without ever taking a long, long hard look at Browne's credibility.

While it seems likely that Browne killed multiple times, the book makes little effort to apply psychology to why Browne claims all of these kills now. Most true crime readers are probably used to a bit of psychology in their reading, and they should be warned that it is quite absent here. This is much more of the old-fashioned-detective-work, gumshoe, knock-on-doors (no CSI) approach to crime-solving. Such a book could have made for a very intersting departure from the norm, but, again, for the reasons listed above, it does not. A little psychology would help shore up the book's crumbling foundations.

Another warning to true crime fans: you're probably used to seeing pictures of the detectives, snapshots of the victims while alive, perhaps crime scenes. This book has no photos. I'm not trying to be ghoulish; I'm just pointing out a departure from the norm.

All in all, this was not a satisfactory experience. A week after reading the book, I can recall only a few details about the central victim and can say very little about the killer. What I do remember is frustration with the text and annoyance with the detectives' seemingly endless credulity.

I found this to be an inspiring book. Sometimes I become cynical and I think, this is the age of the mass produced soul. What does it matter
if this person disappears. So many people disappear, and there are so many to take their place.

Yet, in this book they matter. To the Apple Dumpling Gang, not only
the victims count, but their families count as well. I thought the authors'
words on page 278 summed it up: "We've taken on a responsibility to the victims and their families...It's another kind of justice...long range, outside the system...a human consideration." They truly give of themselves.
It's not just a job to them. In my mind, they are among the unsung,
rarely honored, heroes that walk, unrecognized, among us.

Enjoyed the read but the book never seemed to catch my imagination or give me some new insight. The people in the book are all interesting and have lead some interesting lives but in the the end I didn't feel like I really got to know these them. May be a little feel of hero worship to me.