Customer Reviews

Into the Deep: The Hidden Confession of Natalee's Killer

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3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is one of the most fascinating and absorbing books I've read in a long time - and I've read a bunch. Dr. Hodges does an outstanding job, first of introducing us to a branch of forensic science that most of us are not familiar with (and he appears to be the foremost practitioner in the world today), and then of applying his training and experience to what sounds like it could be one of the saddest crimes of modern times.

Dr. Hodges is a leading profiler in the world of forensic documents/interrogations, but he has taken such investigations to a whole new level by reading deeper messages than other document analysts. In fact, Hodges also makes the case that he spots valuable forensic documents, such as emails, that go completely overlooked by other analysts. For example, the five-page email on which much of this book is based was available to the FBI and others but was apparently ignored.

This is not Hodges' first book but it is certainly an exhaustive demonstration of how his technique, known as "thoughtprint decoding," actually works - and how it can be so effective. This book proves that "the best investigator and the best source of evidence on the scene of any crime is always the perpetrator himself," who Hodges believes almost always wants to confess.

Certainly this case bears him out. As everyone with a television or a newspaper knows, the young, blond, and beautiful Natalee Holloway disappeared on the last night of a holiday stay on Aruba on the last day of May, more than two years ago - and hasn't been heard from since. No one seems to doubt that the three young men who were with that night know things they are not telling about her disappearance. But as the father one of the three prime suspects said, "No body, no crime." And that's the way it was until one of the three sent that long email to a friend in the United States, which reads like a classic "He doth protest too much!" statement straight out of Amazing Tales.

I highly recommend this book. If anything, the author is even more convincing and more thorough than he needed to be to make his case - a truly compelling case against those three young men, who have so far "skated free" but may eventually be in for a big surprise of their own.

I am familiar w/ Dr. Hodges' previous books, esp the ones about the Jon Benet Ramsey case. I guess you could say I got 'hooked' on that his word-by-word analysis of the so-called ransom note in Colorado.

Then, when Patsy Ramsey died relatively quickly after her daughter's death, the 'hook' was truly 'set' in my mind and heart. It is no accident, I believe, that Patsy got cancer in the aftermath of that cover-up, so ably profiled by Dr. Hodges at the time.

In similar fashion, I believe the events of recent days (this review being written on 11/24/07) will confirm Dr. Hodges as a true pioneer in criminal profiling. The re-arrest of Joran Van der Sloot and the Calpo brothers is based, I believe, largely on the contents of this book. I understand Dr. Hodges is slated be the subject of an exclusive interview on "At Large w/ Geraldo Rivera" on Fox News Channel tonite, 11/24/07. The world will thus see the brilliance of Dr. Hodges' theory and method. If the new undersea search is at all successful (or even if no body is found), his methodology will prove to be absolutely crucial in finding the answers we have so long sought in the Aruba mystery.

I could write for a long time on the merits of the profile contained in this book, but let me just leave potential readers with this: I couldn't put this book down, even while wincing periodically at the brutal sexual imagery it puts forth. At times, yes, I too found some of his interpretations a bit of a 'stretch.' Yet, as time went by, I must confess that many of my objections are based on my own resistance to the deeper truths Dr. Hodges' method reveals. It's not easy 'medicine' to swallow, and it has taken some time for its veracity to sink in.

In the end, and taking this book as a whole, even my own protestations have steadily been ground to dust by the inescapable realization that Depok's e/mail clearly tips his hand w/ frightening accuracy. In the final analysis, one cannot deny that Depok's seemingly innocuous e/mail sheds brilliant light on the terror Natalie must have experienced at their hands that fateful night.

I don't believe the 3 young men now in custody are guilty of first-degree murder, but certainly they are very probably guilty of the gang rape which led accidentally to her death. I do agree w/ Dr. Hodges that they, or one of their confederates, spiked her drink w/ the date-rape drug that combined so toxically with the alcohol already in her bloodstream.

Thus rape and manslaughter are the appropriate charges which clearly justify their re-arrest and, hopefully, a complete and thorough trial. Such a trial, if the Aruban authorities don't screw it up, will lead us to the answers that have been sadly lacking in the years following Natalie's death.

Dr. Hodges' adept decoding of that long-forgotten e/mail shows us what really happened that night in the Caribbean; read this book and you will see what Deepok's mind is trying is so desperately to tell us, if we will only listen.

I read this and had to put it down several times - I can't being to imagine what Natalee went thru in her last moments... I understand the trauma of being "date raped" but nothing would compare to what this little girl went thru. It may be best that she rest in the arms of her Father now b/c living with those memories would be too much. I'm not going to say I understood everything that was written in this book - I think some things were a blt far reached, but then again I in NO WAY claim to understand the human mind like Hodges - but I will say I could see alot of what he was saying in here and I do understand the human need to confess "sins" be it consciously or unconsciously. I hope he's right in his findings and that the ties that bind Natalee will be broken and her family can have closure.

Into the Deep: The Hidden Confession of Natalee's Killer

Andrew Hodges, forensic psychiatrist, astounds us with his insight into the mysteries surrounding the abduction and death of Natalee Holloway, over two years ago.

The tiny island of Aruba, chosen by Natalee and her friends from High School, to celebrate their graduation, has been the focus of many futile searches, disappointing leads and misinformation.

Dr. Hodges painstakingly cracks the case, by using his breakthrough technique of decoding unconscious messages through analysis of written and aural communication.

Deepak Kalpoe unwittingly provided just what Dr. Hodges needed--a lengthy email written to a friend 5 days after Natalee's disappearance.
Within this email he finds Deepak's confession, his implication of others, discovering what really happened to Natalee, even where her body may be found.

To follow his step by step unravelling of the story is both shocking and riveting.

Dr. Hodges' contribution to the advancement of forensic profiling, called thought-prints, is remarkable science, and brings us ever closer to understanding the depravity of the human soul...

I don't know anyone in Natalee's family, but I have always followed this story closely. I am also a forensic therapist, so I was excited to see this book. I have to say it is the first book I have EVER returned for a refund. It's pure sensationalism. There is a science to analyzing suspects' statements, but there is no science in this author's claims. The claims in this book are so far fetched. This book made me sad that someone would disrespect the family and Natalee so much with the words that are written in this book. I agree with the rest of America that these boys killed her, but this book does nothing to shed light on that. I titled my review such because I can't imagine the heartache if anyone who knows Natalee has read this disgusting, false, sensationalized book.

He claimed he was innocent, but he couldn't stop the terrible truth from rising to the surface...
He is Deepak Kalpoe, one of three prime suspects in the May 30, 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway on the tiny Caribbean island of Aruba. That night, Kalpoe, his brother Satish and his friend Joran van der Sloot drove away from a bar named Carlos 'N Charlie's in Deepak's car. Natalee sat in the backseat. She was never seen again.

Five days after the attractive blonde vanished, Kalpoe wrote a lengthy and ultimately revealing email to a friend. That email tells the whole sordid story of Natalee Holloway's last night.
Because I helped edit this ground-breaking book, I understand its method and its message inside and out. By applying his detailed "thoughtprint decoding" technique to Kalpoe's email, the author, Dr. Andrew Hodges, has effectively turned the Holloway case inside out as well.
Well-recognized as the forensic psychologist who read between the lines of the alleged JoneBenet Ramsey ransom note, Hodges routinely plumbs the depths of the criminal mind where he has invariably discovered perpetrators' irresistible urge to tell the truth.

In Kalpoe's email Hodges found a graphic, sometimes grisly, confession. Kalpoe unconsciously related the real story of what transpired that dark night along the white, sandy beaches of Aruba. In this book, as Hodges translates Deepak's hidden messages scene by scene, he unlocks a Pandora's Box of sexual seduction, drugs and depravity.

Dr. Hodges' meticulous, mind-blowing approach to forensic documents, affidavits and suspect interviews will soon revolutionize the way crimes are investigated worldwide. For now, readers can see for themselves how criminals confess involuntarily as their deeper intelligence, their unconscious minds, paint metaphorical pictures that never fail to show the truth.

I enjoyed reading the book, but some of the things that the author hinged his analysis on, could be interpreted many ways. Another reviewer mentioned that English not being his native tongue, slips/verbiage could be attributed to that. That's true, but I guess one could also argue that maybe slips would be more readily apparent in someone not writing in their native tongue making his conduct more apparent in his words since he's not able to "weasel word" his explanations. But to me, the endorsements of the book/science were few and unknown. Perhaps this forensic science is still so new that we are just learning about it, or its a "junk science." Not sure, but I suggest the reader make his/her opinion. Certainly, profilers do look at writings for hints in a perp's psychological makeup, but whether it paints such a graphic and clear story is doubtful. Finally with the release of VanderSloot's covertly videotaped "confession" which I put more stake in, there was no mention of the K. brothers which makes one wonder.

Dr. Hodges has once again brought a major advance in forensic psychiatry to bear on a highly publicized case. With a deft understanding of the workings of the deepest parts of the mind, Dr. Hodges uses thoughtprint decoding to point to the watery grave of the victim. For readers who only grasp manifest content, the book will seem far fetched. That is completely in line with the understandings of the mind that narrative decoding has revealed. A good job on a highly intriguing case. Harold S. Schaus, Jr. Immediate Past Presidentof the International Society for Communicative Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy.

I'm not easily convinced, but Dr. Hodges' methodical deconstruction of the killer's messages has made me a believer in both his approach to profiling and his conclusions. Can't wait until the sea search confirms the whereabouts of Natalee's body.

I recently read Dr. Hodges' book and in my humble opinion I believe it solves this horrific case. It is far more complex and ugly than most realize. Another writer wrote that perhaps it was God's saving grace that allowed Natalee to die because emotional recovery after such an experience would be next to impossible. If you truly want to know what happened that night in May I recommend this book because I believe it tells the whole shocking story. It brings to life aspects of the case that never crossed my mind but after reading this book it became so logical. There are so many factors that went into this crime from the time Natalee met Joran until her body was disposed of. I highly recommend this book. Judy from PA