Customer Reviews

Invisible Darkness: The Strange Case Of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Unlike some of the other books about Paul and Karla Bernardo, this book balances the facts, and the blame for the horrific murders, fairly.

The story seems to be told from an unbiased point of view and delves into the early lives of both Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo offering the reader a greater insight into the minds of these two coldblooded killers.

The book is a disturbing read because it deals with horrendous crimes but in my opinion, it is the best of the books written to date about this deadly duo.

Two beautiful, successful, youthful people, a husband and wife who live the middle class lifestyle with all the trimmings, nice house, fancy car, good jobs. Could they also kidnap, rape, torture and murder? Many of us would be tempted to say "No!" The good folks in our neighbourhood of manicured lawns, backyard barbeques, and Sunday suppers with the in-laws assume that the trappings somehow shield us from the dark side of human nature. And that is the horror of this story. It is not that Paul Bernardo traveled around his community, stalked and raped women. Nor is the horror that Paul and his wife Karla drugged, raped, and murdered Karla's fifteen year old sister. Nor is it in this couple kidnapping, raping, torturing, murdering, and mutilating other teenage girls. The horrorific aspect is in the response of those who are charged, sworn and paid to protect the rest of us from these sorts of criminals. As I read, I kept thinking that if this were not so tragic, it would be funny, a regular comedy of errors. Police and prosecutors who can only see the superficial appearances of the Bernardo's life style and who are blinded to what they had and could do. But then, I had to ask, isn't that how I think? Am I not blinded to the good or evil in others by the cut of their hair, their clothes, or where they live? And when the stumbling and fumbling of the investigators was caught out, what of their often sleazy attempts to cover themselves. In the name of protecting the memories of the innocent victims and their grieving families, the courts, the police and the prosecutors have done all in their powers to suppress this story. In fact, as I write this, the author of this book is once again being prosecuted by the government of Ontario simply because he dared to expose their incompetance. When the power stucture finally gets through with Mr Williams, I look forward to reading his book on how his own trials with exposing this part of the coverup.

Although I couldn't set this book aside without wanting to read more, it's not for the faint of heart. The details can be quite graphic at times, which was not exactly necessary to tell this horrific story, but it definately put into context how truly psycopathic Paul Bernardo and Karla Holmoka are. What really amazed me is the fact that neither of them is remorseful for what they did to those poor young girls. Mr. Williams does seem to focus more on Karla in this book, which lets us see that she may have been the true mastermind of all the crimes commited, but I would have liked to have read more on Paul as well. The only possible complaint that I could have about this story is that sometimes Mr. Williams jumped around with some details and also there were too many names associated with this case to keep straight. I was astounded that the police could "bungle" the investigations so badly, maybe those three girls would be alive today if Paul Bernardo was stopped earlier than he had been. I can't quite comprehend why the police settled themselves on facts which proved to be incorrect. It's as if they walked around with blinders on instead of meticulously checking out every piece of evidence. This is absolutely worth the read and it shows the great injustice served to all the victims of the sick minds of Paul and Karla. They should rot in jail, and I'm not talking about "country clubish", I'm talking about hard time in general population. Let's see how long they survive there!

I have now finished the 3rd and final story on this very derranged couple... I very much liked this book because I think it tells the truth about Karla more than the other 2 books, which i also liked...Karla was not a victim, there is no one in this universe that can make you do the kinds of horrific acts that Karla did along side her sicko husband, unless you weren't from the same mind frame, I still after reading 3 books can not believe what she did to her sister let alone all the other girls...The fact that she allowed Paul to even think he could violate Tammy and gave him permission acting in concert with him brings total chills down my spine and in each book there was never any remorse..Paul deserves the electric chair, but Karla if i were a prosecutor i would try and find every reason to renege that deal they made her and keep her behind bars and if that parole system in canada allows her to get out before her due date that would be an all time sin...When the time was right she told all when it suited her. How her parents could even look at her is beyond me she had everything to do with her sisters death if not more ...Anyway this book is realy good well written !

The story of the monstrous Paul Bernardo and his disgusting and self-serving psychopathic wife Karla Homolka is enough to gag a maggot and send readers screaming for a series of scalding showers. The story itself is so nauseating, so repulsive, that it almost begs the question of why anyone would even want to write it down.
Nevertheless, if you can stomach the facts of the case (and many will not be able to do so) this is a well-written, clear and disinterested piece of reporting. I don't remember when I have been as repelled by a couple of perps as by these two. Particularly engaging is the elegant frou-frou wedding in upscale Niagara-on-the-Lake, which Homolka forced on her parents even as they grieved the death of their young daughter whom the bride and groom had killed just months before in one of their squirrely, drug-fueled sex games.

I have to say, every review here urged me even further toward buying this book, so I finally did and I don't regret one second spent on reading it either. Absolutely wonderful. I have been a true crime buff ever since I was around 11-12 years old, when I used my allowance each week to purchase True Detective magazines, True Crime Story magazines, True Story magazines, etc.... I read the first magazine and I was hooked totally. As I grew up, I went on to books, instead of just magazines, and I must say, I probably couldn't stop if I wanted to, I don't think..ha!

This couple is absolutely disgusting and what they did, absolutely horrible. Of course, we have had worse here in the US, but maybe that is what drew me to this story, that it actually happened somewhere else besides in the USA. No, we aren't the only country to have such gruesome murders, or killers. These people deserve to spend the rest of their lives in prison, never to see freedom again, and this includes Karla. I cannot believe that it is possible she could get out early. She best be afraid, from what I have read about all of this, and her case. She probably won't be very safe after all they have done, just to be honest!! She should be scared stiff. Not only that, I have no doubt that she is a true crazy, sick-o, and would probably do this again if she hooked up with someone like herself again. She should never be allowed to leave prison, in my opinion, and is just as guilty as Paul. 100%!! I highly recommend this book and can hardly wait to read the others on this case. I plan to get the hard cover edition with all the photo's also.

Sick. Karla and Paul are, without as doubt, two of the most vile, malligned creatures on this planet. As if it isn't bad, sick and twisted enough to accost, assault, and kill a perfectly innocent stranger snatched off the street...these two wind up acting out their perversions on a young family member as well!!!

Once the case burst open and both were arrested, Karla was more concerned about safely getting her possessions out of the house than helping the police find out the truth behind the gruesome torture, rape, murder of three young women! She had the audacity to wear the Mickey Mouse watch-that had belonged to one of the victims-during a police interview/interrogation!!!

And to add further insult to injury, Karla has been offered an early out from prison! Nervermind the eternal prison the families of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffee (sic) live and suffer in...just make an accomplice to the rapes and murders of their daughters happy, huh?

I cannot imagine what Karla's family is thinking-she is on videotape as an active participant in the drugging, raping, and subsequent death of her teenage sister-and yet they still support her and plan to welcome her back into their home once released from prison!!!

Man oh, man, you talk about Dysfunction fest...

Read this book and you'll find out all you need to know about the two most evil people in recent memory. Stephen Williams covers every detail in his study of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, and the rapes and murders of Tammy Homolka, Leslie Mahaffy, and Kristen French. Every horrid detail. This book is not for the easily disturbed. Williams leaves nothing out, not the details of the rapes and murders, not one iota of personal information -- he even includes addresses of the victims' families. Therein lies the one major flaw of this book -- overinformation. A good editor would have trimmed 200 pages from this book and Williams still would have told the entire story. Still, Williams has proven himself an excellent researcher, and an adequate writer. It's only too bad that our society continues to give writers like Williams fodder for future books.

Chilling, disturbing, compelling, intriguing. These are just some of the adjectives I'm choosing to describe Stephen Williams account of the Bernardo/Holmolka murder case.

Several times, I found myself having to put the book down simply because of the horror these two people acted upon. However, I continued to come back--in part because of William's straigh-forward, almost journalistic approach to telling their horrific story.

I've done some research on this case, and from what I can tell, William's account is the most accurate. I would most certainly recommend this book for people interested in true crimes. When I finished the book, I felt I had ample facts and evidence to draw my conclusions about both Karla and Paul -- I conclude, that Karla despite her obvious, outward beauty, and Paul, her pradatory, punk husband, both are pure evil and the devil incarnate.

Fabulously disturbing read!

I have followed (and still am following) this gruesome trail of horror that this couple created. After reviewing thousands of sources that relate to this topic I could only find minimal diffences from those to this book. I recommend this book to anybody interested in this case or any true crime novel