Customer Reviews

Murder in the Family (Pinnacle True Crime)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A while ago I read this book after living through this horrific tragedy first hand. In my intitial rating of this book I did not give it a very good rating. I would like to revise it at this time. After giving more thought to this, I realize that the author was just telling the story and not making judgement or light of the incident. Therefore, I would like to let him know it was very well written and thank him for keeping my family members "real people".

One of the best true crime books I've ever read. The case is very disturbing, so be prepared. The crime is real sick, and so is the killer. This book is exceptionally well written, and not easy to put down, but you might have to just to keep from having nightmares about Kirby Anthoney, the young man who raped and murdered his own aunt and her little girls. You might have seen this case on The New Detectives. The book is most interesting in that the author gives as much space to the killer's defense as he does to the prosecution. One of the most shocking true crime books, and one of the best.

Having read and reread MURDER IN THE FAMILY several times, the negative review (huh?) from Seattle is obviously about a different book all together. There are no ballistic tests in the book at all -- this is the story of rape and murder -- the killings accomplished by stangulation, stabbing, and beating. No guns. No bullets. None. There are, however, brilliant insights into the rage released by the psychopath, Kirby Anthoney, provided by Dr. Robert Hare and other experts who work with and/or train the FBI. The dedicated detectives of the Anchorage Homicide Response team, and the crime scene investigators come off as real people wrestling with the intense personal emotions stirred by this most horrid crime -- the rape and murder of two little girls, ages 8 and 2, and their mother. I found the book exceptionally well structured, with easy flow from one chapter to the next, which may be due to the professional editing job we have come to expect from Pinnacle's True Crime series. Obviously researched in depth, and written by an Edgar Award winning author, I suggest this book to anyone who reads true crime, especially if they can keep track of them so they don't post the wrong review about the wrong book. Ballistics, indeed!

This book, and this crime, is heartbreaking, dramatic, touching, and REAL. I was pleased to see Ms Eastman remind readers that this is a TRUE STORY. I don't know if she gave the book only one star because of the painful memories or the nature of my prose. I shall assume for former.

Researching the Newman murders was emotionally draining and painful. My own daughter is only one day younger than Melisa Newman, raped and murdered by Kirby Anthoney. The crime scene photos haunt me to this day. While writing the book, I kept full color school photos of the two little girls taped to my computer monitor so I would never allow myself to forget that they were real people, not characters in a book. When I staarted this project, my friend and fellow true crime author Gary C. King said, "be prepared to cry a lot, and either be loved or hated by the victims' families for telling the story -- some will help, others would rather not. " My other true crime compatriot, Jack Olsen, said that any true crime book that doesn't talk about why and how the killer became a killer is nothing more than pornography.

Having now read my own book, and knowing how difficult these are to write, I honestly give it five stars, with 3 stars of it going to my editor, Karen Haas.

Buy the book, then write your review.

BB

I am not normally the review writing type, but having just completed reading this book i feel compelled to toss my hat into the ring. First off, i was impressed by both the level of research that the author put into this book as well as the compassion he expressed for the victims and their family. I wanted to also point out that although some of the readers might have felat that the story was "boring" (something i can not understand as i found it quite engaging) the subject matter was by no means dealt with lightly by Barer. This book deals with quite a senstive subject, the rape and murder of an innocent woman and her 2 young daughters so bear in mind you will not find yourself smiling much while reading. But the care with which Barer tells the tale is reason enough to read the whole thing cover to cover.

When I started reading this book I could not stop. I really felt for this family. I think Mr. Barer did a very nice job in researching the correct information and writing this book. I still have alot of questions even after finishing the whole book. I'm left wondering what really did occur when the murders took place. Did Nancy the mother have to watch her two children get murdered? Has Kirby Anthony taken responsibility for this gruesome murder, or is he still denying it? The photos of the actual crime scenes were too small to view and in b&w, but the diagrams shown instead were large enough to view and make out the details of the crime. After reading this I still could not stop thinking about the whole story. I did indeed have nightmares. I give this book 5 stars.

The crime is horrid, the killer disgusting, but the book is fantastic. It's hard to believe that this was written by the same guy who wrote HEADLOCK (which I loved,too.) If you're into true crime, this is THE book for you. Gripping,suspensful, and one that compels you to keep turning the pages.

Mr. Barer did a great job researching the correct information for this story. I found alot of the same info in the Anchorage daily news. I couldn't stop reading this book. I still am haunted by these events that took place. I felt almost as if it happened to me. I'm also left wondering what really happened at the time of the murders. If the mother, Nancy, really did watch her two precious daughters get murdered. If she did that would've been even more tragic. I also would like to know if Burl Barer tried to interview this monster. Is he still denying that he did this? The photos of the actual crimes scenes are too small to view and in b&w, but the crime scene diagrams of the actual crime are bigger.

"Murder In The Family" was the most intelligible true crime books I've ever read. It was well organized. However, it contained too much detail of the trial, which is good if you are interested in trials. It also discussed the psychopathology of the antisocial personality in depth and this is what I liked most about it. I did not like this book as much as some of the well-known true crime authors.

Having read and reread MURDER IN THE FAMILY several times, the negative review (huh?) from Seattle is obviously about a different book all together. There are no ballistic tests in the book at all -- this is the story of ... murder -- the killings accomplished by stangulation, stabbing, and beating. No guns. No bullets. None. There are, however, brilliant insights into the rage released by the psychopath, Kirby Anthoney, provided by Dr. Robert Hare and other experts who work with and/or train the FBI. The dedicated detectives of the Anchorage Homicide Response team, and the crime scene investigators come off as real people wrestling with the intense personal emotions stirred by this most horrid crime -- ... I found the book exceptionally well structured, with easy flow from one chapter to the next, which may be due to the professional editing job we have come to expect from Pinnacle's True Crime series. Obviously researched in depth, and written by an Edgar Award winning author, I suggest this book to anyone who reads true crime, especially if they can keep track of them so they don't post the wrong review about the wrong book. Ballistics, indeed!