Needle Work [Paperback]

Fred Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001

On a snowy November day in 1997, in Flint, Michigan, police found the body of 45-year-old waitress Nancy Billiter. Her corpse had survived a botched attempt to burn it. An autopsy revealed that she'd been bound, beaten, sexually violated, and then injected with a lethal mixture of battery acid and heroin. Police suspected Nancy's friend, Carol Giles, and Giles's boyfriend, Tim Collier, who had often boasted of a murderous gangland past. As the law's noose tightened around Giles and Collier, each fingered the other for the murder. Collier tried to hang another crime on Giles-the murder of her 500-pound, diabetic husband. But investigators soon learned the shocking truth. That the cold-blooded couple killed Jessie Giles with a heroin-laced insulin "hot shot" and that Nancy, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, was the next to die. Now the two vicious killers would spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Pinnacle (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786012013
• ISBN-13: 978-0786012015
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,897,128 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT TRUE CRIME BOOK!, June 13, 2002

By 

Gene Collins (Paramus, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Needle Work (Paperback)

I read true crime all the time and I really liked this one. I have read some of the author's other true crime books, including Deacon of Death and Lobster Boy. This one is just as good and in some ways, better.

The story is as old as time itself: a romantic triangle that turns foul. The twist, though, is these aren't good guys. These are clever drug dealers and murderers who are brought to ground by two dedicated and intelligent cops.

The courtroom scenes at the end where Carol testifies had me on the edge of my seat. A great read! I recommend this book highly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This is not a book about cross stitching, March 10, 2002

By 

TundraVision (o/~ from the Land of Sky Blue Waters o/~) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Needle Work (Paperback)

There were some darkly crafty goings-on in the house in West Bloomfield Township, MI, just blocks from the Police Department. This is one of the most unsettling true-crime books I have read, expanding the horrific answer to the Shadow's question: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men (and women?)" This sadistic duo is right down there with Homolka/Bernardo. Carol mixes the unthinkable - sadistically torturing and murdering her best friend in the basement, with the mundane - going upstairs to wake up her young children and get them ready for the schoolbus.

Author Fred Rozen unfortunately imitates Ann Rule: He keeps telling the reader how "beautiful" and "handsome" the perpetrators are. Read of their deeds, look at their pictures, and judge for yourself.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Do not waste your time., August 9, 2008

By 

Nancy A. Hudson "readinginminnesota" (Willmar, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Needle Work (Paperback)

This is one of the most poorly written true crime books I have read. Multiple errors..whether typo or not....are not acceptable in ANY book. It was poorly presented, poorly researched and just plain uninteresting. Why anyone would even care about these people enough to write about them is the first question. Low life druggies with no life behind or ahead of them. The only ones I felt sorry for were the kids. Having lived 6 years in Flint, I can say that Collier was just one of the most stupid of the many criminals who live there. The only one stupider was Giles and why Billiter hung with these people is beyond me. She actually seemed to have something going for her for a while. But even with this pathetic cast of characters I can say that any other good TC writer could have made this a better story to tell. To even put Rule's name in the same paragraph with Rosen is ridiculous. I will probably avoid all of his books if they are as bad as this one was.