Customer Reviews

No Room for Doubt

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book almost non-stop over the last two days; it is hard to put down.
It is also hard to categorize. Taken at face value, it is the meticulously researched and skillfully told true story of the vicious murder of a young mother (Dove's own stepmother), a suspenseful, real life "whodunit," set in Central California in the late 1980's. But it is much more than that: It is also a touching memoir of the author's coming of age as a bookish, withdrawn child of divorce, trying repeatedly to have a closer father-daughter relationship. It is the story of that father's agonizing attempts to cope with his own personal demons: three failed marriages, chronic depression, anger, guilt and alcoholism.
But first and foremost it is the inspiring story of the courage, love and perseverance of Jacque MacDonald, the murdered woman's mother, who never gave up her personal, nine-year crusade to find her daughter's killer and bring him to justice. Angela Dove, who was the last person to see the victim alive the night she was brutally killed, was asked by Mrs. MacDonald to write the story of the murder and how it finally empowered her not only to solve the case but also to turn her own tragic loss into a means of reaching out and helping other families of victims all over the US and even abroad. In 2007, Mrs. MacDonald received the National Crime Victims' Service Award from the U.S. Attorney General.

Book Review
NO ROOM FOR DOUBT
By Angela Dove
Berkley Books trade paperback, 2009

Reviewed by: Kathryn Magendie

Angela Dove's debut book NO ROOM FOR DOUBT is a true story of how "one violent moment can changes lives--forever." If one expected Dove's first book to be a humorous jaunt, one would be mistaken, even though Dove has been writing humor columns for six years. Yet, when Jacque MacDonald asked Dove to write the story of her daughter's murder and the hunt for her murderer, Dove took on this task knowing that what she may find could forever alter the relationship she has with her family, most particularly with her Father, Harold Whitlock.

Although Dove's book, on the surface, may center on Debi's mother, the "butterfly effect" on family and friends cannot be ignored. I found that my interest focused on Dove and her father (who is a suspect in his wife's murder). The father-daughter relationship that had been strong before the murder begins to fall apart as Harold's other side is revealed to his daughter--a side Dove is not happy to know, one in which she struggles to compare with the man who has always been her hero. There is the revealing of the events of the crime, and finally, its criminal, but as well, there is the revealing of a man who has lost control of the world in which he needs to feel control over.

Yet one cannot ignore the ferocious determination in which Jacque single-mindedly focuses on finding the evil one who murdered her daughter. And, though suspicion is placed upon Debi's husband Harold, Jacque is convinced someone else committed this crime. She will not stop until the killer is found, and indeed, she is still tirelessly working as an advocate for victims.

Excluding the Introduction, the beginning pages of the book set up the events that occur hours before Debi's death, up to when Harold finds his wife lying in the hallway with her throat slashed open, her naked body posed, her face covered. Harold has been at a bachelor's party. There are questions about when he left the bar, where he was between bar and his mistress (and here Dove finds out just one of the secrets of her father previously unknown to her), how much time lapses that he cannot account for. His erratic behavior when the authorities arrive further pushes Harold into a negative spotlight. The reader wonders: did he do it?

When Jacque first learns of her daughter's murder, she takes to her bed, unable to focus on anything but what her daughter's last hours were, how afraid she must have been, and who could have done this to a woman everyone loved? But as her anger surfaces and takes hold, Jacque finds a core of strength, a determination to find out who took her beautiful girl from her, and from her now motherless granddaughter.

As the book progresses, the "crime drama" recedes and in intersecting chapters Dove gives readers glimpses into her and her father's relationship, both past and as revealed. There is poignancy to Dove's writing in these chapters, and it is here I found a strong and revealing voice, one that I would love to see Dove use again in another book. Though the writing is crisp and strong throughout the novel, in the chapters where Dove writes about her family, and herself, there is a strength and confidence to the language that I responded to.

Quite interesting is Harold Whitlock's "character," and I would read a book just based on this paradoxical man and his family. His tragedy is revealed in the pages of Dove's book, and as one reads, one can see Whitlock begin to fade away as the days, then months, then years go by without a resolution to his wife's murder, and the continuing suspicion surrounding him. It is as if the very life is sucked from Harold Whitlock, leaving behind but a shadow of the man Dove knew as her father--bigger than life, a man of many gifts.

Do not look for the clichéd television crime shows where the "Murder of the Week" is revealed in fast sensational clips, where cops find perpetrators quickly and accurately, where the line between "bad guys" and "good guys" is easily found. Instead, there are gentle moments, there are poignant moments, there are moments when Dove's perplexed naivety are revealed and comparably where she is more Adult than the adults, where a young Dove must face a scrutiny most girls her age do not have to face, where a difficult and complex man begins to disappear into the very air he used to suck from the room just by the power of his presence. There is Jacque, who must choose the path she will take: Disappear, too, or Fight. Jacque fights. Indeed, it seems everyone goes on to fight their fight, live their lives, find their peace or place in the world; except for Harold Whitlock.

One wonders if these dark corners in Dove's life are what led her to write humor? Or, is it the legacy her father gave her in the early days, with his sense of humor, wit, and intelligence?

Meanwhile, Jacque is not done. She is still working to keep Debi's voice alive with "The Victim's Voice," and as well still working on "Debi's Law." One imagines she will continue this until her last breath--this is what she has of her daughter, this is what she carries with her in the place of the baby she once held, the girl she raised, the woman she loved and lost much too soon.

And as for Angela Dove? She has written "No Room For Doubt" and in those nooks and crannies and dark corners, she has faced what no daughter wants to face and in the process, Angela Dove must recover from losses of her own.



Review from The Roses & Thorns Review Site

I usually judge a book or a movie by how long I'm still thinking about it after I've read or seen it. This one had me thinking for days! I felt as if I were in the room with the characters on every page.

I bought this book to take on vacation and I could not rest until I finished it! I was up reading it in the wee hours of the night... the second day, I finished it! I was moved by Angela's accounts of her last night with her step-mother and the various ways that this crime affected her family.
I read a lot of true crime books and I have to tell you, some of her details were so vivid and realistic... I looked twice when walking through my own home. This book is well-worth the time and money!

Angela Dove's account of the murder of her step-mother and the eight-year search for the killer is compelling. The author's father was the chief suspect in the court of public opinion, though the police cleared him of tangible suspicion early on. The victim's mother,shy about public speaking, became an outspoken champion for discovery of her daughter's killer and, in the process, a nationally recognized victim's advocate. Dove's telling maintains suspense right up to the final revelation, and despite her almost too close relationship to the characters in the drama, she lays out the failings as well as successes of her family and near-family. This is a story about the author's own coming of age, a daughter-father love-hate dance, persistence and trust and doubt.

Altogether a fine read.

and the vast majority are very poorly written, terrible grammar, full of cliches and exclamation points, etc...
This book reads like a novel and builds up suspense as you really do not know who the killer might turn out be until 3/4 into the book, at least.

I always skip the photos when reading true crime until I have finished just in case there are any spoilers, which usually isn't the case as the killer is identified early on...but glad i stuck to my routine here, as it would have ruined the book.

As far as the crime, it is an especially heartbreaking one and the author details the effects not only on the family but on the town as well. Very compelling read.

I took this book with me on a quick trip to the beach. I haven't been able to put it down! It's excellent. I cried. Angela put into words so many of the feelings I've had after my nieces murder. Thank you so much for writing this book. I'm recommending it to everyone I know. Oprah should put this on her book list! You and your Gram Jacque are amazing women!

I was impressed by how powerful Angela Dove is. I couldn't put this book down. It was like I was in the room (as many have described). This story needed to be written, as it has affected the family in such a tragic way.
After I read this book, I sent an email to Angela, expressing how this book impacted me and I told her how happy I was that she wrote this story.
She is an amazing lady.

This is a story about true accounts that happens in March of 1988 in California. A mother's perseverence to catch the perpetrator and the effects of the tragedy involving a love one.

As true crime books go, this book was extremely well written, and a huge cut above the quality of writing typical of this genre! Like other reviewers, I found this book very compelling reading and had a hard time putting it down. The author offers a riveting first hand account of her and other family member's sad and terrifying journies following the murder of her step-mother. She is able to weave the telling of the actual crime with unrelenting suspense, while creating deeply moving portraits of family members and others directly affected by this murder - often for years! The crime was unsolved for almost 10 years - and the reader must consider, Rashomon style, several character's accounts of the circumstances surrounding the murder....an incredibly well-done story.