I borrowed a friend's kindle just to see if it would work for me and this book was on it, so I am embarrassed to say I read it. And now to redeem myself I am going to try to save you from it.
I have not thought a lot about OJ, but always came down on the "both/and" side of things. OJ both committed murder and was framed. The substance of this book can be summarized in about five pages. The rest is just a nauseating repeat of the same facts over and over again.
1. Jason Simpson, OJ's oldest son, from a criminal profilers point of view has a more likely criminal and medical profile to be capable of murder than does OJ. This is based on past incidents of quite violent domestic abuse and a sordid history of mental illness.
2. Jason Simpson did NOT have an airtight alibi on the night of the murders. In fact, there is evidence that people covered for him (sometimes contradicting each other in the process.)
3. OJ hired a prestigious criminal attorney for his son the day after the murders, before he had even hired criminal lawyers for himself.
And theories:
4. OJ was at the crime scene after the murders, but did not commit them. Instead, he took steps to cover for his son.
5. The motive for Jason killing nicole was that she and her family said they would dine at the restaurant he was head-chefing, but she stood him up and went to Mezzaluna instead. This was a blow to his pride.
6. Dear found a knife in Jason's belongings that may or may not be the murder weapon.
There! Now you don't have to read the book! Because the rest of the book is just Dear's egotistical ramblings about his grandiose ideas of himself and his illegal activities to build evidence for his theory. Which is hilarious, because he blasts the LAPD for zeroing in on OJ to the detriment of their entire investigation. I think this is true, but Dear does the exact same thing. He talks in the beginning about drug connections between Nicole, the Mezzaluna staff, and other stabbings of Mezaluna waiters which I found quite compelling. But then he just dismisses that out of hand without even any explanation. He talked about "Don't assume, Verify." Yet the hoops he jumps through sometimes to pile on a case against Jason (especially in regards to the timeline) are quite acrobatic. He also has his facts wrong in some instances. For example, he says the LA prosecutors timeline has the murders happening at 10:40. That was actually the timeline of the defense. They chose a late timeline so that it would show that OJ didn't have time to get back for his limo ride by 10:50. The prosecution had the murders pegged at 10:15. Dear's theory actually requires MORE time needed for OJ after the murders, since he didn't commit them, just came to the scene after the fact. (Another blaring inaccuracy that made me laugh was when he talked about Jason having "mycological epilepsy. What? The epilepsy caused by mushrooms? I think he may have meant "myoclonic" seizures.)
I kept waiting for the book to talk about the blood and trace evidence. I am not an expert on these things, so I thought he might explain how blood and trace evidence could be similar between father and son to the extent that perhaps evidence consistent with OJ might also be consistent with his son. He couldn't do this, because the LAPD would not give him access to the evidence in the first place. But the reports are public enough that perhaps some inferences could have been made. He did get an opportunity to interview Dr. Henry Lee, forensic scientist for the defense. But all he did was ask leading questions that Lee could really only answer with "it's possible." He did not take an opportunity to ask Lee to interpret or explain the evidence's possibility of being attributed to both OJ and his son.
But what irritated me the most was his faux concern for Jason Simpson. He spends years stalking and harassing this guy, digging in his garbage, showing up at his work, illegally obtaining his medical records, publishing his personal notes, all because he wants to get Jason "help" so he doesn't get violent again. But it is obvious that his bigger motivation is fame and fortune or to be the one who solves the crime. Also, he talks about his investigation lasting 16 years and time is of the essence because Jason could kill again at any time! (even going so far as to spy on him when he goes to pick up a paycheck just in case he pulls a knife on his boss...it is all very dramatic.) But is there any evidence of Jason being violent since the murders 18 years ago? I'm not sure, but you'd think if there was, he would have covered it in his book.
The book was extremely boring to read, mostly because it is JUST SO REPETATIVE, and after the first couple of chapters, you keep waiting for him to say something new and different and it never happens. But my take away from the book is this: Yes, Jason should have been investigated at the time of the murders as a major suspect. The LAPD made a lot of mistakes and this is one of them. The theory that Jason is the killer is intriguing, but there is just no solid evidence. Everything he found was WAAAY more circumstantial and presumptive than what the LAPD originally had for OJ. But this is what through it all out for me in the end: Dear finds a receipt from a pharmacy in Jason's trash. It is for Depakote, a drug for seizure reduction (and Dear theorizes for Jason, treatment for mental illness and controlling rage) that was priced at about $250 per month. Jason owed the pharmacy somewhere over $500 for it. There is a note from the pharmacy on the bill that says that OJ refused to pay for the depakote and that Jason will need to pay for it himself. I am thinking, OJ is willing to ruin his whole life to take the wrap for Jason for the killing of the mother of his two younger children, yet he now refuses to pay for his Depakote? Depakote is the drug that Dear says he needs not so much for epilepsy but to control violent outbursts? To the extent that when he didn't have it he would go to the emergency room and ask for it? OJ would cover for him for Nicole's murder but would risk him murdering again because he did not have his medication? You would think if OJ was so concerned about his son murdering again that he would make sure that kid was SET UP with all the mental health care and medication he needs for life. But just a couple of years after the murders, when OJ is free and living on a substantial set of pensions, he refuses to pay for his depakote. It doesn't make sense.
The book was just macho-vomit by a guy who thinks too highly of himself. Any credibility his theory has is lost in the arrogance of the book itself. There is really nothing new here. And now I have done my due diligence in warning you and I can forget I ever wasted time reading this book.
