Customer Reviews

The Onion Field

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The Onion Field is a top shelf book. It's the in-depth analysis of the true story of a 1963 event in Los Angeles. Two cops pull over two crooks in an otherwise routine traffic stop. But the desperate crooks get the drop on the cops, get their guns, kidnap them, drive them out to an onion field in the countryside, and murder one of them. One of the cops escapes death, but is haunted by guilt over the death of his partner and his inability to help. The murderers are captured, tried, convicted, and then retried over and over again on appeal.

The surviving cop is further savaged when the LAPD uses the case in training as an example of all the wrong things a cop can do when stopping and approaching cars.

Haunted by horrific memories, saddened by the loss of his partner, wracked by guilt, ostracized by his own, and repeatedly tormented by defense attorneys in one retrial after another, the cop suffers emotional meltdown. Wambaugh, takes us meticulously through the crime, second by second, and then tells the surviving cop's powerful and moving story: the destruction of a forgotten victim. This is as good as it gets. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.

I lived in Los Angeles in 1963 and I've seen the movie several times, but not until I picked up a used copy of the book out of the Good Will this last week did I read the written account. As usual, the book is ten times better than the movie. It's gripping and very hard to put down. The sadness of what happens to the surviving police detective is so frustrating and seems, today, so unnecessary. Of course, we forget that seeking help from therapists and even talking about your innermost fears(called "burdening others" with your problems), etc. were not the vogue in 1963. If they had been, this story might have ended differently. I was particularly interested in the author's references to local landmarks which made the story come alive for me. What makes it eerier is that the area of the onion field where the murder took place is not all that far from the city but even so, it's strictly away from city life, kind of up in the hills, pitch dark at night and isolated with nothing but a big lonely highway running through surrounding fields growing a variety of crops. Oddly enough, regarding the two sleazoid criminals, at times they seemed more intelligent than some of the defense attorneys. Fantastic story! I predict it will stay with you for days after reading it.

The cruel slaying of LAPD Officer Ian Campbell and the sadistic hunt for his surviving partner, Karl Hettinger in a Bakersfield onion field is vividly recounted in this Wambaugh non-fiction classic. Additionally, in-depth and fascinating studies are made of the cold-blooded killers, Gregory Powell and Jimmy Lee Smith. Finally, the heartbreaking psychological deterioration of Officer Karl Hettinger, a victim of survivor's guilt and hard-nosed, ignorant superiors is recounted in painful detail. An agonizing, dark, and horrible page in California history.

This is an interesting book. See the movie, too. People mention Capote's IN COLD BLOOD in previous reviews, and Wambaugh used that book as a model for this one, and even used Capote's release forms to get interviews. Wambaugh could not get the surviving cop to tell the story so that Wambaugh could write the book. When Wambaugh told him about this book idea, and how it wasn't going to happen, Capote encouraged him to keep at it. So, with Capote's encouragement, Wambaugh finally got the surviving cop to cooperate, and the book got written. The whole subtext of the book is what I find fascinating, and that is: the surviving cop, who could not help his partner being killed, felt guilt that destroyed him emotionally. But the actual murderer and his partner felt no guilt whatsoever. Psychopaths can not feel guilt, even after they've murdered. The innocent man felt guilty, and the guilty men felt innocent. It's an incredible and wrenching and tragic contrast that underlies this whole book. I recommend it.

This is the true story of the abduction of two police officers in Bakersfield California in 1963, and of the murder of one of the officers in a nearby field of onions. The by-the-book coverage of the investigation is dovetailed with observances of the psychological breakdown of the surviving partner. If you have read "In Cold Blood," then you should read this as well. A classic police story, written with honesty, reality, and incredible style.

I read this book many years ago. Last week, while I was browsing through used books in a Goodwill Store, I came across a hardbound copy in pristine condition. It was selling for $2.00. Needless to say, without hesitation, I bought it. I found myself an absolute treasure. Without a doubt in my mind, this is easily the finest non-fiction story of crime and retribution I have ever read, gripping and haunting thoughout. Only one other non-fiction crime story comes close to it, and that is SWORDFISH by David McClintick. If this book can be purchased, do so without hesitation. Jay Wickramasinghe, Citrus Heights, California

Master Storyteller Joseph Wambaugh shifts from fiction to non-fiction for this riveting account of the execution of a Los Angeles police officer and its aftermath. This excellent book was brought to the screen in a fairly accurate rendition starring James Woods and Ted Danson at the beginnings of their respective careers. Of the book I must say that my realization of the identity of the gardener late in the narrative was one of the most moving and dramatic experiences of my reading life. Wambaugh is a genius!

The two cops didn't expect anything life-altering when they pulled over the car with the busted taillight in Hollywood that Saturday night in 1963. But that was what they got. Before the night was over, one officer was dead and the other would never be the same.

Joseph Wambaugh's 1973 true-crime account of the killing is perhaps his best-known and most celebrated work, made into a memorable movie and a kind of calling card for Wambaugh's critical yet sensitive way of writing about crime and police work. "The Onion Field" may be based on a true story, but it reads like a novel, much like Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" would have had Capote been as interested in the crime itself as in the problem of capital punishment.

Like "In Cold Blood," you have one killer who is gay and unreasonably violent, another who is a hardened tag-along. Unlike "In Cold Blood," Wambaugh wastes little sympathy for either, especially as they and their attorneys work the system to preserve their lives while the surviving cop is left roasting on a spit, forced to relive the experience that night in the lonely onion field where his partner was killed as the rest of his life spirals out of control.

There are sections where "The Onion Field" is hard to put down and others where it lulls you to sleep. Wambaugh finds everything in this case too fascinating to keep to himself, whether it's a juror with a persecution complex or a defense attorney who objects to everything in hope of getting a mistrial. The first 50 pages may be the dullest in the book, as the "before" lives of several key participants are examined to great mundane length.

But once the two felons, Jimmy Lee Smith and Gregory Powell, find each other, Wambaugh is at his best tracing their brief partnership of crime. Powell styles himself a trenchcoat-wearing mastermind, but his idea of strategy is a getaway car with a burnt clutch so there is no chance of pulling away from a job too quickly. As the pair drive around aimlessly, Powell waving his gun around, Smith wondering when he might ditch his pal and steal the loot for himself, "The Onion Field" is on a par with Wambaugh's best comedy. Then they meet their destiny and the two lawmen, and the bad guys' stupidity is no longer funny.

The other element this book really nails is the story of the surviving detective. Already wrestling with huge survivor's guilt, he is forced to endure much departmental second-guessing about how he allowed the crooks to take him alive. In time, he becomes such a mess he starts to steal, as if willing his own disgrace. Naturally, this gets brought up in court by an opportunistic defense attorney, who labels him a sociopath.

"He doesn't know the meaning of guilt," the lawyer says, ironically enough given by this point of the story guilt's all the guy does know.

I've found other Wambaugh books more compelling, especially "The Blooding," which has many of the same themes (pathology, the strain of police work) but also a better story and sharper focus. "Onion Field" is a memorable book, though, something to shake the most jaded reader into thinking about how many different ways we can find ourselves on the wrong side of the law.

It has been some years since this one hit the shelves, but it is non the worse for wear. Actually, I have to agree with another reviewer in that I too, feel this is one of Wambaugh's best. A true sory, brought to light in a very readable story like format. It is rather unforgetable. The author does a very good job of not only telling us a story (Wambaugh is, after all, first and formost a great story teller), but gives us great insight into the thoughts and motivations of the killers. He gives us a wonderful profile of the oung officer who survived this horrible crime. I cannot in all truth say it is as good as "In Cold Blood," but it comes pretty close to the mark. Recommend this one highly.

This gripping narrative describes the 1963 kidnapping and murder of Los Angeles police officer Ian Campbell (1931-1963) and the crime's lengthy aftermath. Campbell and his partner Karl Hettinger were kidnapped at gunpoint one night by two hoods during a routine traffic stop, and then driven into the country where Campbell was shot dead in an Onion field. Hettinger managed to flee to safety, but was left with psychological trauma and a crushing sense of guilt over his partner's death. The author details the lives of the two killers, their lengthy trials and appeals, and the aftermath for the traumatized Hettinger, who was blamed by many for allowing the tragedy to occur. Readers learn not only about the crime and its lengthy aftermath, but also about the victimization of survivors, and about our imperfect system of justice.

Author Joseph Wambaugh modeled this book after IN COLD BLOOD, Truman Capote's superb look at the 1959 murder of a Kansas farm family. Wambaugh didn't quite match Capote, but THE ONION FIELD makes excellent reading (it also became a pretty good movie). Readers might also like Wambaugh's THE BLOODING (about the first use of DNA testing) and ECHOES IN THE DARKNESS.