Customer Reviews

Poison Mind

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

 

 

This book is well written and fast paced. It describes the death of Peggy Carr, and the subsequent conviction of George Trepal for that murder. The book is co-authored by the the Polk County, Florida Deputy Sherif who conducted the major investigation of the case. Her undercover work provided clues. While the book presents fully and fairly the eveidence in the case, it can be seen that the court system failed to carry out justice fairly. There is sufficient evidence and doubt raised by the evidence presented to legally acquit Mr. Trepal. Finally, the book hints that Dr. Diana Carr, Trepal's wife may have had a part in the crime, but presents no evidence to that end. This inuendo seems to be merely the officer/author's unfounded conclusions.

The "why" behind the murders in Poisoned Mind certainly is unique.

Poisoned Mind is the story of a fantastic murder in Florida in 1988. George Trepal is a certified genius and member of Mensa - but he could never find a place in the conventional world. By the late-1980s, Trepal had married a surgeon and lived his life pursuing various hobbies while his wife earned a living.

Things seemed to be going fairly well, until Trepal began to have conflicts with his working-class next-door neighbors - the Carrs. After the conflicts intensified, several of the Carrs became very sick and one member of the family died. Poisoned Mind is the story of police's attempts to bring Trepal to justice for the murders.

The best thing about Poisoned Mind is that it is an interesting story. If someone wrote this as fiction, no one would believe it. As the story progresses, there are enough "hooks" to keep the pages turning.

Police eventually decided to solve the murder by having a policewoman - Susan Goreck - go undercover and befriend the lonely Trepal. Goreck is one of the co-authors of Poisoned Mind and the book centers on her investigation. The material here isn't bad, but the reader wants to know more about George Trepal and the Carr family. Instead, the reader learns the details of Goreck's investigation, which - at times - just aren't that interesting. Another issue is that, at 370 pages, Poisoned Mind is about 100 pages too long.

In short, Poisoned Mind is a solid, true crime book about a fantastic case from Florida. It's not great, but true crime fans will enjoy it.

True crime buffs will undoubtedly enjoy this book, particularly if you've seen the television programs devoted to this case. However, some of the authors' attempts to create suspense during Susan Goreck's undercover work seem a bit overblown. All of George Trepal's personality quirks, no matter how minor, are made to seem evil and malevolent. We are repeatedly told that Susan was risking her life throughout her surveillance, when it's abundantly obvious that she was in little (if any) danger from the geeky George.

The authors also place unwarranted emphasis on George and Diana's interest in BDSM sex; their leather goods, sex toys, basement play dungeon, etc. are described in ominous detail. Only the most naive reader will think this has anything to do with Trepal's crimes.

Some more in-depth information about Diana Carr would have been most welcome. Her role in the poisonings has never been fully explored.

To their credit, the authors thoroughly debunk the popular image of Mensa as a lofty, serious organization with high ideals (it's more like a singles club for snooty, socially-dysfunctional geeks).

This book does an very good job in detailing the events surrounding the most bizarre true murder case I can recall. The story is told by the police detective who went undercover- as a fellow mensa member- to crack this case. Since I do not want to give away any of the surprising twists and turns of this book (i.e., the case itself), let me just say that this story could very easily be described as a case study in moral evil. A must read.

If George Trepal really did poison his next door neighbors, he will go down in history as one of the sickest minds to ever live. If on the other hand, Trepal didn't do it, he will be remembered as a victim of great injustice.
Either way, the book is superbly written. How one human being could cause such terrible suffering on his fellow human beings will perplex me till the day I die.

Do you know who your neighbors are? This book is one of the reasons I don't like having neighbors. I was 14 years old when I first read this book; I am now 23. I have read this book over 100 times and I can pick it up and reread it. I love this book! Sissy was my Aunt at one time and the story of what had happened was true. This book goes inside the mind of George and show the true side of him, a cold blooded killer. I recommend this book for everyone to read as it shows you that you don't really know what your neighbors are capable of until it is too late.

A thorough, clear, well-written book of an unusual case. As a member of the same Mensa chapter, I have talked with people who knew him and something about the case, and there is some distortion - among other things, the victim's family caused neighbor problems well beyond just playing music loud, and Trepal's wife seemed just as suspicious - but the book accurately shows how courageous and Herculean efforts by police can bring people to justice for even superbly planned crimes.

. . . but the doubts also remain.

[...]

If you were on trial for your life, accused of poisoning your neighbors, how would you feel if a government investigator who testified against you made the kinds of errors listed in the above report, prepared by the Office of the Inspector General?

"In his work in 'Trepal,' Martz appeared to have a lower threshold of scientific proof than is generally accepted in forensic science and to lack appropriate scientific rigor in his approach to examinations. Martz did not conduct additional tests that were appropriate under the circumstances, and in reaching his conclusions, he did not consider analytical results of his tests other than the DPA and IC tests. His case notes and charts were inaccurate and incomplete, and he testified inaccurately on several points. He committed a serious error when, based on the same data, he rendered an opinion at trial that was stronger than the opinion in his dictation. Such conduct by an examiner is of concern whenever it is displayed in casework, and it is particularly disturbing in a matter such as 'Trepal' where the death penalty is a potential result."

All of these errors aside, Trepal may be guilty; my gut feeling after reading the book is that he is. But gut feelings do not constitute a legal or moral conviction. Should anyone in this country be executed without a fair trial? Between the report about Martz and the alleged remarks made by at least one of the jurors about seeing demons, I'm not convinced he got one.

I found this book interesting. It's worth of the money i spent.

Firstly, it was very strange to see that a Mensa member ruined his life in such a way. It's a fact that the intelligence of a person doesn't guarantee his/her happiness or his/her success. This man could be a great scientist, like Albert Einstein or Nicola Tesla. He could have discovered the cure for cancer or AIDS. However, he succeded in drugs and death.

Furthermore, this book shows the way of living of an undercover agent. Susan, faced a lethal danger being undercover near a dangerous killer. It was very hard to keep (and losing sometimes) balance between being hershelf and being somebody else.
The man's mind will not ever be discovered. It's a great chaos. Susan discovered the attractive, intelligent and interesting side of the killer (fortunately, it was not hard for her partners to ....bring her back to normal).

Finally, i found it very interesting. It doesn't show only facts, evidence and law enforcement. It shows the life and the emotions of all involved in this case.

This book started out interesting, and then became bogged down in an undercover officer wasting her time discovering NOTHING. After an exciting beginning, it was a disappointment in the end.

It seems all the 'danger' the officer was in was in her head, as the alledged killer never threatened her or did ANYTHING even remotely scarey, other than act like a 'geek' (which the police found suspect).

Im my opinion, Susan Goreck's undercover operation of George Trepal was a total waste of time and money, coming up with nothing solid in the end. She seemed to find him suspicious because he was an introverted loner, who happened to hold a PhD in chemistry. All the evidence was circumstantial. All the personal information revealed about George and his wife had nothing to do with the case, and is an embarassment these petty things came out in an 'official' police investigation.

Such a bad piece of undercover work is a disservice to the poor family who suffered these tragedies.

Whether George Trepal really did it or not, the undercover investigation uncovered nothing interesting. The only good news is the book was well written by ghost-writer Jeffrey Good, and the case itself is interesting.

Thank god I live in Illinois, because the Florida police seem to equate computer users with killers!