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55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (and Anger), June 7, 2008
This review is from: Pure Murder (Pinnacle True Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
I have never read a book before that made me so furious. Not the quality of the writing, but rather the story itself. Corey Mitchell does an incredible job of pulling you right into the story as we find ourselves right alongside the father of Jennifer Ertman, a young girl, who was brutally murdered in 1993 in a park in Houston, Texas. We have no idea how she is killed or why or by who, but eventually we learn all that and so much more. It take nearly 200 pages before we even get to the crime and by the time we are there I was completely entranced and mortified. In addition to learning about Jennifer, we also learn about her best friend, Elizabeth pena. I enjoyed how the athor did not try to make both girls out to be the perfect angels like so many other true crime authors do with their subjects. We learn that Elizabeth is a flawed individual and not the perfect daughter. This only serves to make her even more human and more sympathetic. We also learn about the six main culprits behind this incredibly gruesome and horrifying crime. Instaed of creating sympathy for the killers, this also makes them more human as well. It is fascinating to know that they all came from relatively stable, happy home lives. Definitely breaking the mold of the typical killer, or at least how the media attempts to portray them. Getting to know the two girls, as well as all six of their killers, made reading the murder scene almost unbearable. I never have experienced sheer terror when reading a true crime book, until now. After it was finally over, I wanted to put down the book and take a shower. There was no way though that I could stop reading this story. I could not imagine this story getting any better (or worse as the case would be for the families) but it did. The insane ordeal that Jennifer and Elizabeth's families had to endure is completely maddening. Trials, delayed executions, Supreme Court rulings, and even meddling by the president of the United States are just a few of the obstacles they have to endure. This book is intense, very well-written, and truly terrifying. I was not familiar with the case and know I cannot believe I did not know about it before. A truly staggering book that I highly recommend to readers of true crime, but also to parents, as well as people tired of criminals receiving more rights than the victims. A genius work of literature.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Six Thugs Acting Like Wild Dogs Rape & Murder Two Young Girls, July 24, 2008
This review is from: Pure Murder (Pinnacle True Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
For many years now, I've been a fan of the true crime genre; reading nothing but these nonfiction tales of the worst side of mankind. After a while, while still interested in the crimes, the forensics, and the inner workings of the justice system, a reader can easily reach a point where the crime in and of itself has no shock value. That was not the case in my most recently read book: Pure Murder by Corey Mitchell. In Pure Murder, Mitchell tells the gut-wrenching, absolutely sickening tale surrounding the deaths of two Houston, Texas teenager girls: Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena. On what should have been a short walk home through on of Houston's city parks, these young girls had the bad fortune of meeting up with six of Texas' teenage lowlifes: Efrain Perez, Raul Villarreal, Peter Cantu, Joe Medellin, Venancio "Yuni" Medellin, Jr., and Sean O'Brien. Simply because the young, innocent girls were in the wrong place at the wrong time when these scumbags were "feeling their oats," they were tortured, raped, and murdered. For the first time in a while, this true crime piece managed to enrage me as I could not hardly fantom that in a group of six people there was not one decent individual that could have, in some way, helped these young victims. And, as an added bonus, especially in a time where illegal immigration is such a hot topic, the attempts by Joe Medellin to use his illegal immigrant status as a means to absolve the indictment against him was, to say the least, infuriating. He participates in the raping, mutilating and murder of two young girls and he expects that this country will allow him freedom on a technicality?! I could not even begin to understand the audacity of this pathetic, spineless child killer. If you're up for a good read that evokes so many emotions you feel as though you are on an emotional rollercoaster, look no further than this newest release from Corey Mitchell.
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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
So Sad......., June 23, 2008
This review is from: Pure Murder (Pinnacle True Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
I read this book in one day. I am a big fan of Corey Mitchell because he gives the reader the opportunity to get to know all those involved. He doesn't stay focused on the gore, and he gives the reader just enough information to realize how the poor victim(s) suffered at the hands of the killer(s). Some writers focus more on the killer(s) and less on the victim(s) and who they were. In "Pure", Elizabeth and Jennifer are young and beautiful teenagers who set out for a night of fun with some friends. When the girls realize their curfew is minutes away, they decide to take a shortcut home. That shortcut would prove to be fatal. The young teens meet up with a pack of monsters. What followed was truly disturbing. What was even more disturbing are the two young men who could have perhaps saved the girls from their deaths, yet did nothing. The rest of the book follows the families outrage, the arrest and the trials of these losers. This story is one you will not soon forget. Have a box of tissues on hand.
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