Customer Reviews

A Scream on the Water: A True Story of Murder in Salem

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"A Scream on the Water" is the story of Thomas Maimoni, a narcissistic sociopath who lived a life of lies and abuse culminating in murder. This is a very well-written book. The setting is very well-developed. The descriptions of the people and places around Salem Mass. are well-rounded and satisfying. The reader feels as if they are there, and get inside the heads of the victim, her husband, the police investigators, and the wives of Maimoni and many other victims of his deceit and manipulation. For years Maimoni lied about everything to everyone: his marital status, military career (ha!), education, and jobs. This book is not only interesting to the true crime reader, it is like the works of Ann Rule in that the writer uses the opportunity to warn the innocent among us that people are often not as they present themselves. Even those who sensed that Maimoni was full of bull had no idea how explosive and deadly his rage could be when threatened with disclosure. A well-developed, psychologically complex, and thrilling cautionary tale.

Press did a thorough job in this true tale of a man who could not take no for an answer. Her character build of Tom Maimoni, a slipshod liar, NASA imposter, fake collegiate alumnus and all around creepy guy kept me riveted to the end. The strange death of local Martha Brailsford sent the small, close knit sailing/witching community of Salem Mass into a tailspin. The tailspin turned hurricane when numbers of women came forward after her death to report they had been pawed and humiliated by Maimoni. Good research, nicely done reconstruction and time line and tightly packaged facts which read like a novel. Margaret, what is your next crime?

Maybe my standards are just too high, but once again I find myself in the minority when it comes to rating a book.

I read the trade paperback edition, published as Counterpoint, so perhaps the St. Martins mass-market edition benefited from some vigorous editing. Heaven knows the book needed it.

What was it lacking? Pacing, any insight into those involved, decent exposition on how they came to be involved, a strong sense of chronology and cause-and-effect. I'd have learned as much in a great deal less time by reading a decent magazine article about the case.

The heartbreaking tale of the murder of Martha Brailsford, as told in A SCREAM ON THE WATER, formerly published as Counterpoint: A Murder in Massachusetts Bay, is a very interesting book. Just keeping up with the lies told by convicted murder Tom Maimoni is enough to keep a reader fully engaged.

As many other reviews have related here, Maimoni had a difficult time accepting "No" for answer when it came to women; and he was willing to tell them anything to keep from hearing that dreaded word. Yet his passive-aggressive tendencies did not make him a vicious man, only one to be feared by what was not at all expected from him.

This was a great, fast read true crime. While there is nothing that really separates Maimoni from so many other murderers, his modus operandi is one that is, at times, fascinating. I recommend reading this book if true crime is chosen genre.

Born and raised in Salem, Mass. I could certainly relate to all the landmarks, etc. mentioned in the book. The story of Martha Brailsford is indeed a tragic one. I thought the author did a superb job of telling the story with compassion and straight-forward information.
I literally couldn't put the book down from the first page and even a day later, Martha lingers in my mind.
The story was written with a good pace and left this reader looking to purchase another of Margaret Press's books.

This book is tedious and too long. The story line is not a complex tale to tell. Why drag it out?

I very much enjoyed this true story of a murder, covering all aspects of the characters involved, the crime itself, and the trial and it's results. It is well-written, informative, thorough, and easy to read.

you may thing people are harmless but looks can be deceiving. Never trust anyone! Evne people who you know they may think about you in a different way and get desperate when you don't acknowledge them and resort to murder.

Excellent read about this chilling case. This book was originally released as "Counterpoint: A Murder In Massachusetts Bay".

Was there a curse laid on the women on Salem that made them lose immunity to their prey, first the witch burners and Puritan judges of 17th century America and then, to Tom Maimoni, an animal who walked in the shoes of a man? Martha surely must have felt the pangs of history as she succumbed to the murderous rage of Maimoni. Margaret Press' COUNTERPOINT tells two stories, widely separated in time, and makes the reader wonder, in a terribly shivery way, what the connection is between a long ago religious madness, and the sociopathic misogyny of a modern monster. Quite an impresssive effort.