Customer Reviews

Seduced by Madness: The True Story of the Susan Polk Murder Case

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As someone who sat through the entire trial and knew Felix Polk professionally, I have to say that, without a doubt, Carol Pogash's book is the more accurate of the two books on the Susan Polk case. Catherine Crier, while getting a chunk of it right, was not present at the trial and Carol Pogash was. Crier's book is sprinkled with inaccuracies, while Pogash's book is accurate from start to finish. But that's not the main reason for choosing Pogash's book over Crier's. Carol Pogash is an excellent writer who portrays the story of the Polk family with fairness and perspective. She writes incisively of the creative therapy going on in the 1970s, the child abuse scare of the early 1980s, and the repressed memory movement that Susan was swept up in in her increasingly delusional mindset. No blame is put on either Felix or Susan. Instead the story, under Pogash's skillful writing, is allowed to unfold accurately, allowing the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. It is a fascinating story, and it is written to not only draw the reader in, but to keep the pages turning. An excellent, suspenseful read.

I had to put it down...but only because I did not want to reach the end of this book. The prose by the author is so far above what one typically finds in the true crime or courtroom drama genres. Ms. Pogash has a depth to her writing style that was so compelling I found myself marveling at nearly every sentence. When the superb writing is coupled with the intriguing story of life at the Polk house, the reader is left with a feeling of knowing the parties involved, and even caring about each and every one of them. It was clear to me from watching the news reports during the trial that Susan Polk is a fascinating yet complex and difficult woman. Felix Polk was equally enigmatic. The descriptions of Dr. Polk were interesting to anyone who lived in Northern California during the 1960's and 1970's, especially those who had any contact with the psychotherapeutic community. Felix's professional endeavors exemplified that era and his lack of professional boundaries was never updated or modified to meet current standards (right up until his death). When you read Seduced By Madness, it's like watching sausage being made. The path, the events and the results all make sense, but it feels like something you should not be privy to, and yet you will not want to stop. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

This book pulled me in and kept me hooked--such is the talent of its author, Carol Pogash and her subject, Susan Polk. I was fascinated, morbidly so, compelled to keep reading and finally sickened by the horror of it all. While Carol Pogash approaches this story through the lens of a professional journalist, she also provides a clinical case history that raises important questions about the nature of madness and its impact on family, friends and collegues. I am a psychotherapist who has lived and worked in Berkeley for over 30 years. I know many of these people and lived much of this history. Carol covers the trendy therapies and theories of those years, some mostly silly like EST, others more damaging based on stories of Satanic cults, ritual abuse, recovered memories, and multiple personalities. I must say, after reading this book I remain astonished by the inability of highly trained professionals like myself to recognize the difference between fantasy and reality, mass hysteria and delusion when we see it. In, Seduced by Madness, Carol Pogash makes it clear just how dangerous it can be to be attracted to madness--it can kill you. I am now soothing myself by reading "Mistakes Were Made" by Tavris and Aronson. A serious book, it offers documented and helpful explinations of "why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions and hurtful acts." I strongly recommend both books.
Shirley Issel

This story illustrates the old axiom that truth is stranger than fiction. The fascinating tale has so many bizarre twists and turns that one cannot help but be transfixed. Susan Polk begins seeing her therapist at age 15, marries the much older man a few years later, and a quarter of a century later stabs him 27 times, leaving him in a pool of blood in the pool house of the family's luxurious estate.

In between these bookends, journalist Carol Pogash tells the story of Susan Polk's deepening personal madness embedded in the cultural madness of the psychotherapy world of the 1960s and 1970s in Berkeley, where therapist-patient sex was tolerated, psychodrama and EST were treatments du jour, and cocaine use was rampant. The Polks even crusaded against mythical Satanic ritual abusers, claiming that their eldest son Adam had been kidnapped, raped, and made into a multiple personality. And if all that isn't enough, we've got exorcisms, psychics, and repressed memory claims.

Pogash's rendition of the four-month trial is a riveting page-turner. Susan Polk fired attorney after attorney and ended up representing herself. On center stage, the intelligent but delusional defendant demonstrated a stunning ability to "take any set of facts and mold a story where she was both victim and hero." It is painful to read about her brutal cross-examination of two of her three sons. Pogash chronicles the Freudian slips that give glimpses into her pathology, as she called her dead husband her father and her favored middle son her husband.

I am intrigued to ponder how Ms. Polk's trial outcome might have been different if it came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling of June 19, 2008, in Illinois v. Edwards. Now, a mentally ill defendant may be barred from representing herself if she is delusional to the point that she is unable to effectively represent her best interests. (For my report on the Edwards case, type shurl.org/insane into your browser's address bar.) Perhaps that will be grounds for appeal of her second-degree murder conviction?

From the point of view of a forensic psychologist, I especially appreciated the depictions of the expert testimony. We had the cagey forensic pathologist who disappeared in the middle of the trial when the judge insisted he produce his files, and the seasoned psychologist who testified for the defense, based mainly on what Ms. Polk had told her and without benefit of any formal psychological testing, that the defendant was a battered woman who suffered from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

I thought Pogash remained remarkably balanced and fair in her reporting, especially as compared to many pundits who flock to the true-crime genre. Being personally acquainted with upwards of a dozen of the participants whom she included in her account, I can say that by and large she portrayed them accurately and fairly.

Seduced by Madness is a riveting page-turner, a fascinating history, and a balanced portrayal of a high-profile trial that shined a spotlight on one family's dark pathos. I recommend it.

Now there's a cliche, but once again, true. Pogash put some heart into this story. You can tell she's a journalist. The language is spare, but accurate and descriptive. Really takes you into the courtroom, and into the Polk's house. I recommend this to anyone who's interested in psychiatry, the trends and treatments, or in the true crime genre. The Bay Area was hanging on every move in this story and Pogash has wrapped them all up in one great package.

I have been intrigued by this story ever since I first heard about it four or so years ago. So it was with great interest that I gobbled up the books by Crier and Pogash and if there were another on the same subject I would inhale that one, too. I found Catherine Crier's book informative and did not expect that there was much more to the story than what she revealed in her book. But I couldn't help myself. I am addicted to this story and obsessed by the strangeness of Susan Polk and what would propel a woman, even one who may have been molested by her husband to be, to express and perpetrate such evil on the people closest to her. I was delighted and unprepared for all the answers I found in Seduced by Madness by Carol Pogash. Certainly her well honed journalistic skills are evident throughout, but it is her unrelenting search for answers to "why" and "how" that ultimately provided me with the satisfaction I was seeking in this story. I whipped through her book (this weekend), because it was as if the story were completely new and fresh. I am a fan of true crime and I was entertained, big time. Kudos to Pogash for astounding this avid reader!!

Let me start off by saying that I picked up this book not knowing anything about the real-life case and the events surrounding it. I simply looked at the inside flap of the book and thought this could make for a fun read. Boy, was I in for a ride!

In "Seduced by Madness: The True Story of the Susan Polk Murder Case" (354 pagers), author Carol Pogash basically brings us two separate (but related) stories in one book. The first half of the book paints a vivid picture of Susan Polk's background, how she met and eventually married Felix Polk, a man 25 years her senior, how they raised their 3 sons, and how the marriage started to unravel, leading to the tragic end. The second part of the book brings an account of the trial, with all of its characters. The main character is of course Susan Polk, a delusional woman who claims to be a victim of a conspiracy. According to Susan, everyone, including 2 of her kids, but also the police, the judge, the prosecutor, the forensic experts, her own lawyers, etc. had it in for her. One might simply think that it's sad, were it not of course that someone died, and many people around her, first and foremost her kids, are forever tainted.

The author does a terrific job in keeping the reader's interest. The book clearly does benefit from the author's daily presence during the months of trial. I, for one, had a hard time putting the book down, even once it becomes clear in which direction this all is ultimately going to. This book also proves once again that you can't make this stuff up and that real life is stranger than fiction!

(UPDATE--if you don't want to know what is currently happening, then don't read on!) Subsequent to the author finishing work on this book, Susan Polk filed a Motion for a New Trial and Motion to Modify Verdict. The motion was denied by the court in February, 2007.)

However, I believe it went on and on too long. Mrs Polk served as her own lawyer and almost everything she said and did was included in the book. It was a true and unique story, just too long and drawn out.

Carol Pogash's SEDUCED BY MADNESS chronicles the relatively well known case of the murder of psychologist Felix Polk by his wife Susan. Pogash's book begins with the childhoods of Felix and Susan, the twisted beginning of their relationship, the births of their three sons, and the dysfunctional life of the family up to and including Felix's murder.
The family breadwinner was an emotionally flawed Felix, who, while he appears to have been a good and loving father and husband, fatally poisoned the marriage, which took place when Susan was around 20 and Felix around 45, by initiating a sexual relationship with Susan when she was a teenager and his patient.
Their three sons were the victims of an upbringing which consisted of basically Susan, who - for example - encouraged her children not to attend school as, in her own mind, no one was really competent to care for or teach her children except herself.
And then there was Susan. Susan is shown to be a cultured, literate, and extremely intelligent woman who was also manipulative, vindictive, socially strange, in many ways unpleasant, and increasingly paranoid and delusional. If Felix provided the financial support - Susan never worked -Susan was, in an interesting role reversal, the family's psychological leader - the one who set the tone of the family's life - while Felix pretty much went along with whatever her agenda was at any given time and while the boys, whom Susan totally loved, were raised in an environment which was, like Susan, askew like a mildly distorting fun house mirror.

The last half of the book recounts the most bizarre trial you will ever read about, pitting DA Paul Sequeira against Susan Polk who was not a lawyer but chose, since she was convinced no one was smarter than she was, to defend herself. I generally feel that, with occasional exceptions, trial segments of true crime books are among the most boring. However the trial is one of the major components in the Susan Polk saga. Many of the true crime writing mediocrity, the rush to printers, would write this section by, for all intents and purposes, copying the trial transcript. I am happy to report that Pogash does not do this. It is in this case mandatory to provide the reader with a detailed account of the trial while being a writer rather than a copier, and Pogash handles it beautifully.

Carol Pogash clearly set out to write an outstanding book, and she has succeeded. The research is exhaustive and impeccable, the writing is crisp and intelligent, and the tone and feel of the book are adult and literate. There are no false steps, no insertion of the author's asides and comments (an increasingly unfortunate occurence among the hacks who litter the true crime landscape) and no filler.

You won't find true crime better than SEDUCED BY MADNESS. I recommend it unreservedly.

Veteran journalist Carol Pogash writes so well you forget this is a true crime non-fiction account of real people living real lives. They say truth is stranger than fiction, and even I couldn't make this up--and I tell lies for a living---but this particular account has it all: seduction, mental illness, sex, violence, power trips and a great account of our near history among privileged people with too much of everything. If you're looking for a fast paced, well-written read---look no more: order this book today!