Customer Reviews

Suddenly Gone: The Terrifying True Story of a Serial Killer's Grisly Kidnapping-Murders of Three Young Women

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

There are many things I find incredible about the telling of this story. The first being Mr. Mitrione's account of seeing the poster of Joan Butler and how it led to the writing of this book. From there the reader gets a horrifying glimpse into the mind of a cold blooded killer, but also gains an appreciation for the dedication of the law enforcement officers who brought him to justice, largely on circumstantial evidence. Most importantly, Mr. Mitrione makes us feel the pain of loss of the families of the missing girls and the agony of never being able to lay them to rest. I know that I will be much more careful after reading this book.

My Aunt was one of the women this book was written about. For the people who feel the women weren't "honored" or the families were intruded on, they are misinformed or just ignorant. Mr. Mitrione was respectful and showed great concern to try to get details correct for our family's sake. For those who feel he just got too close to the families involved to write an objective book, that's your opinion. I have to disagree. I feel this was an important piece needed to bring a personal side to this cold, senseless crime.
Thank you Mr. Mitrione for acknowledging our pain and feelings. We miss Theresa every day.

Overall this book is ok reading. The beginning starts out talking about the first murders and the reading is very interesting, but as the book progressed, there were spots in the book that were so long and boring. For the most part, the boring parts talked about how the police weren't able to find any evidence or what had to be done in order to find the evidence. I guess the book wasn't made to be extremely interesting in the first place. It was made to tell the stories of the murdered girls in Kansas and show the loss of their families. Other than those boring spots, the book was actually quite good. The author was very descriptive and always gave a good sense of what was going on. I beleive that this author told the story of what happened to these four girls really well. I give a lot of credit to Dan Mitrione for taking on this project and going through all of the trouble of interviewing all of the people involved with this case to accurately tell his story.

I have read the commments on this book and I disagree. I found it easy fast-paced reading, not confusing or boring.

This is a top true crime book. Five stars.

The eight prior posted criticisms, made over nearly six years, are, in my view, inconsistent. The previous reviewers stated reasons for complaint do not go to the merits of this very good read.

The first poster on 3 January 2000 explained that this is a compelling read, then rated the book at one star complaining that the author became too close to the crime victim's families. The key part of the review is that this book is a "compelling read," because that is what readers seek.

That reviewer's complaint that the writer felt a great deal of empathy for the victims may say something about the status of the reviewer's emotional intelligence, but does not address how that makes this a bad book. Others may find the author's empathy for the victim's to be positive.

The first poster also complained that the book lacked details, then the second poster praised the book's "detailed job" in telling this tragic story. This book is detail rich.

The third poster explained that this book changed his or her life because the poster will be much more careful from now on, but then rated the book at only three stars. Rating a life changing book at three stars makes one wonder about how the poster rates less influential books. Three stars may be this person's top rating.

The fourth poster complained that she or he was bored by reading about the detective work. The poster was specific about what was boring: what the police did in order to find evidence. Because detective work IS the seeking of evidence, to criticize the author for writing about that means that the reviewer should have been reading in a different genre. True crime readers traditionally want to read of detective work.

The fifth poster complained that the killer was not "linked" to the first murder victim discussed in the book. The reviewer apparently did not apprehend that the killer was a suspect in that woman's murder. Because the killer was not charged in that woman's murder -- no one was charged in that woman's murder -- does not mean that the killer was not linked to the woman. The killer WAS a suspect in that woman's murder. This was the first time the killer was a suspect in any murder. Including that information in the book made much more sense than excluding it.

The sixth poster explained that he or she read a lot of the work of a DIFFERENT true crime author and was disappointed that this author does not write like that other author. To my view, because strawberry does not taste like orange does not make strawberry bad. Go ahead and read the orange author if she is your favorite, but other readers may prefer the strawberry author.

The seventh poster wrote that "this story should have been told" but also wished that it had been written by a different author. Again, that does not go to the merits of this good book.

The final prior poster complained that this was not the best book she or he ever read. For each of us there can be only one "best" book read, so that criticism is like saying your child's second best drawing is not her best drawing. That does not mean your child's second best drawing is bad.

Also, readers interested in the BTK investigation will find this book fascinating. Detective Ken Landwehr is described as a trained profiler who investigated a 1989 Wichita murder in part by writing a profile of the killer. In 2004 Landwehr became head of the BTK Task Force, so according to author and former FBI agent Dan Mitrione, the BTK Task Force was headed by a long time profiler.

Suddenly Gone is a good true crime book. If this is your genre, read it.

This book is one of the best true crimes I've read. I was familiar with this case, and Dan Mitrione did a good, detailed job of telling a tragic story.

I'm just wondering if the writer is the former FBI agent who spent time in prison for drug trafficking? I think he was working as an undercover agent in Miami when he was caught. I don't honestly know how various agencies can place people in the position of trying to catch the "bad guys" and not expect them to become completely enmeshed in their lifestyle. If this is the same guy, when I knew him he was genuinely a good man and in my opinion was set up. You can't pretend to be one of the dealers wearing cheap shoes and a Timex.

This is one of the worst true crime books I've read. The narrative is disjointed and hard to follow. There is very little information about the psychology of the killer. The writing is insulting to the reader - it almost seems as though the book was written for children. If you read a lot of true crime like I do (Ann Rule, etc.) then you probably won't enjoy this book - it is horrendous writing. However, this case of Richard Grissom, probably the most heinous murderer in the history of Kansas, deserves more attention.

In the begining of the book, before the story even started it mentioned that several women's lives were ruined by this killer yet only 5 were actually mentioned with one not really being linked to Grissom. So who were the other two? But other than that, it was a good book. It could have delved more deeply into Grissom's childhood. There had to be more to him then just a bad seed. Was he made or born to be a killer? I feel bad for the poor women who had no idea that this predator was lurking in their neighborhood.

This book compelled me to read it through, but I kept waiting for details. I think this author got too close to the families of the victims to be completely objective. This book left me completely unsatisfied.