Under the Knife: A Beautiful Woman, a Phony Doctor, and a Shocking Homicide [Mass Market Paperback]

Diane Fanning (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2007

Handsome, charming, and a fixture on the New York City club scene, Dean Faiello had built a thriving beauty business. But money was never enough for Faiello, whose hard-partying ways constantly left him on the edge of ruin. So he did the unthinkable and worked as a cosmetic surgeon--even though he had no medical degree, or training whatsoever.
 
In the spring of 2003, a beautiful, successful woman named Maria Cruz went to "Doctor" Faiello for a relatively simple cosmetic procedure…and succumbed to a fatal complication while under his care. Faiello allegedly buried her corpse beneath a concrete slab at his Newark, New Jersey home--and went on the run. It was only after Cruz's body was found that the true callousness of Faiello's plan would be dissected…and he would be accused of putting her
 
UNDER THE KNIFE

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

HE WAS A PARTY BOY WHO NEEDED MONEY--
and would do anything to make it…
 
Handsome, charming, and a fixture on the New York City club scene, Dean Faiello had built a thriving beauty business. But money was never enough for Faiello, whose hard-partying ways constantly left him on the edge of ruin. So he did the unthinkable and worked as a cosmetic surgeon--even though he had no medical degree, or training whatsoever.
 
SHE WAS A BANKER WHO NEEDED A DOCTOR--
and was never seen again.
 
In the spring of 2003, a beautiful, successful woman named Maria Cruz went to "Doctor" Faiello for a relatively simple cosmetic procedure…and succumbed to a fatal complication while under his care. Faiello allegedly buried her corpse beneath a concrete slab at his Newark, New Jersey home--and went on the run. It was only after Cruz's body was found that the true callousness of Faiello's plan would be dissected…and he would be accused of putting her
 
UNDER THE KNIFE
 
With 8 pages of dramatic photos!

About the Author

Diane Fanning is the author of the Edgar Award finalist Written in Blood: A True Story of Murder and a Deadly 16-Year-Old Secret That Tore a Family Apart. Her other works of true crime include the best-selling Mommy’s Little Girl, A Poisoned Passion, The Pastor’s Wife, Gone Forever and Through the Window. She has been featured on 48 Hours, 20/20, Court TV and the Discovery Channel, and has been interviewed on dozens of radio stations coast to coast. Before becoming a nonfiction writer, Fanning worked in advertising, and she earned more than 70 Addy Awards. She lives in New Braunfels, Texas.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime; First Edition edition (April 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312939523
• ISBN-13: 978-0312939526
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #711,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am the author of ten true crime books published by St. Martin's Press including the Edgar Award nominated WRITTEN IN BLOOD and the best-selling MOMMY'S LITTLE GIRL. Additionally, I have written five mystery novels including four in the Lucinda Pierce series from Severn House.

I have been featured on 48 Hours, 20/20, Forensic Files, the Deadly Women series, Court TV, Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell, the Discovery Channel and local TV channels and have been interviewed on dozens of radio stations coast to coast.

I am an experienced non-fiction, fiction and commercial writer. I earned more than seventy Addy Awards in the twenty years I wrote for radio, television and print. I worked as an Executive Director at non-profit organizations for more than a dozen years. In that capacity, I served three terms by appointment of the Governor of Texas on the State Advisory Committee and received the 2002 NACG Freedom Fighter Award.

I was born in Baltimore, Maryland, lived more than two decades in Virginia and now live in New Braunfels, Texas with my husband and a cat with an attitude.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unleash Fanning!, July 10, 2007

By 

MJS "Constant Reader" (New York, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under the Knife: A Beautiful Woman, a Phony Doctor, and a Shocking Homicide (Mass Market Paperback)

The tale of Dean Faiello, the fake doctor who let a woman die because of his incompetence is the story of a deeply self-enchanted man. As another reviewer here has noted, Faiello is a narcissist happy to blithely torched the lives of anyone if it makes his life easier. Whether taking the life savings of a former lover, all but stealing the legacy of another, or putting a patient who's OD'd on lidocane into a suitcase and burying her in his garage, Faiello is never troubled by a conscience or even simple human compassion. And like many such trainwrecks, he's a fascinating subject.

Fanning tells his story and that of his victims effectively. She's clearly on the verge of joining the first rank of True Crime writers along with Ann Rule, Tommy Thompson and others. It's disappointing and frankly frustrating to me that after Fanning's stellar effort on Written in Blood where she elevated an insta-book to a worthy addition to the True Crime canon she still doesn't have a hardcover deal. I'm delighted by St. Martin's commitment to the genre but let's face it, they aren't giving their writers the luxuries of time and resources to really explore their subjects. It's even more frustrating when Court TV anchor's Catherine Crier's far less insightful efforts are in hardcover. Crier's books aren't bad but they're certainly not better than Fanning's last two. I, for one, would love to see what Fanning could do given the time, support and the right story.

Back to the book - this is an absorbing, fast read. Well worth the time of any True Crime fan.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the best she's written, February 17, 2008

By 

R. Krause "mrsrobot" (Fort George G. Meade, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Under the Knife: A Beautiful Woman, a Phony Doctor, and a Shocking Homicide (Mass Market Paperback)

The writing was good, but the story just didn't lend itself to a whole book. There was a lot of filler and unnecessary details.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Cheap Sensationalism, February 27, 2008

By 

William Donnelly (Pompton lakes, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Under the Knife: A Beautiful Woman, a Phony Doctor, and a Shocking Homicide (Mass Market Paperback)

I should probably preface this by saying that I'm not a big fan of the true crime genre anyway. That being said, I feel this book is poorly written and jumps around too much in the narrative, which comes across, to me, as cheap tabloid writing. As for the story itself, I find it infuriating that(a) this crime probably could have been solved much sooner than it was if the police had not been so careless, and(b) that Faiello still got a relatively light sentence in view of his brutal callousness and the multitude of charges that COULD have been brought against this hideous person. To the best of my knowledge, he still has not been indicted in New Jersey (where I live)for transporting Maria Cruz's body across state lines. May she rest in peace.