Customer Reviews

Whatever Mother Says...: A True Story of a Mother, Madness and Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I read this book a couple of years ago under another title which I think was called The Worst Mother In The World. This is the only true crime book that I have ever read that actually made me cry.I consider myself pretty hardened to this type of reading but I felt so sorry for the children in this family having such an evil,nutcase of a mother. It's little wonder that children growing up in the violent and sick environment that these poor kids had turn out to be killers and develop severe mental problems. The thing that gets me,and you hear this all the time,is that although friends and neigbours and even family members knew that this mother was a sandwich short of a picnic - nobody tries to help these poor kids! This woman was a manipulative sadistic woman so consumed with jealousy that her daughters were prettier than her that she tortured them killing two out of three in the end.The worst thing is,is that she enlisted the help of her own sons to get rid of the bodies! These children endured severe beatings,starvation followed by mountains of food fed forcefully until they were sick and made to eat the vomit,they were drugged,made to drink enough alcohol until they passed out and eventually one of the daughters was shot by her own mother while being held in place by her two brothers because her mother was a lousy shot an didn't want to miss. Not only was she shot but as she didn't die,her mother nursed her back to health.I won't tell you how the bullet was removed as I don't want to ruin the next set of unimaginable events for you. This book is not one of the most well written that I have read but the story makes up for that.Very sad,Your worst nightmare come true,I only hope that someone does to the mother what she did to her kids.Makes you gasp.Will stay in your mind.A must for all true crime readers but not for the faint hearted.

This book is EXCELLENTLY well written. No dry parts at all. I couldn't put it down. All about the WORST mother ever! It gives you a look at each of her children, and each of her husbands (she was actually acquitted of murdering her first one!), as well as telling the story of her, from childhood.

I thought it was wonderful the way, he wrote about her children, especially the daughters. It made me feel as though I knew them, and it made me feel great empathy for them. They had their own hopes and dreams, and it's incredibly sad they couldn't live to have freedom.

I CAN'T BELIEVE ANYONE WOULD GIVE THIS BOOK LESS THAN 5 STARS, JUST BECAUSE WENSLEY CLARKSON DIDN'T WAIT UNTIL AFTER HER TRIAL, OR THAT IT WAS "YUCKY" Really! What do you expect from a true crime book? If you have delicate sensitivities you shouldn't read this genre.
Well researched. Excellent book. One of the most gripping I've read in a while.

This book seemed kind of rushed to me as though the author was trying to get it out quickly, hence the non ending. It's an ok read, although I find a few things he says a bit hard to swallow. Suesan's "demonic voices", and horns on her head?
What Theresa Cross did to her children was unforgivable. She is a sick individual and the fact that no one intervened on behalf of those kids is even worse.

I think this book goes well with another book on the same subject. "Mother's Day" by Dennis McDougal. If you read both books you will get a more complete picture. (Theresa Cross got 2 life sentences for the murders of her daughters). There is also alot more information on Terry the only surviving daughter.
My only complaint about "Mother's Day" is that there are no pictures.

So get both books if only to see who the victims are and to have more in depth information.

This is probably the most gruesome case of child abuse I've ever heard of. This woman's cruelty and inhumanity is beyond any normal person's comprehension. For that reason only, the book is virtually impossible to put down. As other reviewers have pointed out, it is not very well written. There are numerous inconsistancies throughout the pages. Nevertheless, as soon as I finished it, I immediately went web-surfing, searching for more information on this hideous case; I ordered "Mother's Day" by Dennis McDougal.

My name is Detective David Lundberg. I am in the book. The author claimed that I acted as an agent when the media came calling on Teri. I was only trying to protect her. I did not go after a movie deal as alledged in the book. I was only trying to help the victim of one of the worst crimes in America, from being victimized again in the crazed world of Hollywood and mass media. I just want the truth to be known. My e-mail address is Dave_Lundberg@MSN.COM Thank You

I just read the book in about 4 hours. I could not put it down! I took it everywhere with me. However, since the book was written in 1995, there were no updates since the trial was in process. Does ANYONE have any updates? I am very curious as to what happened in the trial, and more curious about Terry...

This is about the true crimes committed by Theresa Cross Knorr, a mother of five kids. As her daughters grew up Theresa became jealous of their beauty. She convinced her two teenage sons to help her commit horrible acts upon the daughter and even to burn one alive!

*** This one gives nightmares! I simply could not tell myself this was real! To murder strangers is bad enough, but to murder two of your own children is unspeakable! An insane mother who could be called a modern age Baroness of Blood! ***

One of the sons went to jail for a few years while the other was given probation.

I found this information on the Sacramento Bee website by searching the archives in 1995 for "Theresa Jimmie Cross."

Starts out promising and goes into a lot of detail but as it builds to a grande finale, we find out that the court case hadn't even started when the book was finished. That makes it only half a true crime book in my opinion. I felt ripped off. The other thing that is disturbing is the author's obsession with Theresa Knorr's weight - it's mentioned on every other page but has very little do with her crimes or why they were committed. With so much good true crime around I recommend giving this one a miss.

If the author was so anxious to get the story out, I feel he could've at least waited until after the trial. I read this a couple of years ago and to this day have not been able to find out any information on this case at all. But, the story is absolutely horrifying and like other reviewers here, I couldn't put it down, although it made me sick.