14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Held true to the facts of the case....., June 14, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Where the Bodies Are Buried (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)
My nephew happens to be one of the victims in this book. The writers detailed the facts in this case pretty much as I know them. At the time this book was publised the case was still an open investigation. As of last week...June 8, 1999 DNA testing results confirmed our worst nightmare. Yes, our loved one was identified thru DNA on the remains/bones that were found on the estate of that lunatic! I have no sympathy for that murderer's wife who claims to this day that she didn't know or even suspect her husband was leading a double life. I find that hard to believe and feel like she could have saved some lives if she'd only came forward to police with the information she knew regarding the skull found on her property a year before he was found to be a suspect and then killed himself before we could have justice for our loved ones. The book was "OK" and I appreciate the author's sticking to the facts as we knew them at the time the book was written. Thank You, Aunt of Victim
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
There Is No Reason To Read This Book, January 3, 2007
This review is from: Where the Bodies Are Buried (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)
"Where the Bodies Are Buried" is basically a "paint by the numbers" true crime book. The book is competently written, which is a plus, and the story has potential interest.
However, as is often true of the run-of-the-mill true crime attempt, the book is way too long on the boring routine police work and way too short on information on the perpetrator's wife, who seems more than a little strange, and on the victims. An interesting crime book will explore - in detail - the upbringing, motivation, and personality of the major interesting characters. In this case that would include Herb and Julie Baumeister and the victims. There is very little of this in depth reporting, and way too much description of various policemen who perform for the most part a mundane investgation which is not interesting enough to comprise, as it does, the major part of the second half of this book. I find this type of writing to be typical of true crime writers who apparently have access to policemen and police records, but who are either unable or unwilling to thoroughly investigate the lives and psychology of the people of interest. Do we really need to know that, from page 147, "(Captain) Anderson threw down the Winston he was smoking and stubbed it out with his toe. It was the umpteenth cigarette of the young day."? Are the authors sure he didn't stub it out with his heel? Was it truly his umpteenth? Does any of this make any difference? This is the kind of inane filler that is all too common in mediocre true crime writing.
The requisite 8 pages of pictures, which are at least not referred to on the cover as shocking, are a joke. There are 2 pages of pictures of investigative personnel, which does not include the empathetic Mary Wilson, who seems to have been responsible for launching the investigation; but, amazingly includes one of a private detective who has a VERY minimal part in the book. Getting a recent picture of Julie Baumeister should have been easy, as she has not shied away from publicity and has appeared on "Oprah". But her picture is of a very young woman taken probably around 15 years before the events of this book. Most astoundingly there is NO - I repeat NO - picture of the protagonist, Herb Baumeister.
There is no reason to read this book. Anyone who is new to the true crime genre would be better served by reading some of the really good authors like Lowell Cauffiel, Jack Olsen, Darcy O'Brien, or Gregg Olsen to name a few. Anyone who is a long time fan of the genre has read hundreds like it.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Extended the facts to initiate a few yawns., January 15, 2002
This review is from: Where the Bodies Are Buried (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)
This book stuck to the facts but, became a bit "long" before it ended. Still, it is a good Serial Killer book. (add it to your collection)
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