325 of 382 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
You CAN judge this book by its cover ..., January 7, 2005
This review is from: Witness: For the Prosecution of Scott Peterson (Hardcover)
Amber Frey, and any and all of her ghostwriters, has put together one of the most opportunistic, tasteless books ever released. You need not look past the cover to know that Amber doesn't care who or what she exploits, as long as it makes her money. When I first saw the cover on Dateline NBC, I was appalled. Laci Peterson is gone and can have no say over her face being plastered on the cover. She didn't take that picture to be placed on the book of a woman who may have been, at least indirectly, behind her murder. I'm sure she wouldn't have wanted to be on the cover of a book with the woman her husband cheated on her with. It turns out that I wasn't the only one offended over the shameful cover. Laci's mother has made a public announcement stating that she did not want her daughter and her ex son-in-law on the cover, divided by a picture of Amber Frey. She asked that the picture be removed. Amber hasn't complied and refuses to answer journalists when asked why she won't reply. She refers the question to her lawyer.
After reading this book, it's hard to believe that Amber herself would even approve her picture for the front. The book is a short, poorly-written mess, cleverly crafted by lawyers and publicists, not written from the heart of Amber Frey. There is NOTHING in here that you haven't already heard, if you've bothered to turn on the television in the past year. The "shocking" revelations are not about the Laci Peterson murder, but rather about Amber having an abortion, etc. It felt like filler material, to me (especially the stuff about her not marrying the fathers of her two children). And the book feels like a way for Amber to make a quick buck out of a tragedy. She does nothing but beg for self-pity in this book ("poor Amber"). Where are the insights into her relationship with Scott? Why are we given transcripts of phone calls widely available for free, along with already published photographs, instead of a behind-the-scene's account that only someone like Amber could give us? This book is all "surface" material and I would recommend it to no one. I managed to read the ENTIRE book in the store, in under an hour (I would rather donate my money to the victims of the Tsunami than give it to Amber and her money-grubbing lawyer). Amber Frey should be ashamed of herself for profiting off of a murder case. Maybe she should ask the God she claims she has so much faith in what He would think of her using Laci Peterson's smiling face to sell her lousy book. I doubt He'd approve.
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72 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
God's Plan, March 16, 2005
This review is from: Witness: For the Prosecution of Scott Peterson (Hardcover)
God's plan was that Scott Peterson kill his wife Laci and their unborn son. God's plan was that Amber Frey, a fine Christian young lady (who just can't stop herself from having unprotected sex with uncommitted partners) have a relationship with Scott, thereby guaranteeing herself a bundle. It was all God's plan.
I read this book twice, trying to view it from different angles. As true crime, it's no good, as all Amber is interested in is Amber. We are reminded many times, that she has God on her side. Apparently God wasn't on Laci and Connor's side.
The first two chapters are Amber's wonderful storybook romance with Scott. On their first date, he brags that he travels all over the world, has family in Kennebunkport, ME, a truck, a big house, a Landrover and a condo. Amber proceeds to get drunk (literally) on the thought of these riches, seeing Scott as a "good catch". She jumps into bed with him and spends the night, heedless of her best friend's (who is babysitting Amber's small daughter) need to go to work in the morning. Amber leaves Scott only when her friend calls to remind her again, that she must get to work.
On their second and third dates, Scott shows up at Amber's one bedroom apartment. Her daughter, Ayiana (what's with all the vowels?) falls asleep in her "favorite spot" in the living room while Amber and Scott proceed to the bedroom.
Amber and Scott have much in common. Amber likes "good wine" and Scott tells her "I have a really nice collection of good wine" as opposed to a really nice collection of sucky wine.
Amber also has X ray vision to Scott's internal organs. She tells the police that Scott's "stomach kept churning" as he told her he had lied to her about being married, and he "lost" his wife.
Amber devotes the third chapter to her own background, but she's a bit sketchy. Her parents split up when she was small. She states that her mother worked in a hospital "in some kind of nursing capacity" (couldn't Amber ask her mom what she did?). When not at work, her mom was "out on the town, hoping to meet someone new." Amber seems to prefer her dad, but goes from living with her mom to living with her dad, and back again, without much explanation as to why all this flip-flopping.
Amber states that she graduated high school in 1993, and graduated from Fresno City College in 1997. She'd been seeing a guy named Moises throughout high school and college, but during her college years she "got careless" and became pregnant. It's not clear if Moises is the father, but in any case she had an abortion and felt guilty.
After college, Ms. Frey begins a relationship with "Steve", a married man with a pregnant wife. Amber generously forgives his wife's anger which she feels is mistakenly directed toward her. Amber seems not to realize that she has only heard one side of this couples' story - and it wasn't the wife's. Ms. Frey advises the reader (regarding the wife's anger over the loss of her husband's affections): "That's human nature, after all. We all find it hard to take responsibility for our own actions."
Anthony comes along, and in the summer of 2000, Amber gets careless again. Anthony isn't happy with this and splits. Amber gets mad because she had "quit school and given up her job to help Anthony with his window cleaning business." She apparently forgot that she graduated in 1997. After her daughter is born February 20, 2001, she stays home for six months, then enters a business college to get certified in massage therapy. She obtains her certification March 5, 2002, and meets Scott November 20, 2002.
She dates Scott for a little over a month before she finds out that he does have a wife and she really is lost. Amber even got careless with Scott, but luckily didn't get caught. Amber seems to bask in the approval of the detectives. She ignores her massage business, driving to Modesto any time the police beckon as if she has nothing else to do. She leaves her daughter with whomever (even though everything she's done, she done it all by herself, with no help from anybody! Except God. He's on her side, you know!) Amber becomes furious with her sister Ava (who babysat her daughter quite a bit) for having the nerve to help in the search for Laci. Ava doesn't rate a thank you in Amber's acknowledgments.
Scott and Amber's dialogues are as if they are on two different pages of the same book. She scorns Scott as he quotes the Bible to her, and seems more interested in finding out how Scott really feels about her and why he lied to her, than in finding Laci. Amber is the star. Laci is an extra with no lines.
At Amber's first press conference, she announces: "Although I could have sold photos of Scott and I to the tabloids, I knew this was not the right thing to do." Instead she waited and wrote a book to be sold after the trial, so she could make some real money.
During all this Amber begins a relationship as "friends" with David Markovich, a former employer. Alas, she again gets careless and her friend is not happy at all. Amber gives birth to a baby boy, deciding to interfere with his horoscope when she finds out his due date is Laci's birthday. She orders her doctor to induce her labor a week early.
Toward the end of the book, Amber quotes more and more scripture, to convince us of her goodness and religiosity. If Scott would only repent of Laci's murder, he would be more welcome in Heaven than 99 others who managed to behave as law-abiding citizens. It's okay to sin, as long as you regret it.
My stomach just kept churning.
It's God's plan.
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