Evil Secrets (Paperback)

~ Kathy Braidhill (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Profiles depraved sociopath William James Bland, who raped and tortured women and children, including his own stepdaugthers, and recounts his flight from the law, capture, and trial for the brutal murder of seven-year-old Phoebe Ho. Original.

Product Details

• Paperback: 371 pages
• Publisher: Pinnacle (December 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786003480
• ISBN-13: 978-0786003488
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,199,429 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vicious sex offender brought to justice by tough cops & D.A., September 22, 1998

By A Customer

Warren James Bland started his career of violent crime in 1958 by gut-slashing a man at a gas station. By the time he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed 7 year-old Phoebe Ho in 1986, he had already been convicted of rape, child molestation, kidnapping, and torture, and had spent most of his adult life in prison. The disappearance of Phoebe in December of 1986 while on her way to school in South Pasadena, California, sparked a media frenzy and a massive search, which ended after a week with the discovery of her battered and torn body in a ditch in Riverside County. With no crime scene and no suspects, cops were forced to rely on cutting-edge scientific techniques and computer records of sex offender profiles to try to identify the killer. Book gives step-by-step details of how the police and scientists solved the crime, with lots of interesting insights and details concerning homicide investigation, and the impact such a terrible crime has on the community, as well as police investigators. Follows the death-penalty trial and conviction of Bland, with actual excerpts of transcripts and interviews with the prosecutor and defense attorneys. A quick read, well written. Good for true crime fans.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gut-wrenching horror....., November 19, 2000

By	Miranda Dietrich "voracious reader and jewelr... (Milwaukee) - See all my reviews

Throughout this book, I noticed that the author, Kathy Braidhill, kept an emotional distance from the subjects of her book. At first, I thought perhaps she had a psychological problem. After finishing the book, I realized that she'd had to relive such horror that she probably had to take a step back.

This is the hellacious story of a madman who posed as the nicest guy on earth. He was let out of prison five times, FIVE TIMES!, before he tortured, sexually tortured,starved, raped, sodomized and murdered little 7-year-old Phoebe Ho over the period of a week. One of the scariest parts of this book is that no one ever learned where he'd kept this child all of that time.

Probably the most emotionally drenching part of this book is the sheer grief of Phoebe's parents. Here, Braidhill does an excellent job. I sobbed along with Mrs. Ho. How does she go on after this unspeakable evil was done to her favorite little one?

Since I finished this book, I've kept a light on in my little one's room.

This book is about a slasher, a rapist, a murderer, the devil incarnate, a sexual sadisst who could have been the guy next door. I suddenly realized what John Douglas has always warned...that murderers and rapists don't always LOOK like the monsters they are.

A gripping book. After I was finished, I asked myself, who has this much evil inside of himself? People like this really DO exist, and that is the most frightening thing to realize.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Evil Secrets, May 13, 2000

By	"playfuljane" (United States) - See all my reviews

This book was absolutely gripping! My heart just ached for the family members of little Pheobe Ho! This guy was not only derranged but pathetic. He seemed somewhat childlike. Spoiled,self-absorbed and very immature! He knew just what he was doing and really planned ahead! But his carelessness finally got the best of him. The death penalty was too good for this man named Warren James Bland! When he was finally gunned down by officers during his arrest, I could not help but to wish that the bullet would have entered a more vital organ than his leg! I know that makes me no better than the killer himself, but you really grow to hate this man throughout the book after hearing what he had done to little 7 yr. old Pheobe Ho. Her family will never be the same, nor will I after reading this horrific true story! I get up nightly since finishing it, to check on my 9 yr old son as he sleeps. I think of the moms anguish, and I too start to cry. God bless the families of these victims (all). And may Mr. Bland burn in..... Well, you know!