If I Did It Confessions of the Killer (Hardcover)

~ The Goldman Family (Author), Dominick Dunne (Afterword), Pablo F. Fenjves (Foreword)
Key Phrases: New York, Mother's Day, Cathy Randa (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With an audacity that vilifies O.J. Simpson more than any other author could, Simpson himself provides a fictional tell-all account of the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown. Simpson seems to be more concerned about how the press poorly portrayed the facts—not about his murderous acts but of his personal life and relationship with Nicole. When he's not lamenting about how he is misunderstood, he's playing arm-chair therapist for Nicole (claiming she was involved with drugs, constantly erratic and still hopelessly longing for him). Simpson insists it was Nicole's actions that ultimately forced him to murder her. With an exclusive commentary read by Kim Goldman (Ron Goldman's sister), an account of writing the book with Simpson by ghostwriter Pablo F. Fenjves and an afterword by Dominick Dunne, listeners get an interesting balancing act of interests and motives for the publication of this story. G. Valmont Thomas eerily embraces Simpson's sound and speech patterns, making the audiobook more disturbing than the book. Hearing Simpson's words at his most enraged, listeners will be impressed and possibly frightened with how well Thomas delivers this first-person narrative. A Beaufort Books hardcover. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Description

"I'm going to tell you a story you've never heard before, because no one knows this story the way I know it."
The opening line of "If I Did It: Confessions of A Killer"

In 1994, Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson were brutally murdered at her home in Brentwood, California. O.J. Simpson was tried for the crime in a case that captured the attention of the American people, but was ultimately acquitted of criminal charges. The victims' families brought a civil case against Simpson, which found him liable for willfully and wrongfully causing the deaths of Ron and Nicole committing battery with malice and oppression.

In 2006, HarperCollins announced the publication of a book in which O.J. Simpson told how he hypothetically would have committed the murders. In response to public outrage that Simpson stood to profit from these crimes, HarperCollins canceled the book. A Florida bankruptcy court awarded the rights to the Goldmans in August 2007 to satisfy the civil judgment in part. The Goldman family views the book as his confession, and has worked hard to ensure that the public will read this book and learn the truth. This is O.J. Simpson's original manuscript, approved by him, with up to 14,000 words of additional key commentary. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 254 pages
• Publisher: Beaufort Books; 1 edition (September 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825305888
• ISBN-13: 978-0825305887
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (224 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #32,533 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

432 of 478 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Ghostwriter Put One Over on Simpson!, September 16, 2007

By	Janet Swanborn (Calumet City, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Once, in being questioned about some commment in his first autobiography. Simpson said that he had never read the book. The same seems to be true here.

First, he gives himself an additional motive for the murder. Not jealousy, but the irrestible urge to silence a whining bipolar woman whom he thought was a bad influence on his kids. Driven-to-the-wall nuts like many a murderer before him.

Second, as Sam Goldwyn would say, it's "chock full of omissions". Simpson presents the murders as spontaneous, and gives a reason for happening to have gloves and a cap in his car. He does not explain why he was wearing black dress socks and thousand-dollar teal shoes with a midnight blue track suit. In reality, of course, he wore dark socks to minimize the show of blood, and wore a pair of shoes he had decided he disliked and had not often been seen in. (But he had worn them at least once, since a picture of him wearing them had been published in a magazine 6 months before the murders.)

He says that he talked with a fan at the airport about his Hall of Fame ring, and there was no cut on his ring finger. THEN he reproduces his first police interview in which he admits he cut his finger in L.A. and the cut opened up again in Chicago. Mr. Simpson, please read the books you "write"!

He invents an accomplice called Charlie, a casual acquaintance who just drops in on a first visit to tell him Nicole was doing immmoral things. He and Charlie rush off to Nicole's house and Simpson does the deed while Charlie stands guard. This Charlie never comes forward and leaves no trace at the scene.

Charlie also takes Simpson's bloody clothes right at the crime scene and ditches them, although when limo driver Alan Park saw Simpson run into his house, Park did not mention that the man was in his underwear.

Simpson unwittingly explains what many people have wondered about: how he could take on two people. His malice, element of surprise, physical strength, probable high on crystal meth, and weapon were enough, but he tells us he knocked out Nicole first, killed Ron, then finished off Nicole. Thank you, Mr. Simpson.

He claims to have been blacked out or amnesiac about the actual murder. Some people have ridiculed this, but according to Connie Fletcher's WHAT COPS KNOW, it's a normal reaction for an amateur murderer, who is generally traumatized be what he has done. In other words, the blackout story makes the notion that he killed them MORE, not less, convincing.

In case you're wondering, he says he never once hit Nicole. Not ever.

He talks about his freeway ride, but fails to mention the many thousands of bucks and the false beard he was carrying.

He forgets about apologizing to Nicole's corpse at the wake.

He insists that he was emotionally wholly through with Nicole and was willing to talk to her ONLY about the kids, yet tells her mother, "I loved her too much [to have killed her]." Her death, more than his fall from grace, drives him to consider suicide. He gives up the notion of suicide abruptly when he hears Dan Rather say that the cops had been out to Simpson's place five or six times on domestic abuse calls. He is so angered by this lie that he peps up and vows to fight.

Read enough? The book is an interesting curiosity, and sales will finally benefit the right people. Go ahead.

346 of 400 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Yes, I've actually read the book, September 15, 2007

By	Karen (New York) - See all my reviews

Of course, I, as everyone else, was very familiar with the details of the actual murders. But this book spends most of its time with the year or so prior to the murders. Since it is told by O.J., it is difficult to determine how much of it is true. The actual "confession" part is very sketchy: he sort of blames the whole thing on an imaginary accomplice named Charlie, and conveniently goes blank exactly when the murders take place. I read somewhere Barbara Walters said this was one of the most chilling things she's ever read. Maybe I've just been desensitized, but he just didn't say enough to qualify this as a confession. I realize just the idea that he would agree to something like this is enough of an admission of guilt (and stupidity, of course), but this was not the bombshell book I expected. I hope this gives the Goldmans some peace; for me, I was hoping for more of a concrete admission and a better sense of closure than this offers.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Anyone Interested in the Case, September 29, 2007

By	John P. (Kennett Square, PA USA) - See all my reviews

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Like many people, I bought "If I Did It" because I support the Goldman family's efforts to get some sort of justice. The man who murdered Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown went free. But, by being awarded the "If I Did It" manuscript in a bankruptcy case involving Simpson's corporation, the Goldmans have finally been able to collect, to a small extent, on the judgment they were awarded in Simpson's civil trial. The more money the Goldmans make on this book, the more money they will have "taken" from Simpson.

The book begins with an introduction in which "the Goldman Family" explain how they came to be awarded the rights to "If I Did It" by the bankruptcy court and why they decided to publish it. As they point out, they (like me) would much rather see Simpson in jail, serving the life sentence he should have received. But since that is now impossible, they must settle for the next best thing -- doing whatever is legally permissible to punish Simpson by seizing his assets.

The book's ghostwriter, Pablo Fenjves, also provides an introduction, where he describes his involvement in the book project and his interviews of Simpson. Fenjves's intro actually contained what was, for me, the most chilling part of the book: When Simpson's narrative reached the moment of the actual murders, he looked at Fenjves and said, "I don't know what the hell you want from me . . . I'm not going to tell you that I sliced my ex-wife's neck and watched her eyes roll up into her head." Somehow, that strikes me as more of a confession than anything else in the book.

The "If I Did It" memoir itself takes up 196 pages. The first five chapters -- 115 pages -- deal with Simpson's relationship with Nicole Brown: how they met and dated, how she finally persuaded him to marry her, their good years, their separation, and their failed attempt at a reconciliation. This part of the book is somewhat dull, but it does serve to flesh out a motive for murder. It becomes apparent that Simpson resented Nicole for pestering him, coming between him and their two children, and making it difficult for him to have a serious relationship with Paula Barbieri. As Simpson puts it at one point (p. 120), "[I]t seemed like every day it took a little more energy, and Nicole was sapping a lot of my goddamn energy."

Chapters 6, 7, and 8 (about 80 pages) are what will hold the most interest for most readers. Here, Simpson describes the night of the murders, the first interrogation by police, and the freeway "chase" when he threatened to kill himself. The description of the murders -- which is presented as "hypothetical" (p. 123) -- includes a mysterious companion referred to as "Charlie." Fenjves's theory, explained in his intro, is that Charlie was invented by Simpson to enable him to gain some psychological distance when recounting the crime. The murder description also includes a blackout that some reviewers have complained about. But it's not a big deal: all the blackout covers are the stabbings themselves; it does not keep us from learning how Simpson went to Nicole's home, what he saw and said there, and how he and "Charlie" made their getaway.

The book concludes with a brief afterword by Dominick Dunne, in which he talks mainly about how he came to know the Goldmans during Simpson's criminal trial.

"If I Did It" is probably unique in the history of crime and publishing. It gives us the best view we're probably ever going to get into Simpson's mind and the chain of thoughts and emotions that led to the murders. For the first time, I feel that I really understand the case.