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Jeffrey Good

Poison Mind: The True Story of the Mensa Murderer-And the Policewoman Who Risked Her Life to Bring Him to Justice Hardcover – January 1, 1995

by Jeffrey Good (Author), Susan Goreck (Author)

28 ratings

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Jacket subtitle: The true story of the Mensa murderer and the policewoman who risked her life to bring him to justice. No index; no literature references. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Print length

353 pages
Language

English
Publisher

William Morrow & Co
Publication date

January 1, 1995
Dimensions

6.5 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0688119476
ISBN-13

978-0688119478
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Creepily absorbing, this book briskly recounts an unusual murder case. Peggy Carr, a middle-aged waitress in the Florida town of Alturas, fell into a coma in October 1988 after complaining of "burning" pains; a son and stepson complained of the same pains. Four months later she was dead, though the boys had recovered. By then police had discovered that Coca-Cola in the family home had been laced with the poison thallium and had begun to suspect neighbor George Trepal, a quirky homebody whose doctor wife had clashed with Peggy and whose passive personality fit the FBI profile of a poisoner. To gather information on Trepal, special agent Susan Goreck, collaborating here with St. Petersburg Times staffer Jeffrey Good in a third-person narrative, went undercover, meeting Trepal at a Murder Mystery weekend sponsored by the high-IQ group Mensa and insinuating herself into his life. It was a dicey, frustrating process, as Goreck found herself feeling sorry for her prey and was distrusted by her superiors. Finally a test at Trepal's house turned up thallium, and Trepal was convicted of murder on circumstantial evidence and sent to death row. He never testified, and the source of his troubled psyche?which included a taste for drugs and sexual deviance?remains murky. Photos not seen by PW. Television movie and feature film rights to HBO.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In 1988, 39-year-old George Trepal solved his dispute with noisy neighbors in a most unconventional way. Disturbed by the loud music played by two teenage brothers, Trepal placed deadly thallium sulfate into soft-drink bottles that the family would surely drink. Although the teens survived the poisoning, their mother died. From the beginning, the brilliant, unemployed chemist was a prime suspect, but authorities lacked hard evidence. Enter this book's coauthor, Susan Goreck, a local police officer who was sent undercover to befriend Trepal and his physician wife. With Good's writerly help, Goreck reveals the mind of a killer as she tracks her potentially dangerous involvement with the secretive murderer, who was eventually convicted. A riveting examination of an atrocious crime by the undercover cop who helped seal its perpetrator's fate. Sue-Ellen Beauregard

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow & Co (January 1, 1995)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 353 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0688119476
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0688119478
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #521,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,333 in Murder & Mayhem True Accounts

Customer Reviews:
28 ratings

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M. Mcnair

Superb story and masterfully written.

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2022

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The author captures the ebb and flow of mystery. A really GREAT story so well written. Incredible work.

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California Dreaming

"A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar. . ."

Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2015

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"You won't like George Trepal. You might even hate him; I sure do. After all, he once told the following joke to all of his Mensa friends: 'What's the difference between a lawyer and a bucket of s---? Why, the bucket, of course!'" (Drum roll, please. And then a pause for effect.) "But just because Mr. Trepal is unlikeable doesn't make him a murderer." (Spin around, look at George Trepal, snort in disgust, and then walk away.)

If I were George Trepal's attorney, that's how I would have been tempted to start opening statements during the finally-convicted murderer's trial. After all, it would be a funny twist on the old lawyer-in-a-film-representing-a-scumbag speech.

And if you read this book -- and I recommend that you do -- then you may not like Mr. Trepal either. Heck, you might even hate him, just like I'm sure the Carrs do now, especially Pye, the victim's husband and man wrongly dragged through the mud. But I have a couple of problems with this case still, and you might feel the same: 1. This case is almost strictly circumstantial. Did Mr. Trepal murder Peggy Carr, and try to kill the rest of her family, in reality? Well, sure. He's most likely the guy. He had the motive, means, and opportunity, and for a "genius" like him, just performing an experiment is more than enough motive. But I'm not 100 percent sure still that he's guilty, and so I feel (just like three jurors, I believe) he should have been given life instead of death. 2. I usually believe that "two wrongs don't make a right," and "the end doesn't justify the means." I do think that, while I admire Susan Goreck for risking her life by going undercover, at the same time, I don't believe that the police should be able to misrepresent themselves while performing an investigation. After all, prosecutors may put people behind bars for lying; why do the police get special treatment?

I believe similar ethical dilemmas existed in the BTK case, the case against Dennis Rader. The police got a search warrant for the DNA of his daughter -- Kerri Rawson -- with less-than-admirable means. At any rate, the detectives strongly believed that Mr. Rader was BTK, and badly wanted to prove it. They had DNA evidence from an original BTK crime scene, and wanted to test that against Mr. Rader's DNA, but they didn't know a good way to get that DNA. So they played "dirty pool" -- in my opinion -- by subpoenaing Ms. Rawson's DNA from her doctor and then doing a relative comparison -- in other words, was she the daughter of the killer? Sure, putting Mr. Rader behind bars made me, and many others, very happy. But you have to wonder if this should be legal.

I rarely buy a "real" book nowadays; I always buy digital if possible. And if the digital version is not available, I usually just click the "Request this book in digital format" link and hope for the best. But I've known about this case for so long -- I've seen quite a few documentaries on it, including a relatively new one from a show I really like on the ID Network called "Fear Thy Neighbor" -- that I just couldn't wait any longer. So I groaned, clicked the link to buy the hardcover version, and waited a week or so for it to arrive. But I surely wasn't disappointed when it finally did.

As usual, you'll get the true behind-the-scenes version that you'll never hear about any other way but from a book. After all, TV shows, or even movies, have a limited running time, and the screenwriter must prune out all but the most important branches of an investigation. It was actually really interesting, even though I'm still ambivalent about the means, to read how Ms. Goreck met Mr. Trepal, gained his trust, and then moved in to secure evidence. While Ms. Goreck is listed as one of the writers, the book is written in the third person so you won't read "I" and "me." Usually, I like it when an author brings herself into a work, but I think that a little bit of distance actually works in this case. After all, Mr. Trepal never really liked getting too close to any of his victims.

It would be fun to end this review with another lawyer joke; I'm sure there are many. But in reality, this is a pretty tragic case that just never had to happen, and if Mr. Trepal is truly guilty (I believe that he is) then he really should be ashamed of himself. He can think about that while he remains on death row in Florida.

7 people found this helpful

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Patricia A. Murray

Very good!

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2022

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This is a very well written book on a very complex case.

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Scarlet Cooks

Enjoyable Read for the True Crime Buff...

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2013

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I remember being intrigued with this case when it happened. I know I was not the only one who was utterly baffled by just HOW the killer poisoned the Coke bottles without disturbing the caps. Well, I read the whole book carefully and, the question still remains. The book is well written, very readable, and contains lots of in depth information. The frustrating part is that there are still so many unanswered questions. The author merely skims over authorities' suspicions of the wife of the accused. There are many photos of man who was convicted, but not a single image of his wife. It's a book well worth reading, but I am left even more curious about the handling of this case.

3 people found this helpful

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C. May

Would be nice to have the whole book

Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2021

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I start reading, which is fine. Then I get to page 182, and the next page is 215? What happened to half my book? What a waste of time and money.