Author: Kathryn Casey
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: October 28, 2008 (originally published 1995)
Page Count: 384
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Read book blurb here
A sobering tale of a woman married to a serial rapist. Linda Bergstrom tried for YEARS to get someone to listen to her about her husband James' violent nature. James was a weird kid with rape fantasies who turned into a controlling husband who beat his wife and made her life a living hell. James is a psychopath with no empathy and thought of his history of ever escalating rapes as his little "problem" and when he's finally caught - after YEARS of police officers not listening to Linda or following up on her calls and pleas - he's sentenced to four 99-year-sentences in a Texas prison.
It's a fascinating story, but the author seems to muddle her way through the telling, going into exhaustive detail about some elements, and then completely grossing over other more important parts of the case. For example, James' family sounds absolutely crazy - in denial big-time with an alcoholic father and an enabling mother, and an older brother that sounds just as creepy as James. But we learn very little about them and given that the brother apparently helped destroy evidence of James' earlier crimes, it seems pretty relevant.
I understand this was Kathryn Casey's first book, but the pacing was very slow and the storytelling was very (very) repetitive. 3 stars.
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