Tangled Vines : Power, Privilege and the Murdaugh Family Murders

Title: Tangled Vines;  Power, Privilege and the Murdaugh Family Murders
Author: John Glatt
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: August 8, 2023
Page Count: 310
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

In Tangled Vines, John Glatt does an excellent job of delving into the Murdaugh family dynamic, giving us behind-the-scene details of this Southern Gothic "crime family." It begins with a history of the past 110 years or so of the Murdaugh family; it's a bit hard to follow, given that almost every male of the past several generations had been named either Randolph or Buster. But once we finally get to the current generation, we have a good understanding of the tight network of judges, lawyers, and law enforcement that enabled the Murdaugh family's stranglehold on the judicial system in their part of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

 It's all a heady mix of murder, white-collar fraud, misappropriation of funds (almost $9 million dollars from personal injury clients), money laundering, forgery, drug manufacture and trafficking and more. It's hard to feel any kind of sympathy for the truly deplorable Murdaugh family. As one of Alex Murdaugh's victim said "I know Mr. Murdaugh as my attorney ... A very nice man and very cordial. I never had any issues and would communicate with him on a regular basis. Now here's the problem. He treated me that nice and he stole every dime I had from the injury I incurred." 

Perhaps because the scope of all the crimes is so huge, it's hard to get a sense of wife Maggie's personality, and sons Paul and Buster - other than spoiled sons of parents who encouraged and abetted their violent fits of anger, underage drinking, vehicular manslaughter (Paul's drunken boat accident that killed Mallory Beach), the mysterious death of Steven Smith, and the mysterious death of Gloria Satterfield. 

At four years old they cussed like sailors [...] and Maggie thought it was funny. [She] instilled in them from a very young age that they were better than anyone else because they were Mardaughts. The same rules didn't apply to you that apply to these other people. 'You're a Murdaugh! You're a Murdaugh.' 

As the book was, for the most part completed in late 2022 and early 2023, the advance-reading copy did not include trial updates and developments. It is my understanding that the final version does contain trial information. 

If you are looking for a great over-all examination of the Murdaugh family and their numerous crimes in the context of the Southern Lowcountry where they "ruled" for over a hundred years, you won't do better than Glatt's account. The book is a bit light on specific details on the actual murders of Paul and Maggie, and Paul's drunken boat accident is skimmed over, but then again there is so much crime, murder, corruption, fraud and the like that a true accounting could be almost endless. 4 stars.

I received an ARC from the Publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

The Doomsday Mother: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and the End of an American Family

Title: The Doomsday Mother: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and the End of an American Family
Author: John Glatt
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Release Date: January 18, 2022
Page Count: 304
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

If you thought, as I did, that you knew a great deal about this convoluted case involving the disappearance and murder of two children, the murder of two husbands and one wife, and the disturbing doomsday cult that drew Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell together, this revelatory book is a must-read.

Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell's first meeting was like gasoline and fire, a perfect storm of religious fervor and the belief that they were destined to be together and deliver the select 144,000 after the apocalyptic end of the world in July of 2020.  Author John Glatt provides details I have not read elsewhere. He met and interviewed numerous people from both Lori and Chad's life (and he names names) as well as law enforcement officers. Also, his interviews with family members and family background provides a solid foundation for understanding just how Lori and Chad ended up believing their hybrid religious fantasy. 

The book is very enlightening and I appreciated Glatt's solid research and careful analysis of this case.  4.5 stars and I highly recommend this book.

I received an ARC from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Golden Boy : A Murder Among the Manhattan Elite

Title: Golden Boy
Author: John Glatt
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: July 20, 2021
Page Count: 320
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

Buckley, Deerfield, Princeton, Maidstone, East Hampton. Tommy Gilbert, Jr. had it all - model good looks, a great education, a loving family - and yet he is now serving 30 years to life for murdering his father by firing a bullet through his brain.

Tommy had been blessed with both hands, yet it was this very thing that prevented him getting any sort of real help.  As a few friends said:

Nobody thought this handsome, well-educated, privileged Princeton man was capable of violence [...] if Tommy looked like me, people would have thought he was an insane person fairly quickly.

I must admit that I really struggled with this book because while I feel that Tommy's mental illness (paranoid schizophrenia) was absolutely the major factor in the murder, time and again Tommy was given a second, third, fourth, ad nauseum chances at redemption solely because of his looks and his background.  

And in a sense, this is the same struggle that the court faced with this case. It took four years to bring the case to trial because of the difficulty in determining if Tommy was sane enough to stand trial. He refused to speak with medical personnel tasked with determining his mental state, he refused to take any medication, he refused to participate in his defense.  Yet he also carefully planned to murder his father - purchasing the Glock he used, sending his mother out of the townhouse on an errand, carefully walking away from the scene, etc. 

The author had access to Tommy's mother, Sheila Gilbert, and others close to him, including his attorney Arnold Levine. There's plenty here showing that Tommy's parents were in denial about his mental illness - "They appeared more concerned about their reputation than their son's highly dangerous mental state" -  and that their status and wealth had protected him in the past from consequences.  And Sheila strongly advocated for her son getting "as light a sentence as possible" while, IMHO, failing to advocate for her murdered husband. But again, this entire case is a horrific Sophie's choice that far too many families are dealing with every day. 

At times, the narrative dragged with far too many parties and events described in great detail, but overall Glatt clearly lays out a dilemma to which there is no clear answer. 4 stars. 

I received an ARC from the Publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Deadly American Beauty

Title: Deadly American Beauty
Author: John Glatt
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Release Date: March 13, 2004
Page Count: 304
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

A true crime story of Kristin Rossum, a toxicologist with the San Diego ME's office, who murdered her husband Greg DeVillers with fentanyl, and then placed red rose petals on his bed,

Rossum had a lovely childhood and wanted to be a ballerina, but ended up addicted to meth, had an affair with her immediate boss in the toxicology department, lied to almost everyone she met, stole drugs from the ME's office and murdered her husband by drugging him with a massive dose of fentanyl and vainly attempted to cover up her crime.

 In comparing and contrasting John Glatt's Deadly American Beauty and Caitlin Rother's Poisoned Love, I would say Glatt's book is the clear winner. He gives a much clearer overview of the criminal case and the trial and provides more details about Greg's personality and family life. I found his writing interesting and engaging and liked how he had a good balance between providing the overview of the case, and well as providing smaller telling details. 4 stars.

The Perfect Father : The True Story of Chris Watts, His All-American Family, and a Shocking Murder

Title: The Perfect Father: The True Story of Chris Watts, His All-American Family, and a Shocking Murder
Author: John Glatt
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: July 21, 2020
Page Count: 304
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

I was familiar with the Chris and Shanann Watts' murder case prior to reading John Glatt's book "The Perfect Father," and had read another book on the subject. I give Glatt top marks for pulling together all the information into a very readable, cohesive book that does an excellent job of presenting the case without a lot of editorializing.

Some people may have the impression of Shanann as a great mother with a boatload of less-than-desirable traits and qualities, but Glatt gives us a full range of perceptions from family, friends, coworkers and lets us draw our own conclusions. And he gives Chris the same treatment. He also offers up Nichol Kessinger's actions in a similar manner without making any judgment.