Sunday Synopsis

 

Deadly Innocence by Scott Burnside
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I guess I had heard of the so-called Ken and Barbie murderers, but I never really gave it much thought. It turns out, they are the subject of this book. The book's title is taken from a rap song that Paul Bernardo, the male in this duo, wrote around the time of the murders. This is not a review of the murders, though. They were vicious and disgusting, to say the very least. This is a review of the book and the way the authors wrote about what happened.

The book begins with a scenario of a teenage girl. The next chapter is another scenario. The next is another scenario. And so on. It takes several chapters before the reader will understand at least part of how these scenarios were connected, so it is disjointed in the beginning. In fact, the wedding of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka is near the beginning of the book, so the events are not written chronologically.

I do believe the author did a great deal of research for this book... maybe too much. If anything, there is too much detail, and it is repetitive. You will read about each murder multiple times: when it happens, when Karla talks about it, when it is discussed in court. I feel like it could have been condensed, especially considering the extremely graphic content and the sheer length of the book. With such explicit content, the book is already difficult to read mentally (unless you are a psychopath who enjoys those graphic details multiple times), and it is a very long book.

The end, especially, dragged on. The next-to-the-last chapter contains expert dissections of the couple's mental states. These experts include a women's abuse specialist (who is a man), forensic experts, kidnapping and homicide experts, and a behavioral scientist from the FBI. Other cases, experiments, and studies were also considered. Most of their opinions were not allowed as testimony in the case because it didn't actually apply to this case. I feel it should have been included in an appendix for readers who were interested in what they had to say rather than in an actual chapter of the book.

Additionally, there were numerous mistakes. Did anyone edit this book for grammar, punctuation, spelling, typographical errors? I think not. There were countless errors. The book was written by "journalists (reporters)" rather than "authors" and I think that dinstinction makes a difference.

I have not read another book about this same couple although there are many, so I did not have anything to compare it to, but based on the writing style, the number of errors, the explicit vulgar detail, the repetiveness, and the unnecessary parts, I can only say that it was "okay."

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