Daniel Raymond Pell was a serial killer in the manner of Charles Manson. On 9/13/99, he was convicted on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of manslaughter. In Carmel, California, he killed William Croyton, his wife and two of their three children, but he missed little Theresa who was upstairs, asleep in her bed. She became known to the press as “The Sleeping Doll.” Pell also killed James Newberg, one of his “family” who helped commit the crimes. The family included Newberg and three women. Imprisoned in a high security place in California, which sounds like Folsum Prison, Pell is accused of being responsible for an unsolved murder, so he is moved to a less secure place in order to be interviewed about this other murder. This is where his nemesis enters the scene, Kathryn Dance, an interviewer extraordinaire who matches wits with the very intelligent Pell. He had nothing to do with this other murder and the whole thing was a ploy for him to be able to escape, which he does. The book is about the contest between Pell at-large, and Dance, trying to recapture him. There is very good psychological study of the three women in the family who have already served out their prison terms and tried to move on with their lives, but they have not been in touch with each other since their convictions. Deaver brings in some other interesting characters. This was a good book, clever, and as I’m beginning to appreciate about Deaver, there are some very good unanticipated twists toward the end.
West Coast Don
No comments:
Post a Comment