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Fear Came To Town - Doug Crandell
by myloh This is a true crime story written by Doug Crandell . I can't comment on the author per se,because this is my first reading of any of his work. It is available to buy new for around the £5 mark,but second hand copies (often in perfect condition) can be purchased on amazon for under £3 (including postage & packing). I got mine ... from amazon for £2.90 & it is immaculate. It contains photographs ,but nothing graphic ,and is 295 pages long . ------------------- First let me say that too much background on characters in these books irritates me unless it is relevant. I think keeping it brief is best in many cases,but in this one it is very relevant to how events unfolded. Therefore there is a lot of detail on the troubled pasts of one of the victims in this case & on the perpetrator of the crime. -------------------- The basic story. There is a town in Georgia USA called Santa Claus and one December night in 1997 a man called Jerry Scott Heidler broke into the home of Danny & Kim Daniels on Dasher street (yes the streets are mostly named after Christmas related things). Once inside Heidler murdered both parents,their teenage daughter Jessica,and little boy,Bryant, aged just eight. Three little girls ,one the twin of murdered Bryant were then taken off by Heidler,driven some distance from their home and dumped on a roadside....but not before at least one of them was sexually assaulted by their abductor. Two other children in the home were left unharmed ,a ten month old child & a four year old. This is a really heart-wrenching story made all the more poignant by the fact that the mother who was murdered had been one of life's victims & been through the mill herself,yet had managed to turn her life around,met a truly wonderful man,found God & was offering shelter to lost children through foster care....hence so many children involved that fateful night. She wanted to give the kind of foster care she rarely had to those in dire need and she and her husband managed to help numerous children as well as raising their own extended brood. Her father had been murdered for stealing chickens to feed his family when Kim was only three years old & the mother deserted them shortly thereafter, leaving Kim & her siblings to bounce around foster homes till, in the end,they lost touch with each other....Kim was in 17 homes in one year alone,and 52 in total during her childhood.She finally settled in the home of kind God-fearing people ,but by then,in her teens & full of angst,she had gone off the rails. As time went on she made more mistakes,had babies that were taken into care, but finally found her way & fought to get her own babies back from the Child Care Services. She achieved that goal & became a model foster mother into the bargain. She knew what troubled children need,stability & love,and she offered both in abundance & was highly regarded by the Child Care Services people .....therefore she kept getting offered more children in need of her experienced hands and was actually about to legally adopt some of the children in her care in the new year. Yet Jerry Scott Heidler was also one of life's victims with a similar background .......so the old "well he had a hard life & was bound to turn out bad" is off the mark here when you compare him to Kim Daniels. Heidler's little sister had been fostered by the Daniels, as was he for a time, and they showed him a good life & were exceedingly kind to him. His unhealthy interest in their teenage daughter was the only reason they opted to not have him stay there on overnight visits any more. He owed them nothing but gratitude,yet he chose to butcher them instead.However HIS mother WAS in his life a lot. Too much for my liking actually,because she is far from a prime example of motherhood by any stretch of the imagination,even allowing for circumstances. She even tore up the Daniels front lawn in her car because her phone calls to her daughter being fostered there were deemed disruptive & had been stopped by the authorities(not Kim & Danny). The apple didn't fall too far from the tree in my opinion. Sorry if that sounds judgemental,but you need to read the book to see what a strange person she was. She was known among locals to practice voodoo(often in front of her children),as did Heidler in prison,and when brought to the attention of authorities would simply up sticks & move to another county to dodge inspections of their lifestyle. The most poignant parts of the book for me were the description of what the first (and all alone) law officer on the scene found on entering the house on Dasher Street in the early morning of December 3rd . Kim & Danny were sprawled shot dead in their bed while the ten month old fostered child, baby Gabriel, stood by the bedside pulling at them to attend to his needs, unaware they never would again & he'd need to be found a new home.In another room little Bryant was lying in the top bunk of the bunk beds with his head blasted & mangled beyond recognition by a shotgun.The stunned & horrified deputy could hear crying but couldn't see anyone alive that would be causing it. He kept calling out gently "Hello ?..."while keeping his gun to hand, and eventually little foster child Corey (4 yrs old) came out of hiding & held his arms up to be comforted by the police man, crying "mama & daddy are dead....brother *** shot them......" (he actually named the wrong man because this was the only man ,a close family friend,that Corey had ever seen with a shotgun )............powerful imagery there, & heart breaking reading. More so that the house was heavily lit up & decorated for the expected visit from Santa & presents were piled under the Christmas tree in the jolliest setting you could envisage. Then the image of three little girls walking barefoot & wearing just flimsy night dresses in the freezing December early morning hours.... cowering in the yard of an older couple afraid & traumatised, causing their dog to go crazy barking & fussing & the couple to waken up to investigate if they had intruders on their property. Their shock on finding three children shivering & hiding on their property was palpable. How sad that the lady who took the little mites in comforted them by saying "Don't worry honeys.We'll get you home,warm & safe". Little did she know that their home was the scene of a massacre & far from safe & warm that night. Thus the police were called in & a deputy sent to check out the Daniels home on Dasher St. Fortunately the little girls, who knew Heidler all too well, gave good interviews to the police & Heidler was arrested quite quickly .He readily admitted to the murders once in custody & he has always been blasé about that night & never showed remorse. "I did it and ...? " kind of attitude .Not confrontational,but just unaffected .The last part of the book briefly covers his trial, sentencing ,escape & recapture. He was sentenced to die by electrocution,but after appeals this was deemed "cruel & unusual punishment" & so lethal injection was nominated as method of execution instead.However,because he is considered too mentally unstable to be executed this has been put off until he IS fit mentally. Ironically the murders occurred on the 5th wedding anniversary of Kim & Danny Daniels. The book DOES skip about a bit,but it is in keeping, in that it parallels the lives of Kim & Heidler as their lives unfolded. As an interesting (possibly) aside.... I'm very interested in these kind of books & keep two atlases to hand because of an irrational (if you will) need to actually see on a map the places mentioned in the stories .Unfortunately Santa Claus is so small that it wasn't in either of my atlases. But 'google is my friend'. So I went in google map & found it that way and was fascinated by all the street names ....CANDY CANE ,DECEMBER & of course all the names of the reindeers. PLUS....by dragging the little google man to the entrance to Dasher St you get the feel of the area........a very Americana setting. You can't go right into the street though, as it is just a dirt road really & google-mappers clearly hadn't bothered,but there are pictures in the book of the family home as well as pictures of Heidler & others involved in the case . Also ,the book opens with the author trying to find the little town and his experiences with the locals were far from positive. Not from fear of what he was seeking from them either, because he barely got to interact with any of them. I hesitate to judge,but it seems a rather strange rowdy place to live .Not quite "Deliverance" the movie,but not far off it. Again I'm being judgemental,but that is what reviews should be I think. Kim's first born,Amber,who was staying with her father on the night of the murders,now lives in the home in which her family were killed ,and she says "I can feel mama here sometimes. I can feel them all here............" If you like true crime then I'd totally recommend this book & I'll be watching for this author again in hopes he tackles another equally fascinating story with the same professionalism & attention to detail. I'm hoping to review other True Crime stories if anyone cares to note the fact for future reference, & I appreciate all ratings & comments whether good or not.Also, BIG thank you to all involved for my first Crown. Thank you for reading & I hope this review was helpful to you~~~myloh Read the complete review |
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Ausperity - Lucy Tobin
by 1st2thebar Author: Lucy Tobin Duration: 295 pages Publishing House: Heron Books "The UK economy has fallen out from the toilet and swirling around somewhere in the drains, maybe." A Tobin quote, which sums up her unsure prose on the subject of cash-strapped Britain - in reality, Tobin offers nothing into the mix - she ... states the obvious by stating poor living standards and I'm still waiting for the punch-line. Tobin's not intentional comedic phrase of, "Boom, boom Britain" - is an imitation of Basil Brush (a fox puppet that had his own children's TV show) - it devalues her credibility of a commentator of fiscal prose - her concepts are, daft as a brush. Considering her analogies in regards to Blighty's economy systematically include a 'toilet' - her opinion stinks of the excreta stuck on a toilet-brush - much of it recycled from ten years of web-oriented comparison sites; overall, this amounts to ten years of brushed-out 't'internet excreta.' All in malleably concise sub-headings such as; clothes, travel, food and drink, etcetera. Divided up into sections - I'm sure her Oxford English professors applaud the book criteria; not forgetting the title concept of 'Ausperity,' the word amalgamation of 'austerity' and 'prosperity' - I can almost hear her Oxonian English professors sighing in approval. Please note; the word 'English' - a world-apart from economics, recession, and finance. Tobin graduated in 2008! The same year the banking crisis was a reality - so 'Live the Life You Want for Less' book is written in the same vein as 'Finger Painting with Mother!' 'Ausperity' is divided up into five parts: 'Spending It', 'Milking It', 'Making It', 'Financial Stuff' and 'Directory.' Each part consists of sub-headlines - apart from 'Spending It' which has eight sub-headlines and 'Making It' which has one. Tobin generally spends more than she can make. She plays homage to her female book publisher who helped with the creation of the book and free meals. I read the white text at on the back of the book - it clearly states: Looking for ways to make money rather than spend it? I flip it over and start reading - Part One: 'Spending It!' - The first sentence states: "IT MIGHT SOUND WEIRD to start a money-saving book by talking about spending it - But that's the point about ausperity". Yeah, 'money-saving' and writing about 'spending it', is a contradiction - but what is worse is she assumes her readership knows of her made-up word: 'ausperity' - She moves on as if it is a valid word, she writes it as if it is a valid word. Tobin is nonsensical and obviously clueless, you can see where this is heading! "Choose a blue coloured car because it is easier to sell" - epitomizes Tobin's mindset to 'living the life you want for less.' A Tobin fantasy world whereby vibrant colours are a win, win scenario. Apparently colour makes it easier to haggle - in fact colour will slow down a car's depreciation in value. Brown is not a good choice - let me guess, Brown represents the colour that is flushed down a toilet or drain. Tobin is for bog standard toilet humour. Use vinegar to clean your kitchen surfaces - much cheaper than branded cleaners - Er, won't the whole house smell of vinegar? Won't this make me indulge in takeaways? Resulting in spending money on petrol, to get to the chippie - for a family this expense could severely dent a twenty pound note. Tobin obviously hasn't researched 'The gustatory system' - whereby scent can stimulate a gastric response - In this case, an urge to purchase from a chippie. Buy fuel in the morning! You'll get more for your money. Tobin doesn't expand at length on this money saving concept, only states that petrol expands in heat. The idea is none valid as it is *always* cold in the UK - Idea to bin - 'To bin,' her namesake - couldn't be more appropriate. If you gave Tobin brains she could be dangerous - she mentions a banana salesman and a four sales man when it comes to mobile phone contracts. No guessing what brands she's imitating here. She attempts to broker a deal with one of them to get the best contract deal - the Retentions department is mentioned, I again lose interest. Since 2004, mobile phone providers have no actual obligation to reward loyalty - new customers are where the commission (s) resides. 'Retention becomes obsolete', known as the maturing contract grave-yard. Tobin doesn't do the leg-work for you and ends off by stating the obvious that you can get up to 200 GBP for your old handset via going down the recycle route - herewith a huge price discrepancy, in reality a 75% reduction of the published price is a likelier fee back for a relatively new handset. She refers back to her online 'money-making ideas' chapter that web entrepreneurs have sweetly built, especially for this book (with a title that isn't in the OED) - yeah, fill their pockets in a bid to fill your own pockets, but more importantly fill Tobin's pockets - aye, makes perfect sense. Tobin's money-making schemes wreak of Enid Blyton's 'The-Famous-Five-Themed-books' - more suited for nine year olds - for example: Sell-Your-Stuff - Rent-Your-Stuff-Out - Rent-And-Sell-Your-Stuff-Out - Rent-And-Sell-Your-Bigger-Stuff-Out - Sell-Your-Home-On-Ebay - Sell-Your-Photos - Sell-Your-Story-To-Lifestyle-Magazines - Empty-Your-Man-Draw! Again, this is where I switched-off - Tobin advocated selling your man's stuff without his permission, is sacrilege. Let me guess he won't be pleased - even if you sweetly squeeze his angry dimpled chin and softly say - "look I've got a Groupon Voucher - we can go away for 2 nights to Bude." - "When was the last time you needed that Swiss Army Knife, eh?" Tobin advocates her gender to be creative when it comes to telling your story. Contact newspapers, lifestyle magazines, they're likely to print the story - be as imaginative as you like - magazines crave for this type of copy to sell their magazines - who would've thought it, eh! My favourite was: Sell-Yourself-For-A-Fiver. This was more like it from a floozy Tobin's confession to have had quite a few male partners and knows how to break-up with men without causing an emotional massacre. A fiver to know the secret! Don't tell me - "It's me, not you!"- "We are different people, wanting different things" - "You leave the toilet seat down and toothpaste in the sink" - "My friends keep saying you look like Mick Hucknall, that's not the problem, it's just you're not as rich as him!" Tobin's odious ideas do take the biscuit - the last straw was when I read in the Sell-Yourself-For-A-Fiver part, that English to Russian translation was a viable option - How many English people do you know are fluent in Russian? 0.2 percent of the English population, maybe! I happen to pop into my local Waterstones to learn that 'Ausperity' has sold two copies since mid January 2013. One of them was moi. As Waterstones has 288 outlets across the UK I guess Tobin's sales have amounted to 600 offline - roughly - times that by three, and that is nearly 2,000 sales offline and online. Perhaps, I'm being a little generous here; Tobin was named Business Journalist of the Year in 2011 at the prestigious Santander Media Awards. She-Sold-Herself-For-A-Fiver, obviously - To bin, not recommended. Read the complete review |
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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey
by hlb2009 I am not the kind of person to read 'self help' books or to read quotes and feel inspired by them. Before reading this book I had never really read a self help book except for when studying my psychology degree so for reference purposes, I always found them to be a bit 'cheesy' as they would offer throw away comments that were meant to ... make an impact. Earlier this year my GP recommended that I read this and because she sang it's praises so highly I thought I would give it a go. I am so pleased that I did as it has helped me to view the world differently and has helped me hugely. The style of this book is not one which is lecturing you saying what you should and shouldn't do, instead it guides you through various ideas which make you think about yourself. It isn't stuffed full of gushiness nor is it full of theory, instead it's written with lots of examples which are taken from real life scenarios and leave you wanting to carry on reading to find out what happened and how the various people challenged themselves. I found this a very good way to set out this book, it didn't make me feel as though I was being lectured at nor did it make me feel as though I was being patronised, there is something special about the way Covey has portrayed everything. This isn't the kind of book just anyone can read and I say this because it is quite intimidating and there are some quite deep theories to understand. If you struggle to understand some terminologies then you may struggle with this book. It isn't a quick flick through guide, it is more like a text book but like I say it's not written in a lecturing manner. The idea of this book is to help people gain ownership of their lives and apparently this can be done by learning 7 habits. Before you begin the book, in the introduction Covey tells the reader to go through the book and read it not as though they are trying to change their lives but as though they have to teach what they read to others. This is a great way to look at it as it makes you concentrate on the important elements and pick from it what you think you can tell others and then without you realising it you are learning and taking it on board. And since I have read this book I have found myself telling people about various things so reading it from this perspective has worked! I do not want to go through each of the 7 habits as I do not want to just basically break the book down into a review but I will tell you various aspects of the book which I found very useful. When i was recommended this book it was when I was going through a difficult time, trying to juggle two very young children, starting my own business, getting used to my new identity as a mum of two, trying to keep on top of housework and I was feeling quite stressed. My GP knew that introducing the idea of me seeing a counsellor wouldn't work as that would add more pressure to my already very busy week, she said reading this book may well help just as much as a counsellor and so I ordered it from the library. I do think this book has helped more than a counsellor as it allowed me to work through things in my own time and it also was enlightening, instead of talking about specific issues it spoke about people in general which enabled me to apply these ideas myself to specific issues. One of the most memorable points in this book is the theory of 'start with the end in mind' which seemed like a strange concept but makes complete sense. The idea is that you should look forward and see what you are hoping to achieve and are you on the path to doing so. For example, what do you want people to say about you on at your funeral? If you are obsessed with losing weight so it takes up a lot of your conscious thought and you've stopped being able to really enjoy yourself, will people at your funeral say "Oh she didn't have much time for joining us for drinks but my goodness she fitted in size 8 clothes!?" Or do you want them to say "We have so many happy memories with her..." This made me think, I was so stressed about trying to keep on top of the housework that it was making me very stressed, when I thought about this concept it made me question why I was so concerned about ensuring my house looked perfect. Would people, always remember me for having a house that wasn't like a show home? Or would they remember the things I did for them instead? I could spend all that extra time I spent cleaning and planning the cleaning playing with my children and entertaining friends instead. Another concept which is similar with start with the end in mind is to assess whether your ladder is up the correct wall. You may be aiming for one thing but actually your actions are sending you in the wrong direction completely. For example you may want a perfect marriage but is you constantly finding fault in your partner going to help you achieve that? A part of the book which I use regularly in every day life now is about being response-able. The idea is that we are all able to control our responses and so we should take ownership of what we say and do. For example sitting in a traffic jam does not need to be stressful. Many people will react to the situation feeling frustrated and stressed but a traffic jam is not actually stressful. A traffic jam is a traffic jam. That is all and it is how we react to it which can make it either a bad experience or not. I find myself pulling myself up on this area a lot, we do not need to let others or situations control our emotions and how we feel, if somebody is angry with us or rude to us then this is their problem, not ours. The other major part of this book which had an impact upon me is 'seek first to understand' and this is a habit which many, many people fail to grasp. We will never, ever understand somebody fully as we have never lived their lives. We may have spent lots of time with them or had similar experiences but we have never lived their life so we'll not understand them but listening is vital. If you are trying to sort out a disagreement at work, instead of jumping in with why you are upset and disappointed, listen to the other party. Hear their side of the story and really listen. Once you have tried your hardest to understand you may actually realise that your first impressions were incorrect. Even if listening doesn't change your opinion it will make the person feel respected which will then benefit you when it is your turn to talk. It can be so easy to criticise others, I have seen it happen here in Ciao for example where people will comment on how someone rates a review or why they have said XYZ but everybody is different and will respond in ways that they believe is right and sometimes two people can have very different views but both be correct... this may be a difficult concept to grasp, I struggled to understand it for a while but it is so true. It has helped me to see how closed-minded I have been in the past, how I would just assume if someone did something different to me that they were wrong, now i realise, perhaps, we were both right! I found this book extremely useful. There are days when I really put what Ive learnt into practice. It has helped me to clear up some disagreements with my husband and to catch myself before telling off my 3 year old. It has helped me to accept certain situations and to respect other peoples' views. It has not, by any means, made me a 'perfect person', I do sometimes find myself getting stressed again and having to remind myself that I can control how stressed I am and I shouldn't let it overwhelm me. There are days when i still have silly arguments with my husband and afterwards I question why I wasted energy on something which only set us back and didnt move us forward. I do still have to refer to this book and remind myself on how to be more positive. The concepts within this book can be applied to many aspects of life; business, relationships, work, where you are and so forth. I know that John Lewis use it as part of their training scheme to help their employees and I can really see how this will help. Throughout the book there are quite a lot of business examples, these were not relevant to me but did help to explain the habits and the ideas in a way which was very interesting. This book has sold over 15 million copies world wide and i am not surprised. It helps you to get a reality check, to realise how you are the only person who can control your life and what happens in it. I never once felt as though I was being lectured at or patronised, instead I read through this book seeing just how the various habits had helped others. It is full of examples throughout which really helped my interest, I think if it was just full of theory I would have grown bored. I really recommend this book to you. if you are having a difficult time, if you are just feeling a little lost, whatever it is you are feeling this book will help. There may not be huge improvements but there will be a few points which you will pick up on. It is a thick book and I think I've taken away 5 main points, perhaps if you read it you will come away with 5 different points. There is something in it for everyone which will help you to work through your various, every day, problems. Read the complete review |
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Author: Bruce Jones / Non-Fiction Book / Paperback / 128 Pages / Book is published 2013-02-01 by Carlton Books Ltd |
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Author: Paul McKenna / Non-Fiction Book / Paperback / 144 Pages / Book is published 2013-01-03 by Bantam Press |
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Author: Ian Stewart / Non-Fiction Book / Paperback / 288 Pages / Book is published 2013-03-07 by Profile Books |
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Genre: Science / Non-Fiction Book / Nature / Author: Chip Heath, Dan Heath / Paperback / 320 Pages / Book is published 2011-03-03 by Random House Business |
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Author: Steve Biddulph / Non-Fiction Book / Paperback / 240 Pages / Book is published 2013-01-17 by Harper |
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Author: Dan Gookin / Non-Fiction Book / Paperback / 336 Pages / Book is published 2012-02-17 by John Wiley & Sons |
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Edition: 1 / Non-Fiction Book / Paperback / 64 Pages / Book is published 2012-12-12 by Heinemann |
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Author: Paul McKenna / Non-Fiction Book / Paperback / 144 Pages / Book is published 2007-01-01 by Bantam Press |
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Diary / Non-Fiction Book / 370 Pages / Book is published 2009-09-01 by Chronicle Books |
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Author: Jo Frost / Non-Fiction Book / Hardcover / 256 Pages / Book is published 2013-02-28 by Orion |
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