You won't believe what you are reading! (Lullaby and Goodnight - D.T. Hughes)

Name: nikkisly

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Product:	Lullaby and Goodnight - D.T. Hughes
Date:	06/02/01 (126 review reads)
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Once in a while, a true crime book comes along that it almost unbelieveable. The kind of book that you read with your heart in your mouth - and would probably read with your hands over your eyes, if such a feat were possible.'Lullaby and Goodnight' is such a book.It is truly different. For the killer described in this book is not a murderer - rather she is a murderess. A "pretty, wholesome, well-groomed 'girl next door'", just 19 years old at the time of her crime.

Darci Pierce had one obsession in life - she wanted to become a mother. So much so,that, in July 1987, she was well into the ninth month of a faked pregnancy. Darci desperately wanted a baby - in fact, if her lies and deceit were not to come crashing down around her, then she needed a baby, and needed it quickly. And a baby was something which a very pregnant young mother Cindy Lynn Ray could supply.

I'm not giving away any more details than you could learn from reading the book jacket by telling you that Darcy kidnapped Cindy, drove her into the wilderness, and performed an impromptu Cesarian section using a car key!(Yes, a car key!) The book notes also tell us that Cindy died - but that the baby girl, Millie, survived...however, if you want to know more, then you will have to read the book.

Author D.T. Hughes has woven a masterpiece of intrigue in telling the tale of two very different little girls who both grew up sharing a common ambition - motherhood. Without sensationalism, he gently leads the reader through the circumstances which brought these two young women inexplicably together on so tragic a collision course. He tells of their respective childhoods, their relationships with the men who eventually became their husbands and of the events leading up to the climax of Darci's deceitful plan.

Yet perhaps the most sensitively handled and so most interesting parts of the book deals with the aftermath of Cindy's murder. How does
Cindy's husband cope with the death of his beloved wife while simulatneously caring for his new baby daughter and her older brother who is still a toddler? How can Darci's motives be explained and what verdict will the jury reach at her trial? What are the experts opinions on her motives and mental state? How did this terrible crime happen? And WHY?

This book has been written directly from interviews,court records and police documents. It has also been approved before publication by Sam Ray, the widower of Cindy, so can be taken to be a pretty accurate account of the events surrounding this horrific murder. Yet,even in the light of the subject matter, it is not an unduly gruesome and gory book. There are no 'crime scene' photographs, no spurting arteries, or bloodcurdling screams. Instead, the horror is more psychological as the author cleverly uses the dichotomy between 'girl next door' and deranged slayer to build almost unbearable tension.

The book is written in a flowing style which maintains the readers interest from the first to last page. And, as you read, you have to constantly remind yourself that this story is not a superior psychological thriller - sadly it is all too real.

If you believe that all murderers are snaggle toothed, low - browed, six foot plus men then this book will open your eyes to the truth. Murderers come in all shapes and sizes - even the one's you least expect.

'Lullaby and Goodnight' D.T. Hughes - Coronet Books ISBN 0 340 58194 8

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