James Fielder

(Only read because a friend recommended it to me)

David Parker Ray may or may not have been a serial killer (despite the overly alliterative subtitle!). But he was probably a serial abductor or young women, whom he would rape and torture. This book relates his life, actions and the actions of those connected to him. It also focuses heavily on his subsequent trial, with almost as much biographical detail of the chief prosecutor as of Parker Ray. They style is okay on the whole, largely journalistic, though occasionally sensationalist, and you do feel a rather narrow minded prejudiced right wing mind lurks behind the writing, rather than the ideal invisible mind of the narrator. Sometimes, though, the author is far too quick to leap to conclusions, rather than sticking to the evidence.

The book does, unwittingly, reveal the rather farcical nature of the US court system, though - how flawed it is, and how easily someone as apparently impartial as a judge can be chosen in a very political way, in order to get a certain result. It also reveals a rather depressing picture of the US underclass, and how little hope there can be in certain parts of an otherwise immensely rich country.… (mehr)