Steve Jackson (4)Rezensionen

Enjoyed hearing the updates during the book.

3.5 stars.½

I very much enjoyed this audio book. Although the involvement of necro search seemed to fall short at times, it is a very insistent tale of the importance of all departments working together for a common goal, and about how successful this teamwork can prove to be.

Kevin Pierce as narrator did a great job. He wasn't too excited, but he wasn't boring, either. He had just the right amount of empathy, and the story really came to life through his narration.

The cases described in the book are harrowing, but they aren't described in a sensationalist way, which is a bonus.

If you've watched some of the crimes on discovery channel, you'll be reminded of those when listening to this book -- I certainly was. Until now, I had thought that the TV show Cold Case was just that: a figment of somebody's imagination. Now I learned that there are indeed departments looking into cold cases.
This book was an eye-opener on many levels, and I'm glad I happened upon it.

An excellent book! I loved it. It was so well researched and detailed. It explored how forensic investigators work and some of the cases that were worked on that were difficult. It explained how certain forensic groups started. I have read several Steve Jackson books and this is one of the best. I highly recommend it.

I can’t recommend this more for any true crime junkie out there. Fantastic read.

This is a disturbingly articulated account of a most vicious crime. I would not recommend to many of my friends due to this factor. That being said, in terms of criminal research and behavioral science studies, this is a rather close peering into the abyss of evil itself. I certainly recommend to anyone in these fields of interest. Sometimes "curiousity may kill a cat;" when it doesn't, it just leads it into the fascinating field of "Feline Forensics!" ;-P

Saving Annie:A True Crime Series
Book One-The Fall
by Steve Jackson and Tom McCallum
WildBlue Press
2018
4.0 / 5.0

Book One-The Fall is the first of this four book series. It sets up the crime and crime scene and reveals the history and pasts of Steve Nichols and Rhonda Castro and follows the investigation to an arrest.
It begins with the suspicious 9-1-1 call from Nichols reporting the "accidental slip and fall" of his girlfriend, Castro, from a 300 foot cliff in rural Oregon while hiking. His explanation of how the fall occurred and his actions immediately after the fall, as told by Nichols, does not follow this evidence.
No one believes him. There is the question of the 1.4 million dollar life insurance policy bought just before her death as well.
Thorough and detailed, this riveting case will capture your interest. Be careful who you fall in love with.
Thanks to WildBlue Press for this e-book for review.
#NetGalley #SavingAnnie

Saving Annie Book Two:The Investigators
by Steve Jackson & Tom McCallum
2018
WildBlue Press

Thorough. Concise. Fact-driven. For riveting, astonishing crimes that are as unforgettable as they are unforgivable, WildBlue Press has some of the best.
In Book 2 of 'Saving Annie' we learn what the investigators discovered from the body of 23 year old Rhonda Casto, found dead on Eagle Creek Trail, Oregon in March of 2009. The "witness" that called 9-1-1, was her boyfriend, 34 year old Stephen Wagner Nichols, the father of Rhonda's daughter, Annie. The witness lacked emotion, the operator noted. When search and rescue volunteers found the body, the facts as stated by Nichols did not add up.
Investigators probed the past of Nichols and he became more suspect and suspicious as his true character was revealed. When Rhonda's mother, Julia Simmons told them she knew Nichols took out a 1.4 million life insurance policy 3 months before her death, and that he had had a sexual affair with Rhonda's sister when she was 15 and he was 30, he became the prime suspect in the case. This was not his first crime, they found.
Well written, easy to follow and quick to read, I enjoyed this true crime. Recommended.

The narrative was written as experiences recollected from a number of "raghats" and officers who served on the light cruiser USS Santa Fe and the fleet carier USS Benjamin Franklin in the Pacific during WW2. Honest and detailed, it was a pleasure to read...I was sad a bit when I finished. As with any large magnitude, historical book, some errors are present but they didn't diminish my reading of this fine book. It made me feel proud to be a veteran.

By Steve Jackson, narrated by Kevin Pierce. Every year, thousands of Americans disappear who are believed murdered, but their bodies are never found. Even if the police have a suspect, lack of a body and the evidence associated with it impedes and may even prevent prosecution. Without a body, the case may be just not winnable “beyond the shadow of a doubt.”
As harrowing as any fictional thriller, this absorbing book tells the real-life story of Colorado-based NecroSearch International—an organization of volunteer scientists that brings a surprisingly large array of disciplines to the search for clandestine graves and the analysis of the evidence they hold. What began as a research project has led to work with police forces from across the country to find the bodies of more than 300 people missing and believed murdered. This book, initially published in 2001, was updated in 2015 for the audio and Kindle editions.
When a small group of researchers began this work, they were interested only in developing more scientific methods for grave searches. They started by burying the bodies of pigs at various depths to see how, over time, different detection methods could yield useful results. Eventually, they added experts in additional specialties, bringing together forensic scientists, soil experts, naturalists, botanists who know which plants grow in disturbed soil, geologists, experts on hydrology, meteorology, psychology, geophysics, entomology, anthropology, and “cadaver dog” handlers. Some members now are from law enforcement.
They use technology—like ground-penetrating radar and aerial photography (now sometimes using drones)—but it’s their encyclopedic knowledge of the way soil, stone, water, plants, insects, and wildlife interact that sets them apart. The scientists always caution that no technology can reveal where a body is, but their methods can tell the police where to look.
When the police have a suspected grave site, the alternative, still used too often, is to bring in a backhoe, destroying evidence and disturbing the remains, so that tiny details that provide important clues are lost. NecroSearch approaches a site like an anthropologist exploring an ancient city, gently removing one layer of soil at a time and sifting it for evidence.
Their first of many setbacks was when some of the pigs were dug up and scavenged by animals. Once they realized a human corpse was as likely to be scavenged as one of the pigs, this became an opportunity to bring in animal behavior experts to consider likely predators and how they would deal with the remains.
Jackson, a journalist with a talent for clear and compelling prose, tells the story of their accumulating expertise through the actual cases they worked on—not all of which were successful. Team members work as volunteers, asking only for expense reimbursement. Their payment is in the form of satisfaction—the successful application of scientific methods to difficult problems, aiding the police in finding evidence that will allow a murderer to go to trial, and, every bit as important to them, giving closure to the family and the investigators, often after years of fruitless searching and agonizing uncertainty.
Kevin Pierce gives a fine, energetic reading that draws you into the cases and what it means to the scientists when they are able to resolve one. “There is no statute of limitations on murder,” they say, “and no statute of limitations on grief. The truth does matter.”

This book is for anyone interested in WWII History. If you had any family members on the Santa Fe or Franklin, this is a must.
I have a cousin that was killed in action on the Franklin. This book is a memorial of sorts to him in our family records.
The author writes this book in a very personal manner. It is not a boring read.You get to know the sailors on these ships.A great tribute to those that were lost and those that lived on.

We've been brainwashed into thinking that murder investigation always start with a body found. Not so. How then, do we go about finding the body? Ghostbusters won't answer the call, but nowadays, NecroSearch is the organization to call. A fine group of science nerds and cadaver dogs have adapted and utilized technology usually known to us only through archaeology. In this edition, the early cases which prodded the ideas resulting in a mobile team to provide what most departments cannot afford to keep on retainer are expanded upon and epilogues provided. Like the medical examiners, this organization aids law enforcement to speak for the dead, assists in providing justice for them, and bring closure to the grieving.
KP takes audio performance tips from Joe Friday? Excellent delivery which makes it quite clear that this is reality, not fiction.
Thank you so much, AudioBook Blast for giving me the opportunity to learn.

This is an interesting story if you are into police procedure and personal obsession, but there is so much left out that you really wonder about everything that is left out.

The primary focus of the story is on Scott Richardson, the Colorado detective who made a nearly 3-year career out of finding enough evidence to convict Tom Luther, s psychopath who would befriend women only to savagely beat and sexually abuse them, usually ending up in the death of the women. Richardson's focus was on the murder of Cher Elder, a woman who was last seen with Luther, presumed dead, but no body.

Unfortunately, although Richardson was ultimately successful, the story almost becomes anti-climactic, as Luther would already be in prison for murder in West Virginia, and facing at least two more murder charges there (for which he would be found guilty). The Colorado case, then, becomes somewhat less than consequential.

It perhaps would have been more up front of author Steve Jackson to have presented this as just a part of the whole story of Tom Luther, or to present it as focussing on the work of Scott Richardson, but its limited scope does not do justice to the whole story of Luther, who really was a monster.

The book does do a fairly nice job of examining trial procedures in such cases, and the difficulty of prosecutors to secure justice for the victims of heinous crimes and their families.

This book reads as a novel especially the first half of the book.
When i started reading I realised this was a book I had already read years ago and I still remembered the girl, cop who turned prostitute.

Finished it this morning and still enjoying the read.

An interesting story, generally well told. Unfortunately, the book appears to have been edited by a monkey and is rife with spelling errors, missing words and simple mistakes (for example, commenting on a sailor's experience on the Santa Fe years before the ship was even built), which undermined the enjoyment I took from reading this book. Otherwise, it's an interesting look at life on a warship, told generally well. The author's habit of skipping about in time was a bit annoying at first, but overall it did work as a device to move the story ahead.½