A Mother Gone Bad: The Hidden Confession of JonBenet's Killer

by Andrew G. Hodges

Decipher the infamous ransom note and other communications that are critical to the case.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

Reviews

[Carla JFCL · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I'm still fascinated by this case after all these years, this book did little for me other than confirm my long-held suspicion that most psychiatrists are crazy themselves. I agree with the author's ultimate conclusion, but the convoluted way he gets there had me literally laughing out loud at times.

[Vikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is about the Jon Benet Ramsey case. Through Looking at the ransom note that was found in the house this psychologist says the mother killed Jon Benet due to just finding out the father was having sexual relations with Jon Benet.

[J.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got halfway through this book and set it aside. In the realm of literature that exists for true crime (and for the JonBenet case in particular), this adds very little. The author reads the ransom note word by word, reading between the lines and into the words themselves, much the way English professors want students to read into what an author writes on the page to see what he or she REALLY meant.

Unfortunately, as the author of this book himself testifies, one word may mean a multitude of things. I felt as if he was already predisposed to his idea of who JonBenet's killer was and thus every word in the ransom note (and in Patsy Ramsey's other writings he had access to) reinforced his own theory.

There was very little new or different about the case in this book, and some that was simply not true. Throughout the investigation, Boulder police and the DA's office were criticized for trying to make the evidence fit the crime, and I feel that's exactly what this author tries to do here. It's a stretch, and a long one at that. As an English major, I uncoded my fair share of literary works for class, but as an author I know sometimes word choice is just that, a word, and has no deeper meaning than that.

[Elise · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't wish this book on anyone. If I could give it zero stars I most certainly would. In my opinion, Hodge is just another 'expert' trying to make a buck off of the death of a six year old child, and for that he should be ashamed of himself.

[Cindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really struggled to get through this book. I usually like reading true crime but this one was just not for me. It was just super repetitive with the breaking down sentence by sentence and word by word. It felt like a chore for me to read and finish

[Katelyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very poorly written. We all have our thoughts on who killed that little girl. However this author manipulated evidence to justify his theories. Some of it is just complete crap. The author writes as if hes smarter than everyone, especially the reader. Disappointed to say the least.

[Naty · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't read passed Chapter 3. This is an ultra deep, boring, word by word, coma by coma of the ransom letter. Horrible book!