Irresistable Impulse

by Robert Lindsey

A riveting true story of money, madness, and murder--from the bestselling author of The Falcon and the Snowman. When a modest California beauty is swept off her feet by a quiet, handsome Englishman of incredible wealth, she never realizes that her storybook romance will quickly become an unstoppable horror. Too late she realizes, and eventually her bullet-ridden, headless corpse is found in the English countryside. 8 pages of photographs.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Robert Lindsey (born 1935) is a journalist and author of several true crime books, including The Falcon and the Snowman: A True Story of Friendship and Espionage (1980), the story of Christopher John Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee, who were both convicted of selling information to the Soviets. The Flight of the Falcon: The True Story of the Escape and Manhunt for America's Most Wanted Spy (1983) followed, a chronology of Christopher Boyce's escape from Federal prison and subsequent bank robbing spree.

In 1980 he received the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best non-fiction crime book for "The Falcon and the Snowman." He won the 1989 CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction for A Gathering of Saints: a true story of money, murder and deceit.

Lindsey worked as a reporter and editor at the San Jose Mercury-News and The New York Times, and also served as the Los Angeles bureau chief for The New York Times.

Marlon Brando and Ronald Reagan used Lindsey's assistance when writing their autobiographies, respectively, Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me, and "Ronald Reagan: An American Life." Lindsey's memoir, Ghost Scribbler," was published in 2013.

Reviews

[Susan Liston · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say I lost patience with this, not the book, but the story. Here is an apparently exceptionally bright young woman who throws her life away for someone she "fell in love" with after three weeks, who repeatedly showed himself to be an unbalanced pathological liar (she wasn't after his money, she didn't even know about it for quite awhile) and oh, guess what he murders her. And gets a slap on the wrist because he's CRAZY. Yes, let the crazy people go, they can't help it. If this book could help anyone to learn anything, it's this: If someone tells you that they are a SPY, they are not REALLY a SPY, because A REAL SPY would not TELL you that they were a SPY. Get it? Pathological liars just love to be military heroes or spies. And for heaven's sake do not MARRY this person or some day someone will have to write a true crime book about your gruesome murder.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the true story of a California girl named Monika Zumsteg who fell in love with an Englishman who turned out to be a part of a wealthy family. They married and moved to England. But this is not a Cinderella story. They were not at all compatible and they argues all the time. After a short marriage he shot her dead. Because he had previous mental problems as a child he got easy with a life sentence in prison. That is where the book ends. I looked up what happened since the book. He was released from prison in 1994 and he moved to Perth, Australia and bought a house. He kept a very low profile and when he died in 2010 the citizens had no idea he was heir to the Vesty family.

[DJ Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reads as well as a fiction novel, but every crazy twist and turn is real. From the murder to the courtroom and all the flashbacks - you will be sucked in. Brilliantly written. Shockingly true. And crazily - a real defense in England at the time.

I gotta be honest, I have known those irresistible impulses.. they are real. Mine has never led to homicide, but in general - I understand.

[Teresa Raines · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sensationalist story about a beautiful and vivacious young woman who became a victim of domestic abuse. RIP Monika, I will always remember you at HMBHS.

[E.J. Cullen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfulfilling.

[Philip Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read, very well written, although the ending, after the trial, could have been longer.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Irresistible Impulse by Robert Lindsey