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Practically Perfect: Killers Who Got Away with Murder ... for a While
Is it possible to commit the perfect murder? The killers profiled by author Dale Brawn in Practically Perfect certainly thought so. These individuals believed they could beat the criminal justice system. In the end, they all find out that crime really doesn't pay.
- GenresTrue CrimeNonfiction
281 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 30, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 10, 2013
I stopped reading this book after reaching page 88, as the main plot in the murder stories became repetitive. The book didn't deliver to what I expected it to be. Based on the title, I thought the examined murder cases would be some well-planned projects, committed by genius criminals, who were hunted down by even more genius detectives. The cases examined in the book, however, are mostly from the early 1900s, committed in rural areas, by dull or insane people. In each case, the murderers would stay free simply due to the lack of a vigilant police force or the lack of will to be involved on the part of the few surrounding neighbours.
In many cases, the murderers would simply confess to their murder either right away or eventually, or go around and openly tell people they have committed a murder. "Practically perfect" murders? I think these are more along the lines of "lack of police in backwoods country." Each case ends with a graphic description of the hanging of the convicted man. After a few cases, the whole thing gets quite boring and repetitive. Another thing I found thoroughly distracting and annoying is the way the names are used. Each case has a handful of participants, introduced by the first and last names. As the case description progresses, author uses just the first names or just the last names at different times, which makes it exceptionally hard to keep track of who is who. When over a whole page character "Emerson" tracks his victim, commits murder, hides his tracks, and then in the next paragraph someone named "Shelley" travels to another town, you find yourself having to look back a couple of pages, just to figure out that "Emerson Shelley" is one person—the murderer. Since each case takes just a few pages to cover, I found myself faced with this name issue over and over again. In summation, I found the book boring and would not recommend it to a friend.
In many cases, the murderers would simply confess to their murder either right away or eventually, or go around and openly tell people they have committed a murder. "Practically perfect" murders? I think these are more along the lines of "lack of police in backwoods country." Each case ends with a graphic description of the hanging of the convicted man. After a few cases, the whole thing gets quite boring and repetitive. Another thing I found thoroughly distracting and annoying is the way the names are used. Each case has a handful of participants, introduced by the first and last names. As the case description progresses, author uses just the first names or just the last names at different times, which makes it exceptionally hard to keep track of who is who. When over a whole page character "Emerson" tracks his victim, commits murder, hides his tracks, and then in the next paragraph someone named "Shelley" travels to another town, you find yourself having to look back a couple of pages, just to figure out that "Emerson Shelley" is one person—the murderer. Since each case takes just a few pages to cover, I found myself faced with this name issue over and over again. In summation, I found the book boring and would not recommend it to a friend.
September 16, 2013
While factually accurate, the book read like a fact sheet, giving little life or color to the stories.
December 1, 2013
Read more book reviews at Book Junkie Joint.
Practically Perfect is a chilling reminder that the world isn't always rainbows and butterflies.
After reading a substantial amount of fiction (most notably contemporary romances), it's nice to clean my bibliophile palate by reading something brutal and preferably non-fiction. Hee. This was where Dale Brawn's Practically Perfect came in. It is a collection of real-life murder cases where the murderers initially evaded the law but made a mistake along the way, which became the cause of their arrest.
Truthfully, this isn't the first book I've read about serial killers and psychopaths as I have previously read Evil Serial Killers by Charlotte Greig and The World's Most Evil Psychopaths by John Marlowe. Let's just say that serial killers fascinate me so I when I had the chance to review this book, I did not hesitate to take the opportunity.
What I like about this book is that it didn't color the murder cases with intrigue or mystery, or suspense. It didn't dramatize the cases and claim them to be something they're not. All it stated were facts, which I really appreciate because this book is like a summary documentation of the many murder cases in the 1990s.
I'll have to admit that while the murder cases were intriguing, it became a little dragging by the middle of the book. I struggled to finish it, and the only reason why I finished reading the book is because of my fascination for murderers, psychopaths and serial killers. The reason why it got dragging is probably because the murder cases became repetitive.
On the plus side, this book is a great reference for murder cases. It highlighted common attributes of the murderers, summarized facts and detailed how the murders were committed.
Practically Perfect is a chilling reminder that the world isn't always rainbows and butterflies.
After reading a substantial amount of fiction (most notably contemporary romances), it's nice to clean my bibliophile palate by reading something brutal and preferably non-fiction. Hee. This was where Dale Brawn's Practically Perfect came in. It is a collection of real-life murder cases where the murderers initially evaded the law but made a mistake along the way, which became the cause of their arrest.
Truthfully, this isn't the first book I've read about serial killers and psychopaths as I have previously read Evil Serial Killers by Charlotte Greig and The World's Most Evil Psychopaths by John Marlowe. Let's just say that serial killers fascinate me so I when I had the chance to review this book, I did not hesitate to take the opportunity.
What I like about this book is that it didn't color the murder cases with intrigue or mystery, or suspense. It didn't dramatize the cases and claim them to be something they're not. All it stated were facts, which I really appreciate because this book is like a summary documentation of the many murder cases in the 1990s.
I'll have to admit that while the murder cases were intriguing, it became a little dragging by the middle of the book. I struggled to finish it, and the only reason why I finished reading the book is because of my fascination for murderers, psychopaths and serial killers. The reason why it got dragging is probably because the murder cases became repetitive.
On the plus side, this book is a great reference for murder cases. It highlighted common attributes of the murderers, summarized facts and detailed how the murders were committed.
April 17, 2014
Going to mark this one as read, DNF (did not finish) - which is rare for me. As I mentioned in my update, I expected this to be about murderers who almost got away with it, except for some small flaw or excellent forensics that tripped them up. I guess I should have read the other reviews first. This book is a series of short vignettes about brutal killers who got caught almost immediately - some even confessed within hours - with little work from detectives, attorneys, or anyone else. There's no story here - no determined investigator who refuses to give up, no evidence to be intricately examined, no mistaken identity, no frustrated prosecutor who finally convinces the jury on a cliff-hanger. The criminals are far from intelligent masterminds who plan everything to a T; they are simply opportunistic or in the heat of passion. Their stories are so short that they leave behind only enough material to fill a few pages. In some cases, the description of the walk from the jail cell to the death chamber is longer than the description of the actual crime and investigation! (And this gets repetitive).
The title is very misleading. None of these are anywhere near 'perfect crimes'. They are ordinary, run-of-the-mill crimes the coverage of which will give you no further insight into the criminal mind. It rates two stars because it's well enough written for what it is, with few grammatical errors or typos. But it's boring. As a fairly avid true-crime reader, I was disappointed.
The title is very misleading. None of these are anywhere near 'perfect crimes'. They are ordinary, run-of-the-mill crimes the coverage of which will give you no further insight into the criminal mind. It rates two stars because it's well enough written for what it is, with few grammatical errors or typos. But it's boring. As a fairly avid true-crime reader, I was disappointed.
August 23, 2014
This book is a lie. It's not about practically perfect murders
''killers who very nearly got away''?!
Like the killer who surrendered to the police before they realized there had been a murder?
If it was only about the deceptive title... but on top of that the narration is boooooring. Obviously the author just reconstructed stories from archives without any care for dramatisation or suspense.
The only use I can find for that book is research for a novel.
''killers who very nearly got away''?!
Like the killer who surrendered to the police before they realized there had been a murder?
If it was only about the deceptive title... but on top of that the narration is boooooring. Obviously the author just reconstructed stories from archives without any care for dramatisation or suspense.
The only use I can find for that book is research for a novel.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews