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Stolen Away: The True Story of California's Most Shocking Kidnap-Murder
December 14, 1927, was a gruesome day in the life of the Parker family, as 12-year-old Marian Parker was kidnapped on her way home from school. A string of bizarre ransom notes followed, and even though her abductor's demands were met, Marian was still found brutally murdered. But, following the nationwide manhunt for her vicious killer, no one could be prepared for the awful truth that a sadistic monster dwelled within the unlikeliest of suspects....
- GenresTrue Crime
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 2000
About the author
Michael Newton
483 books106 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
From Wikipedia:
"Michael Newton (born 1951) is an American author best known for his work on Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan series. Newton first began work on the Executioner series by co-writing "The Executioner's War Book" with Don Pendleton in 1977. Since then he has been a steady writer for the series with almost 90 entries to his credit, which triples the amount written by creator Don Pendleton. His skills and knowledge of the series have allowed him to be picked by the publishers to write the milestone novels such as #100, #200, and #300.
Writing under the pseudonym Lyle Brandt, Michael Newton has also become a popular writer of Western novels. He has written a number of successful non-fiction titles as well, including a book on genre writing (How to Write Action Adventure Novels). His book Invisible Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Florida won the Florida Historical Society's 2002 Rembert Patrick Award for Best Book in Florida History. Newton's "Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology" won the American Library Association's award for Outstanding Reference Work in 2006."
Pen names: Lyle Brandt, Don Pendleton, Jack Buchanan
Bibiliography available here.
From Wikipedia:
"Michael Newton (born 1951) is an American author best known for his work on Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan series. Newton first began work on the Executioner series by co-writing "The Executioner's War Book" with Don Pendleton in 1977. Since then he has been a steady writer for the series with almost 90 entries to his credit, which triples the amount written by creator Don Pendleton. His skills and knowledge of the series have allowed him to be picked by the publishers to write the milestone novels such as #100, #200, and #300.
Writing under the pseudonym Lyle Brandt, Michael Newton has also become a popular writer of Western novels. He has written a number of successful non-fiction titles as well, including a book on genre writing (How to Write Action Adventure Novels). His book Invisible Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Florida won the Florida Historical Society's 2002 Rembert Patrick Award for Best Book in Florida History. Newton's "Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology" won the American Library Association's award for Outstanding Reference Work in 2006."
Pen names: Lyle Brandt, Don Pendleton, Jack Buchanan
Bibiliography available here.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 31, 2019
For some inexplicable reason I ended up reading two true crime books, back to back, wherein a 12 yr old girl is murdered. I told my husband I wouldn't be repeating that pattern again. Too much grief, and horror.
Anyway, back to this book. Another cruel, cruel killer. Another innocent, trusting child. The murderer is William Edward Hickman. The child is Marian Parker. Her father, Perry Parker, went through a horror upon finding his daughter's body that would send most people 'round the bend. I am a mother ... of a daughter ... and I'm not sure I would have kept my sanity, if I saw what Perry saw.
4 Stars = Outstanding. It definitely held my interest.
Anyway, back to this book. Another cruel, cruel killer. Another innocent, trusting child. The murderer is William Edward Hickman. The child is Marian Parker. Her father, Perry Parker, went through a horror upon finding his daughter's body that would send most people 'round the bend. I am a mother ... of a daughter ... and I'm not sure I would have kept my sanity, if I saw what Perry saw.
4 Stars = Outstanding. It definitely held my interest.
September 15, 2012
Absolutely hideous and almost impossible to put down. It was an undreamed-of bonus for me to find a whole book on the kidnapping of Marian Parker and the story was drastically worse than I expected. So, frankly, was the killer. The book also featured some fascinating legal arguments, including one of the best summations I've ever read. So many of these books are about the fine line between brilliance and insanity; this one is about the even finer line between brilliance and idiocy.
February 7, 2014
"Stolen Away" tells the true story of the gruesome 1927 kidnapping and murder of Marion Parker in Los Angeles. The book is a fairly good read and the author gives a detailed account of the crime and movements of student-turned-killer William Edward Hickman. The fatal flaw in this true crime tale is that the victim and her family are treated as incidental characters. We learn nothing about Marion Parker or her family except for the barest of details. This omission is all the more disappointing - not to mention perplexing - since the author provides an enormous amount of information on killer Edward Hickman: his background, family, school life, job history, and virtually a step-by-step account of his every move before and after the crime.
The amount of research the author turned up on Hickman, the crime and the trial is nothing short of superb. But again, we learn so little of anyone else but Hickman that the book becomes almost tedious toward the end, not to mention repetitious. For instance, long sections are devoted to verbatim trial testimony of different psychiatrists who examined Hickman after his arrest as well as the testimony and depositions of Hickman's family and friends. By contrast, the author severely condenses or entirely skips every other aspect of the trial, summing up the testimony of Perry Parker, Marion's father, in just one sentence.
All in all, the book is an intriguing story of a hideous and bizarre crime, but the author's lack of attention to the victims keeps this good book from being a great one.
The amount of research the author turned up on Hickman, the crime and the trial is nothing short of superb. But again, we learn so little of anyone else but Hickman that the book becomes almost tedious toward the end, not to mention repetitious. For instance, long sections are devoted to verbatim trial testimony of different psychiatrists who examined Hickman after his arrest as well as the testimony and depositions of Hickman's family and friends. By contrast, the author severely condenses or entirely skips every other aspect of the trial, summing up the testimony of Perry Parker, Marion's father, in just one sentence.
All in all, the book is an intriguing story of a hideous and bizarre crime, but the author's lack of attention to the victims keeps this good book from being a great one.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews