No Safe Place

by Bill G. Cox

The shocking story of a marriage gone brutally wrong describes the case of Robert Fratta, who along with two others, was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for the brutal rape and murder of his wife, Farah. Reprint.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

315 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

An okay true crime book, though not particularly deep or insightful. The murderer (a public safety officer who pays a gym buddy to kill his wife) has some disturbing sexual proclivities, and you might get tired of hearing about them over and over.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horrific story about a young British girl who moves to Houston with her family, meets Mr. Wonderful who turns out to be a sexually deviant narcissist, who in the end hires a couple of thugs to murder her so that he won't have to pay child support. Now, what made this story more compelling for me was that this all took place in the area where I grew up in Houston. It's strange indeed to read a book like this while thinking, I've eaten at that restaurant or been in that bank or driven down that street a thousand times.

[Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scary story....Very Good Read.It is amazing to me what women will put up with. I have been married 16 years and if he hit me or even attempted to I would leave. Thats not love.

[Katrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book! The court stuff dragged on a bit.

[Jamie Lindemulder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is just really sad. There was no reason for this man, Bob Fratta, to hire someone to murder his wife. It's just so bizarre. I feel so bad for their children that had to grow up without their mother just because their father could not handle paying around $500 a month in child support.

I'm only giving this book 3 stars because it is completely repetitive. I know in true crime books that happens a lot because the story is told, then there is the information again given by witnesses, and then again at the end for the trial. But this was just too much for me.

I had to look up what's going on with Old Bobby. Well, he was actually executed by lethal injection on 1/10/23. In his final mugshot, he's even sporting a little smirk. Some of the stuff that was written about him in this book was really tough to read. This guy was a total perverted sicko.

[Julian Hunt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overwrought. Kink shaming, as well as using casual LGBT-community slurs. Author seems to breathlessly conflate “bizarre” sex preferences with impulse to murder. Seems lightly researched and in need of a dictionary. Wikipedia would be a less painful way to get an outline of this case. In all, standard red-font-cover true-crime. True grime?

[Kirby Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very sad tale of an innocent woman murdered. Ordered killed by her ex-husband for $1,000 & a Jeep payoff.

The court proceedings which took up last third did drag a bit.

[Violet K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish they gave more details on what the victim actually went through but it was very straightforward and about court stuff more

[Mariam Sherif · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my first time to read a true crime book and probably the last time

[John Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

"No Safe Place" tells the story of a husband who had his wife killed because she damaged his ego, to get her life insurance money, and not have to pay child support. However, nobody knows what he was thinking, but he clearly wasn't concern for the mother of his children. There were several people involved in the conspiracy to kill Farah Fratta who didn't have a history of violence. Yet, killing someone didn't seem to phase them. One women knew Farah was going to be killed, yet did nothing to stop it. Her perceived love for a man caused her to allow an innocent human life to be taken. Evil definitely lurked throughout this case.

The author did a good job of conveying the story, but many facets were confusing. It was also fairly redundant as he repeated the same story over and over from each conspirator's perspective, even though the stories were materially the same. He could have just identified the discrepancies. The repetition continued when he addressed the murder trial.

There were times the author either failed to provide context or information about what he was trying to say. He described the husband as being uncooperative during police interviews. The police were disgusted with his behavior; however, the only information provided up to that point regarding the husband's behavior was that he agreed to have his car searched and to answer the police's questions after he dropped off his kids. What was he doing that led the police to initially suspect him? There were other example of a failure to provide context to statements, but overall, it was a compelling and interesting book.

[Suzanne Strack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this book reminded me of why I stopped reading true crime. I used to think I loved true crime books - that was all I ever read. Now I just wonder why.
Of course, you know "who dunnit" from the very beginning of the book, so there is absolutely no suspense.
Much of the book (yes, I am generalizing all true crime books in this category) is spent with the police collecting evidence. Another large portion of the book is spent with the attorney planning their case, or at the actual trial.
I have to stop reading true crime....

[Kathy Przyborowski]

Still in the middle of this book. Unlike a lot of true crime stories, this book is a fairly quick read. Within only like 2-3 days of reading this book for an hour at a time, I was over half way through the book. Not the most interesting book, but something about it will keep you into it and wanting more.

[Sabrina Rutter · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried several times to read this book all the way through. I just couldn't do it and I'm really into true crime.... It has been about 6 years since I tried to read it so I don't remember exactly why I couldn't get into it.

[Tamiya Bates · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt the writing of this book lacked in direction. this book was all over the place you never really knew what point in time you were heading to next. while the story it self was great it should have been better organized.

[Kristen Doherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

About a guy who hires someone to kill his wife. A quick read but a pretty good book.

[Cheye-Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sick husband who killed his wife so she wouldn't get custody and he wouldn't have to pay child support.

[Tracey Ivie]

Ruthless, disgusting husband...sad story but very good read!!!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and easy read. Although you know who "dunnit" the writer keeps the book interesting to the end. Since it was a single murder it was easy to follow the individuals throughout the book.

[Amy]

Not that great.

[Rani Bivens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book many years ago and it shocked me so much that such a sicko lived so close to me! I pray Farah's children have beautiful lives despite the past.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This husband was a psycho. Incredibly interesting, twisted story.