A contractor’s promise of “a couple of days work” to repair a driveway became a nightmare of harassment, destruction of property, terror and attempted murder. A basic construction job led to destruction of private property, the personal lives, and peace of mind for Tucson residents Myles “Mick” and Karen Levine culminating in events that that created a terror-filed flight to safety from a toxic cloud requiring the evacuation of an entire neighborhood. The Levine Project documents their struggle against a man focused on a personal vendetta and then on a decade-long battle for justice in state and federal court.
As far as true-crime books go, this internet offering has good writing, then bad writing. Also a fair amount of editor mistakes. The criminal ordeal itself is chilling, and the author begins the book in an effective fashion. An elderly Jewish couple become the victims of a contractor who won't allow their criticism of his work result in anything but an endless terror campaign. Details are what make the suspense count, yet the biggest detail which remains unexplained is how did the suspect and his accomplices evade not one, but two gated community security teams? Having lived in Tucson, I know how these gated communities work, and the fact that so much property destruction and mayhem took place without so much as a single security interference or a witness is a nagging distraction. The crimes took place, obviously. The investigators (and the book) never investigate the circumstances leading to two enormous community invasions, and the use of chlorine bombs, toxic chemicals, traps, etc.