Under the Knife

by Diane Fanning

Handsome, charming, and a fixture on the New York City club scene, Dean Faiello had built a thriving beauty business. But money was never enough for Faiello, whose hard-partying ways constantly left him on the edge of ruin. So he did the unthinkable and worked as a cosmetic surgeon--even though he had no medical degree, or training whatsoever.

In the spring of 2003, a beautiful, successful woman named Maria Cruz went to "Doctor" Faiello for a relatively simple cosmetic procedure…and succumbed to a fatal complication while under his care. Faiello allegedly buried her corpse beneath a concrete slab at his Newark, New Jersey home--and went on the run. It was only after Cruz's body was found that the true callousness of Faiello's plan would be dissected…and he would be accused of putting her

UNDER THE KNIFE

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

266 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 3, 2007

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A true-crime story about a man who poses as a doctor to perform laser treatments on people in exchange for cash to pay for his drug habit. His plan goes awry when he kills a woman by injecting her with a local anesthetic.

I liked this book but I wanted to know more about the victim's death, like the autopsy report. It is never said whether the victim died of an allergic reaction or if he overdosed her on the medication he gave her or quite what the problem was. I wanted to know more about that. Also there was an overabundance of people in this story. The author introduced us to several characters who only existed to sell the main character his house, several pages down the road. Or another character was introduced and trotted out with some regularity only to provide the main character with some financial backing a few pages down the road as well. I thought this was just extra fluff that could have been neatly trimmed out of the story or at least minimized somewhat. I did like the story itself.

[Andrea Fife · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay at best. The plot was interesting, but instead of being presented with some suspense, it was all laid out in chronological order, covering every angle at all times. For me, that made it pretty boring.

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A well written true tale of a situation that never should have been allowed to happen. The author kept to the story at hand instead of adding in tons of needless repetitious detail which is de rigor in true crime writing. Several folks tried to try in party boy "Doctor" Dave but apparently there isn't a good way to report illegal or unethical medical practices. It wasn't just the system enabling his bad behavior though. Dave had plenty of friends, family and doctors who helped him. I could have done without the author's lecture at the end. A quick read that you don't have to invest a lot of energy into.

[Lee Husemann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maria Cruz came from the Philippines to the United States to pursue her dream of working in New York City in finance and she was very successful in her field. She went to see Dean Faiello who she thought was a doctor to have a laser treatment on her tongue. Faiello was not a doctor but he had a certificate to do electrolysis only. She went to an apartment that he was working out of for her treatment after hours on a Sunday evening. She had a reaction to the injection he had given her in her tongue and ended up dead. This is a very well written and thorough book on this very sad case.

[Lauretta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, it was a good book. In the middle, it started to slow down. I had to make myself finish it. What I don't understand is, why the writer didn't get more into the psychological profile of the major character.

[Stephanie VanNess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring

Not as good as Fanning other books. It was as if there wasn't enough material for a good true crime book so a lot of it was empty background stuff that really didn't fit with the story. Disappointing.

[Brian Carrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good

[Debi · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I did find out some bits and pieces that I didn't get from reading all the internet articles, this still fell very flat and dry and lacking. I guess I hoped to get more insight into Dean and where he is now. There's very little from Dean's POV. Basically, just brief tidbits of conversations and nothing after his sentencing. Not what I hoped for or expected. Many injustices occurred in this case. Mostly, how sad that two lives of great potential ended so tragically in relation to each other...

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Date read on all my books are the day I finish reading them.
I liked this book because it flowed easy. It took you step by step through the events to tell the whole story but did not add a lot of unnecessary side information.
It was not the most grasping and intriguiging book I have read but it was good enought to keep me interested through the end.

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story should really never of happened but it did and many people's lives changed overnight. It was very well written, detail on the manner of deceivers dressed in sheep's clothing.I found it fasinating and recommend it. A riveting read
you will enjoy.

[A.r. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Refers to AUDIOBOOK: So far I'm not impressed. It's really boring, with way to much background filler about every single person mentioned, their brothers, sisters, aunts, cousins etc etc. I'll try to finish listening, but it is so far very dull. (I do like Diane Fanning though).

[Ryann Barker · Rating 1 out of 5]

90% of this book was unneeded filler.

[Rosemary Rampton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a re-read. Done via audiobook. The reader did not help the story.

[Mellanie C]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13118522