Wasted

by Suzy Spencer

Details the horrific true story of wealthy drug queen and lesbian Regina Hartwell who became obsessed with beautiful, young Kim LeBlanc and was murdered by Kim's boyfriend Justin Thomas who stabbed Regina and set her on fire while Kim watched. Original.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, LGBT

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1998

About the author

Suzy Spencer is known for her true crime books, including "Breaking Point," the story of Andrea Yates, and "Wasted," a New York Times best-seller. Her newest book is "Secret Sex Lives: A Year on the Fringes of American Sexuality."

Reviews

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible Terrible terrible. I am really pissed of and I have to give kudos to the author for being able to write such a bad book about a very interesting case.

Let me think. Yes I think this book has been on my wish list for quite some years. At least 5 or so but I could not afford it or I bought another book of my wish list.
Anyway. I have signed up for kindle unlimited and felt like I had won the bloody lottery. Everywhere I looked there were books I wanted to read. This was the first one I grabbed.

To make my story a bit shorter. I could not wait reading it and took a break from my other read just so I could finally begin Wasted.

Wasted it was. Waste of my time, not a waste of my money. I managed to read 8& of it but then returned the book.
Apparently the author gets money when the reader reads 10% of the book and I am sorry, I am normally quite goodhearted, but she did not deserve it. At least not for this book.

What a mess. It begins there is no explanation but there are lots of people of whom she sometimes calls them by their first name but one sentence later or so by their surname which makes it even more confusing.

That is not all. There is no fluidity at all. One moment she is speaking for character 1 but next sentence you are someone else.

Checking on amazon and reading the 5 stars reviews I really do not understand how someone can give this book 5 stars. Oh well taste differs.That is obvious with this book.

[Ginta · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the worst written books I have ever read. Did the publisher edit this book? Do not read under any circumstances. I will never buy another book by Suzy Spencer again. Inappropriate language - she describes one of the attorneys as having a tight butt; TMI - she states that the victim enjoyed a particular sexual act and described the act (I will not state what it is because I do not think it apropos to do so.

I am a true crime buff. I have read books written by the greats in the genre - Ann Rule, M. William Phelps, and Kathryn Casey (my personal favorite). Suzy Spencer needs to read some of their books so she has a better idea of how to write a true crime account. She wrote the book in such a way that I felt no empathy with the victim and actually felt sorry for the killer! She writes about things there is no way she could know. For example, she describes the victim's last few hours before being murdered. She writes about what the victim was thinking. How could she or anyone know that? This book is a clear example of what NOT to do as a writer.

Take my advice and stay away from this one.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing felt really disjointed and weird to me. Didn't like the section on the trial coverage, but that didn't stop me from reading all 406 pages of it. Not as good as some true crime I've read, though.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting true crime story in which the three principal people in the story all had one thing in common: extremely dysfunctional families, and in one case, exposure to illegal drugs and alcohol when the boy was a toddler. The most interesting part of the book for me was the update at the end where the author goes into the childhood histories of the three primary individuals. One of the girls had been exposed to alcohol when she was still in her mother's womb, the male in the story was exposed to drugs and alcohol at a very early age, and it obviously caused some kind of brain damage in my opinion. None of these three had any semblance of a normal, loving family life. There is a lot about the human brain we do not know, but I suspect that neglect and abuse when a person is a small child takes its toll in one way or another. If the person does not grow up to have criminal tendencies, then they certainly will have problems with depression and possibly other mental disorders.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reported the details of the drug world in a city of young, immature college students and the ensuing issues with a young woman with a dysfunctional past, too much money, a desire to live and be loved, regardless of the costs. A lesbian lifestyle and the seemingly unlimited availability of money led to a horrendous murder, one which rocked an entire close-knit community of friends and family. It's hard to realize any redeemable personality qualities from those involved and often led to this reader to sadness and disgust. Must read for those interested in true crime genre.

[Tammy Lynn Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time reading it...and my heart just breaks...i loved it more, found it more powerful the second time around...it's a simple writing, not as clinical or technical than what I'm used to...but it's personable...

[Audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing was terrible but I did actually finish it so I felt like I had to give it 2 stars
1. There has to be some other way of describing how thin someone has become because of drug use other than comparing them to victims of the holocaust. The same comparison being made over and over is bad but its worse when it wasn't even a good comparison to begin with.
2. Referring to someone by their first name in the beginning of a sentence and their last name at the end of the sentence is confusing. Stop it.
3. Tar baby? Really? Comparing a burned body to a tar baby...
4. I thought maybe I had lost my place and was re-reading a previous chapter, but it's just that events get repeated and things are jumbled and out of order.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting story; however I agree with others' comments that it is difficult to read on times. I found it very long and drawn out and very difficult to follow the characters. I also found that the two dad's were described as being pretty bad fathers to their children yet on times it read as though they were perfect, doting Dads. I found it confusing. I also found the last chapter to be very confusing as well. That chapter was a bit torturous to read. I give it 3 stars because the story itself is worth that.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me longer then usual to read. The writing is awful! Half the time I didn't know who she was talking about. She calls them by their first name. Then she starts calling them by their last name. I will not be reading another book by her again

[Paige Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story, poorly written

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book . I highly recommend it and it had me wanting to read more.

[Mary Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 rounded up.

[Desiree N Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting case

I enjoy Suzy's writing style. She presents facts well, in a readable tone with only a smidge of bias. I have read and liked other books she has written, but there were a few things that made me give this a 3:

First, and this may just be the kindle format, it seems to need to be re-edited. There are missing words (like forgotten "a's"), and some passages are just downright confusing. Specifically when she is introducing us to the characters of Pam and her roommate.
I also found it odd that when Regina was contacting Anita about turning Justin in, she was referencing an ounce of meth that was to be delivered. I had to re-read it several times. An ounce? An ounce! That's nothing. I wasn't sure if Anita didn't correctly recall the amount, if Suzy didn't accurately describe it, or if Regina lacked awareness about quantities. Perhaps something many readers wouldn't notice, or linger on, it really tinged the way I read the rest of this.

[Laurie Krebs · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. The most annoying aspect was the authors constant switch between using the person's first name and last name. In one sentence the author says "rosie got mad" and in the next she says "rulle" calmed down. When you have a book with ten to fifteen people, trying to remember first and last names is too exhausting! I don't understand why the author didn't just introduce the person with first/last name and then choose one or the other to continue to reference them by. I ended up giving up on the book after I was introduced to five new people--and a headache.

[Jeannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting case for sure and I really got into it but the author drove me crazy because she couldn't decide whether to call everyone in this book by their first or last names. One sentence was the last name the next sentence she called them by their first name. I mean she just jumped back and forth through the whole book. I wish someone else had written this. So I give the Author herself a 1 star!!

[Daniel Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I moved to Austin back in 1995. It certainly was a different time and place... since then I have read novels that take place here. Always fun to imagine the locations that I am familiar with as I read. This book was different in that it is true and took place the year I moved here. Pretty creepy and sad. I have been to places mentioned in this book. Some no longer exist. Funny that I don't recall any of this going on back then though the media was all over it.

[Viola Gray Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave it 3 stars because it was a true story and that alone made it interesting but, like a lot of other mysteries I have read they spend way to much time and words going line by line through the trial phase. Most of the time they have already explained what happened earlier in the book and so it is just redundant. This book was no exception.

[SheMac · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh ... First 2/3 is interesting, generally well written, but last third drags. At one point Spencer includes the judge's complete instructions to the jury as well as a lengthy, technical description of DNA testing.

[Brittany Harris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely horrible! I cannot continue to read this as the writing is too poor. The way she calls characters by first names and then last names all in the same paragraph is very confusing. I’ll have to just watch a video on this case, unfortunately. Donating this book!

[Makia Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could not put it down. My heart absolutely breaks for regina. Suzy is amazing at making it feel like you are friends with the main characters. I can't believe all this girl wanted was love, and this is what she got instead

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting Austin case I had not heard of. Provided forensic and case info. The writer was salicious and not a very good writer.

[Candice · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay account, though sometimes the author went for the cheap thrill of tawdry and gruesome description and handled Kim LeBlanc a bit too gently for my liking.

[Johanna Strother · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tragic

So sad to read about how starvation of love and affection can wreck' a life. compounded with drug use, this was a disaster in the making from the beginning

[Lauren Page · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of the True Crime genre. Although I found the case intriguing, this was a poorly written disaster

[falon Broussard · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a great read!!!!

It's a free book and its Anita love triangle !!!! The author of the book wrote this book very well!!!

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this true crime story and I liked Regina
I didn't like all the lesbians drama at the beginning I didn't like Kim's choice to date Justin because Justin is a drug dealer and gun dealer

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book. Well written. A sad story all the way around.

[Marley Preston · Rating 3 out of 5]

very nice style or writing, just didnt stand out to much

[Tammy Goins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read !! Quite the love triangle gone bad !

[Pat Schaaphok · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story moves too slowly and often seems redundant.