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Fatal Beauty
She Offered Her Body. . .
Jimmy Joste was a powerhouse in the oil and gas industry, but he was a weakling when it came to his gorgeous, athletic, longtime lover, Rhonda Glover. Addicted to her sexual prowess and madly in love, Joste gave her homes, cars, cash, and a $350,000 engagement ring.
. . .But Left Him As A Corpse
Their fifteen years of passion and excess ended the day Rhonda drove directly from a shooting range to the Austin home they once shared. After pumping ten bullets into him from a Glock 9mm, she stood over Joste's blood-splattered body and shot him six more times--twice below the waist.
The Ultimate Girl Gone Wild
According to Rhonda, Joste was violent, abusive, and threatened her life. Here, for the first time, are Rhonda Glover's shocking stories of drug-crazed devil worship and sexual perversity. But in a packed courtroom, prosecutors presented shocking evidence that beautiful Rhonda didn't act in self-defense--it was hot-blooded murder!
Includes 16 Pages Of Shocking Photos
Jimmy Joste was a powerhouse in the oil and gas industry, but he was a weakling when it came to his gorgeous, athletic, longtime lover, Rhonda Glover. Addicted to her sexual prowess and madly in love, Joste gave her homes, cars, cash, and a $350,000 engagement ring.
. . .But Left Him As A Corpse
Their fifteen years of passion and excess ended the day Rhonda drove directly from a shooting range to the Austin home they once shared. After pumping ten bullets into him from a Glock 9mm, she stood over Joste's blood-splattered body and shot him six more times--twice below the waist.
The Ultimate Girl Gone Wild
According to Rhonda, Joste was violent, abusive, and threatened her life. Here, for the first time, are Rhonda Glover's shocking stories of drug-crazed devil worship and sexual perversity. But in a packed courtroom, prosecutors presented shocking evidence that beautiful Rhonda didn't act in self-defense--it was hot-blooded murder!
Includes 16 Pages Of Shocking Photos
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 15, 2010
32 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 7, 2022
Soooo for the very few who may like to follow what book I’m reading out of over 4000 that I have on to be read shelf know that my all time favorite yet ridiculously horrible true crime story is Without Mercy, which I now own in both audio and ebook formats.Well I may have found a runner up with this book. I checked it out from one of my libraries so I do not own it (yet), but this woman is crazy insane but not in the way that would get her admitted anywhere; she still has to be prosecuted. But what really makes this book so special is Rhonda’s interrogations. She’s bipolar (again giving those of us who also have that diagnosis a bad rep) but she mixes her meds with street drugs along with some other things and comes up with stories that are the equivalent of the now infamous Cartman gets kidnapped by aliens and suffered an anal probe episode of South Park. You have to read this just for those chapters if nothing else.
July 5, 2019
Bizarre murder case.
This is the true story of the tragic death of James Joste at the hands of Rhonda Glover in Austin, Texas, in July 2004. The case is covered in great detail up to and including the trial and sentencing.
There is much discussion of Glover's mental illnesses which she would not treat or, when she did, combined her medication with alcohol and drugs. So she was allowed to be as wild and weird as she felt like. It cannot have been much of a surprise when she pumped ten bullets into the man who loved her and protected her.
The big question at her trial was how she could be declared sane when she was as crazy as an outhouse rat. It's my understanding that sanity and insanity are legal terms, not a medical diagnosis. Medically she had mental disorders, but she knew shooting a man was wrong; therefore, she was sane in the legal sense.
There is much interesting information, but the author repeated it over and over until I felt like a six-year-old kid with ADD.
8
This is the true story of the tragic death of James Joste at the hands of Rhonda Glover in Austin, Texas, in July 2004. The case is covered in great detail up to and including the trial and sentencing.
There is much discussion of Glover's mental illnesses which she would not treat or, when she did, combined her medication with alcohol and drugs. So she was allowed to be as wild and weird as she felt like. It cannot have been much of a surprise when she pumped ten bullets into the man who loved her and protected her.
The big question at her trial was how she could be declared sane when she was as crazy as an outhouse rat. It's my understanding that sanity and insanity are legal terms, not a medical diagnosis. Medically she had mental disorders, but she knew shooting a man was wrong; therefore, she was sane in the legal sense.
There is much interesting information, but the author repeated it over and over until I felt like a six-year-old kid with ADD.
8
August 6, 2018
As I've said in other reviews, I am a true crime junkie. I always appreciate an unique and complicated case. Fatal Beauty succeeds and fails in this endeavor. I think Burl Barer has a excellent grasp on the complexities of the legal standings in this case. However, Burl desperately needs organization of his story structure and a really good editor. His story flow was erratic, constantly changing, making it hard to read and really hard to enjoy. I don't know if I will read more by this author.
June 18, 2021
I think if your significant other shoots you ten times while standing over you and then puts 2 more in your d-ck you've got a serious relationship issue. The first part of most true crime books are interesting because they paint a picture. The trial portion is usually dry and boring. the trial portion of this book was so boring I damn near quit. insane amounts of is Rhonda Glover crazy? ( Rhonda Glover is bat shit crazy) Page after page of Blah Blah legal bullshit. Just trying to get some kind of handle on Insanity and Insanity Defenses was a freaking nightmare. Yes she was mentally ill. And an abusive drunken drug addict. Crazy and crack do NOT mix well . They found her incompetent and put her away and then drug her back out and put her on trial. I don't know why. Not my job. I do believe she is right where she belongs. She can spend her days bleating about satanic worship, cannibals and child pornography in Cave X to her hearts content. Nobody who knew her in this book buys any of her story. Nobody. This just reinforced the fact that expert witnesses are a dime a dozen and for sale to which ever side pays them.
January 26, 2016
A very interesting story and well told.
July 22, 2017
A decent book about a crime and it's consequences.
June 13, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would have given it five stars except for the admission by the author that when interviewing Rhonda, the subject of this novel, he was not allowed to record or write down her answers. This was not the choice of the author, and I do not hold it against him as a researcher. While I believe the author had no intent to change the intent of his subject’s answers or feelings, it taints what felt like authentic responses from the convicted killer.
This novel is more than a deep dive into the psyche of a convicted killer: it is an investigation into the Texas legal system and the difficulties faced by police, lawyers, and defendants with mental illness. The use of expert interviews and commentary from those who knew Rhonda Glover help to weave together this story of madness, desperation, drug abuse, and a rigid legal system that has to deal with the nuances of mental illness and does not always handle it well.
This novel is more than a deep dive into the psyche of a convicted killer: it is an investigation into the Texas legal system and the difficulties faced by police, lawyers, and defendants with mental illness. The use of expert interviews and commentary from those who knew Rhonda Glover help to weave together this story of madness, desperation, drug abuse, and a rigid legal system that has to deal with the nuances of mental illness and does not always handle it well.
August 29, 2018
Finally, a true crime author who is logical, skeptical, fact based in their writing, and a good story teller. This is the first true crime book I have read that is suitable for an academic. Barer provides the reader not only with a discussion of the case, but engages in constant discussion about the state of the criminal justice system as it pertains to the case.
This was not the most sensational crime a writer could choose. However, I think Barer chose this case because it is an excellent forum to discuss NGRI (not guilty by reason of insanity). The structure of the book laid out each part of the case -- leading up to the act, the act, the trial, the conclusion -- while perfectly weaving in real issues that plague the justice system. Each challenge to the justice system is what you would discuss if taking criminology coursework. I wish every crime writer wrote like this.
This was not the most sensational crime a writer could choose. However, I think Barer chose this case because it is an excellent forum to discuss NGRI (not guilty by reason of insanity). The structure of the book laid out each part of the case -- leading up to the act, the act, the trial, the conclusion -- while perfectly weaving in real issues that plague the justice system. Each challenge to the justice system is what you would discuss if taking criminology coursework. I wish every crime writer wrote like this.
May 31, 2022
Help me Rhonda; and she sure did, with a 9MM Glock. The full magazine of ten rounds was emptied into the body of Jimmy Joste, a wealthy Texas oilman who had been seduced by a younger woman with, as he described to a best friend, superior skills in the bedroom. The lust filled gentleman purchased several homes for his sex kitten and the modern day Salome named her boat P.O.P., meaning power of the p****. The high class lady made numerous 911 calls to the police with delusional tales of bodies buried in the yard by Jimmy. The bipolar bitch killed her meal ticket and claimed that he was Satan, she was Mary and her son was Jesus. Can you say, deliver us from evil? The dead man was also not wound to tight, sharing some of his partner's strange theories. G.W. Bush was a clone, amongst other things. A self defense strategy was used, and for the verdict, read the book.
June 14, 2021
An interesting story, which I found to be well written and researched. As a woman, a lot of the tale made me feel gross. Throughout, we hear about the deep love that Jimmy had for Rhonda, and frankly, I don’t believe it. He loved her body, and he loved sleeping with her.
His money got him a lot of things, including beautiful women, that I believe he used. That’s not to say, of course, that he deserved to be shot dead, because he did not.
I wish that Barer gave more detail on Jimmy Jost’s story. He is portrayed in a generally a positive light, and I don’t believe the reader was given a full enough picture. He indulged in drugs and alcohol right alongside Rhonda, which tells me that he probably didn’t do much to help her with her severe emotional disturbance.
His money got him a lot of things, including beautiful women, that I believe he used. That’s not to say, of course, that he deserved to be shot dead, because he did not.
I wish that Barer gave more detail on Jimmy Jost’s story. He is portrayed in a generally a positive light, and I don’t believe the reader was given a full enough picture. He indulged in drugs and alcohol right alongside Rhonda, which tells me that he probably didn’t do much to help her with her severe emotional disturbance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 24, 2019
(Audiobook) Like other reviews stated, the book jumps around some and goes off on tangents which disrupted the flow of the story. Still, the book is well written and worth reading in the true crime genre. I found it pretty amazing that a person so mentally ill was found legally competent to stand trial. At one point the murderess thought she was Mary, mother of Jesus. Makes you wonder about the insanity plea and if changes need to be made.
January 17, 2021
I didn’t enjoy this at all. I’m just not a huge fan of true crime. This stuck me as really sad and airing this family’s dirty laundry- not even for the purposes of entertainment but just as a cold, clinical stating of facts. I need to remember this the next time I consider picking up a true crime book.
May 11, 2020
Starts out as a very interesting recounting of a true crime but soon detoriates into a long, long, long and excruciatingly detailed account about the problems of mental health and the prison system in Texas.
June 23, 2025
Author Barer has researched this case so expertly that one can only applaud the dedication to craft. Regrettably, the narrative is disjointed and so full of direct quotes that I was unable to fully appreciate the obvious effort (and talent) that has gone into producing the work as a whole.
June 3, 2018
Very thorough account. It would be hard to believe a person like Rhonda Glover exists if I didn’t have personal exposure to a sister with borderline personality disorder. Not fun.
March 16, 2020
Holy crap this was insane
February 5, 2024
An interesting and thorough read. The power of sex and drugs highlighted once again. In the end it's the child that pays the price.
Read
March 23, 2024P.U.
December 16, 2025
I was bored
August 9, 2016
A quick and addicting read.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews