Out of Control

by Steven Long

Clara and David Harris were married on Valentine's Day. Young and in love, they developed a thriving dental business, built a half-million-dollar mansion, and raised the perfect family. Then whispers of an affair between David and his beautiful secretary drifted through their exclusive Houston social circle. A private detective confirmed the rumors. When Clara saw her husband with his mistress, she climbed behind the wheel of her luxurious car and put an end to their charmed life together-by crushing her husband to death underneath the wheels of her silver Mercedes-Benz.

What the headline-making trial ultimately revealed a high-profile marriage running on empty, marital infidelity, a woman's deadly passion, and the private hell behind a public life of the rich and privileged.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 19, 2004

About the author

Steven Long is a triple threat. He is an editor, journalist, and humanitarian most famous for his books on some of the most sensational true crime events in the nation. He has spent more than 2,000 hours in the courtroom, more time than most practicing lawyers spend there in a lifetime. He has covered some of the most important cases of the last two decades. Few can capture the drama of lawyer vs. lawyer quite like him.

Now he takes his immense talent for narrative to the pages of fiction with his new novel Ruby's Passing, a worthy successor to his bestsellers, Death Without Dignity, Out of Control, and Every Woman's Nightmare.

Long began his career in radio but quickly moved to print. For most of 11 years, he served as editor and publisher of Galveston's In Between Magazine, an award-winning alternative weekly famed for its gritty investigative work. His first freelance piece appeared in the respected Texas Observer.

In the 1982 Texas election for governor, Steven Long asked the incumbent, Bill Clements, a question that changed the state's history. "Would you appoint a consumer, for example, a housewife, to the Texas Public Utilities Commission?" The governor blundered and answered, "There isn't a housewife in Texas qualified to serve on the PUC." He lost the election.

After closing In Between, Steven Long carved out a career as a feature writer with the Houston Chronicle. One article resulted in the indictment, conviction and disbarment of the late Houston adoption lawyer Leslie Thacker for buying and selling crack babies in several Texas county jails. Another series of investigative stories ultimately resulted in the indictment and conviction of the head librarian of the oldest medical school west of the Mississippi for stealing rare and historic medical texts, some dating to the sixteenth century. He exposed the Texas prison system's wholesale practice of allowing the use of inmates as subjects for medical residents to hone their skills in cosmetic surgery at a state teaching hospital.

Steven Long covered the Andrea Yates murder case for the New York Post from the scene to conviction. For the same paper, he located rogue CEO Ken Lay who hid for ten days when the Enron scandal broke. He covered the lengthy and complex trial of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm for Agence France Presse, as well as Crain's Chicago Business.

An avid horseman, he has been a contributor to Western Horseman magazine. He secured one of the last, if not the final interview with the late actor Tony Curtis for Cowboys and Indians Magazine

Steven Long is currently writing the prequel to Ruby's Passing. It too is set in the storied badlands of Texas' Big Bend country. The working title of the book, set in the 1883 Old West, is Sauceda.

Steven and Vicki Long, a fiction writer, live in Houston, Texas. He serves as Vice President of The Greater Houston Horse Council. The two own Horseback Magazine and Horseback Online, the nation's leading online newspaper covering the equine world.

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Reviews

[Susie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book as I had followed the story. This story is about Clara and DAvid Harris, two Dentists, in Texas. you might remember she runs over him when she sees him and his mistress at a hotel. She ran over him with her Mercedes and David's daughter from a previous marriage was in the CAR with her when she did it. This was about what led up to this happening and also her trial.

I loved this book. It really makes you get inside Clara's head when all this happened to her.......also I have followed since with Oprah's interview of Clara even while she is in prison.

Sad thing is the children are now without either parent! Great read if you like true crimes.

[Mary Kamrath · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting true crime story in which the reader thinks maybe the killer is not all bad. There is a reason for the murder and the resulting story is quite interesting.

[Edwina Book Anaconda · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took me months to read this book.
Boring and slow paced as it was, I kept laying it aside and reading other books in between.
Clara cold bloodedly killed her husband and then thought she should go free because he done her wrong. Her self given pity party and poor lil me attitude got on my last nerve.
You can't run over someone 5 (!!!!!) times and then say,
"It was an accident. I didn't see him. I'm sorry"
.... yeah ... whatever ...........

[Angel Morone · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am almost done w/ this book. It has taken me a long time to read because I think this book is very boring. They give background information on everyone that was involved w/ the case. I didn't need to know the attornys background. I feel they needed to fill up the book so they used useless information. Very disappointed.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a so so true crime. Clara is one of those control freaks who winds up killing her hubby when he falls out of love with her. She runs over him with her car with his daughter in the car and then tries to argue it was an accident. Pleeeeeeeze.