|
| The Darkest Night: Two Sisters, a Brutal Murder, and the Loss of Innocence in a Small Town | 
 enlarge | Author: Ron Franscell
Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
Buy New: $3.26
You Save: $3.73 (53%)
New (26) Used (10) from $3.26
Avg. Customer Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 2029
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0312948468
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.15230978793
EAN: 9780312948467
ASIN: 0312948468
Publication Date: March 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: GREAT BUY!Brand New From US Distributor! WE ARE A 5 STAR SELLER with OVER 3,500,000 BOOKS SOLD!!! OVER ~ 600,000 FEEDBACKS ~ POSTED!!!
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Casper, Wyoming:1973. Eleven-year-old Amy Burridge rides with her eighteen-year-old sister, Becky, to the grocery store. When they finish their shopping, Becky’s car gets a flat tire. Two men politely offer them a ride home. But they were anything but Good Samaritans. The girls would suffer unspeakable crimes at the hands of these men before being thrown from a bridge into the North Platte River. One miraculously survived. The other did not.
Years later, author and journalist Ron Franscell—who lived in Casper at the time of the crime, and was a friend to Amy and Becky—can’t forget Wyoming’s most shocking story of abduction, rape, and murder. Neither could Becky, the surviving sister. The two men who violated her and Amy were sentenced to life in prison, but the demons of her past kept haunting Becky…until she met her fate years later at the same bridge where she’d lost her sister.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
 In the Spirit of Capote March 5, 2008
46 out of 49 found this review helpful
Many of you may recall a groundbreaking book titled "In Cold Blood" by famed author Truman Capote.
Written in the early 1960s, Mr. Capote claimed to introduce a new and compelling way of writing nonfiction, a technique he dubbed as the "nonfiction novel."
Actually, the term was misleading because it seemed to imply that the writer is embellishing the truth with fabrications from his or her imagination. That wasn't true - every fact reported in the book was accurate.
Instead, a better way to define the "nonfiction novel" is that is a factual account told in a way that uses the novelist's skills for constructing a story and adding vivid details.
The term most definitely fits "The Darkest Night", Ron Franscell's haunting book about the small-town abduction of two sisters in 1973 (Mr. Franscell's neighbors and friends). The abduction culminated in a rape and murder at a bridge that spanned over a 110-foot gorge. Both girls were thrown from the bridge. One survived. The other was traumatized for the rest of her life.
The effect of a crime this horrendous does not begin with the heinous deed, and end with a jury verdict. The sheer immensity is a mental infection that lasts for generations - in unspeakable torment for the victims and their families, in shock for a community, in macabre fascination and disgust for those who learn about the crime through the media.
In a style similar to "In Cold Blood", Mr. Franscell captures, from start to finish (if there is ever a finish), this terrible saga. He went to enormous lengths to provide vivid and unforgettable narrative, from extensive interviews with one of the murderers, to spending a night under the bridge on the 30th anniversary of the crime.
There's one important difference with Mr. Capote's book; in "The Darkest Night's" case, the author knew the victims. That heart-rending relationship to the story is evident throughout the book.
The end will floor you. If it were fiction, no one would believe it could happen.
 THE DARKEST NIGHT INDEED... June 8, 2008
24 out of 27 found this review helpful
In 1973 in Casper, Wyoming, the paths of two twenty something lowlifes, Ronald Kennedy and Jerry Jenkins, intersected with that of two half-sisters, eighteen year old Becky Thompson and eleven year old Amy Burridge. None of their lives would ever be the same again. Becky and Amy had just finished up some last minute grocery shopping at a local store, when they realized that they had a flat tire. Kennedy and Jenkins offered to help them and give them a ride home.
Once they were in the car, however, it was clear that Becky and Amy were going to be taken to hell and back again. The upshot is that they were abducted and ultimately driven to the North Platte River where Amy was thrown from a bridge that spanned a gorge into the river over a hundred feet below. Becky was then raped by Kennedy and Jenkins, and then she, too, was thrown from the bridge into that same river and left for dead. The only difference is that she physically survived her ordeal and lived to tell the tale.
The author divided the book into three parts. In the first part, the author takes great pains to describe the town and the people who played a part in the unfolding drama. He also paints a poignant portrait of the two girls who had been abducted and treated so cruelly by fate. He also describes the details of the events that led up to the crime, the crime itself, and its immediate aftermath.
In the second part of the book, the focus is on the prosecution of the case. Again, the author gives much detail on the individuals who were going to be involved in the prosecution of the case, as well as those who were to be responsible for the defense of Kennedy and Jenkins. The author also gives details from the trial itself, in addition to the outcome.
In the third part of the book, the author details what became of Becky Thompson and notes the impact that this singular event had on her life. He also details what happened to Jenkins and Kennedy. The reader also discovers what became of the families of the victims, the families of the defendants, and those who were involved in the trial process. He also includes portions of a memoir written by Kennedy, which the author expertly dissects and analyzes. This is, however, the Achilles heel in the book, as the self-serving drivel served up by Kennedy made this portion of the book drag somewhat.
This case was big news when it happened, and it shook the town of Casper to its core. In fact, the author knew Becky and Amy, as they were his next door neighbors in Casper, Wyoming, where he grew up. He was a junior in high school at the time that the crime occurred, and he recalls the impact that the crime had on not only the community but on his family, as well. This personal connection explains the well-spring of deep sadness that resonates throughout this well-written book and speaks to the reader. Meticulous in his research, it is clear that for this author this book was a labor of love, as the author brings to life with his prose all those whose lives had been touched by this heinous crime.
Absolutely the VERY BEST in True Crime Writing! March 4, 2008
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
"The Darkest Night" by Ron Franscell is by far right up there with the best true crime book ever written. Set in a small town in Wyoming, two small time criminals commit what would be remembered as one of the most unspeakable crimes of Wyoming's history.
On an autumn night in 1973, Casper, Wyoming is shattered by the brutal murder of 11 year old Amy Burridge and the rape and attempted murder of her 18 year old half sister - both being thrown off of a 110 foot bridge. And the story doesn't end there. Ron Franscell's writing is part memoir as he was a young teenager living in Casper at the time of this tragic event, a neighbor and friend of the two victims. With this writing, Ron wanted to come to terms with what happened and why, delving into the criminal investigation and, most importantly, into the mind of a sociopath. The Darkest Night takes the reader to the scene of the crime with eloquently written details and specifics of the case, leaving the reader feeling emotions that run the gamut. - Melanie Craven - truecrimeinsider.com
True Crime Perfection April 22, 2008
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
I was expecting this book to be like the hundreds of other true crime books I've read. There's a formula out there and they rarely waiver. The author takes us down his own memory lane into one of the most brutal and eventually heartbreaking crimes in history. Long on story, short on numbing details, you'll learn about the terrifying night two sisters spent at the hands of brutal sociopaths and the justice system that spared their lives. The conclusion was painful to think about and difficult to imagine. Kudos to the author for writing such a lovely testiment to these two victims.
If you're a true crime fan, don't miss 'DARKEST NIGHT' March 4, 2008
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
When 'The Darkest Night' first came out in hardcover last year (its title was 'Fall') I was astonished at how beautifully Ron Franscell had blended literary flourishes with hard-nosed true-crime reporting. I said then that this one is the first modern true crimes I have read that actually reaches back all the way to Capote's "In Cold Blood" to tell story that goes beyond the blood splatters and court papers. I still think all of that, and after a year, I am still thinking about this story. If ever there was a movie to be made from a true crime story, this is it!
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
