If It’s A Biography, Sell It As Such
Review by Kim Cantrell
From Library Journal:
Bobby Joe Long killed ten women. Two of his rape victims survived and join author Wellman in this first-person account not only of sexual assault but also of years of frustration at the glacierlike movement of the justice system. Because the authors aren’t professional writers, the text can be uneven and is filled with occasionally awkward or overwritten passages. Yet it is precisely this uncontrived style that helps convey the courage and tenacity of these women, who were unwavering in their determination to see Long answer for his crimes. Especially chilling are the excerpts from Long’s letters in which he describes his rape of a l3-year-old girl. Perhaps even more chilling is that Long plea bargained a 25-year to life sentence for eight murders and has already served 13 of them.
Let me get straight to the point: Smoldering Embers has to be the WORST “true crime” book ever written.
While giving credit to Lisa McVey and Susan Repogle (victims of the book’s subject), this piece of work is nothing but a disguised effort to toot the horn of the book’s primary author, and actual writer, Joy Wellman.
Many of the ingredients typical of a true crime were missing from this book; such as details regarding trials, the investigation, other victims, etc.
The reader is provided pretty indepth detail about two victims, general information is provided about others,; but some victims are mentioned only in passing.
The remainder of Smoldering Embers focuses on the author and co-authors friendship, their desire to teach women to speak out against sexual crimes committed against them, and their lives following Bobby Joe Long (the convicted).
Might have made an interesting book if sold for what it is: BIOGRAPHY. Because it definitely isn’t true crime!
True crime books about this case: Bound To Die: The Shocking True Story of Bobby Joe Long, America’s Most Savage Serial Killer by Anna Flowers (1999); Bobby Joe: In the Mind of a Monster : The Chilling Facts Behind the Story of a Brutal Serial Killer by Bernie Ward (1995)
Want to read it? Here’s where to buy new and used copies:
