A Very Wicked Stepmother
Review by Kim Cantrell
Sueanne Salle was a divorced mother raising only one of her two children when she met Ed Hobson.
Ed Hobson was a widow raising his young son, Chris.
And a spineless man willing to sell his soul to the devil to marry a woman like Sueanne.
To Ed, Sueanne was classy; above him in the social circles of society.
But Sueanne is proof that evil doesn’t lurk only among the low class.
Within a year of their discreet wedding ceremony, Sueanne had come to loathe Chris; viewing him as competition for Ed’s love and attention.
When talks of military schools or commitment to a mental institution fell on deaf ears, Sueanne turned to her oldest child, Jimmy, and his friend Paul Sorrentino.
Having been abandoned by his mother at the age of nine, only to recently return to her graces, Jimmy was an easy target for manipulation by his other.
Soon Chris would dig his own grave, as instructed by his older stepbrother and friend.
And Ed…well, he would stand by his woman. After all, his son was dead. No changing that, but you have to maintain status.
Sueanne’s conniving ways are exposed in Thomas O’Donnell’s 1992 true crime book Crazymaker.
No one can say that O’Donnell rushed to writing this book, but unfortunately it turns into 480 pages of extremely mundane reading.
Detailed? Yes. Very. To the point of being too detailed.
I finished it, but with great difficulty; frequently skimming the mundane, repetitive parts.
I can’t recommend Crazymaker, a condensed online article would suffice in this case.
Or, you may consider a second book written about this case by Andy Hoffman titled Family Affairs. I can’t attest to it’s quality as I haven’t read it, but do know that is significantly shorter (approx. 150 pages); leading me to believe a lot of mundane information was cut.
Updates from this book:
Jimmy Crumm was released from prison in 1999. He now lives a quiet, discreet life in Texas and works as an electrician.
Paul Sorrentino was released in 2000. At last report, he was living in Florida.
Sueanne Hobson has been before the parole board a couple of times, but both times has been denied. The latest hearing being in 2006.
Ed Hobson became an active member of the group Parents of Murdered Children; even participating on committees working diligently to keep murderers in prison. However, he shocked and outraged the group in 2003 when he announced his intentions to help Sueanne (now his ex-wife) be paroled. Since then, he seems to have shrunk from the spotlight and his current whereabouts are unknown.
