Just the Facts, Ma’am
Review by Kim Cantrell
Very, very seldom can a newspaper reporter make the leap to true crime author, such as the case with San Francisco Chronicle reporter Henry K. Lee.
Lee’s recently released debute book, Presumed Dead follows the story of Hans Reiser, a California man who murdered his Russian-born wife Nina in the midst of a nasty divorce centered on child custody and support issues.
It was obvious to everyone that Hans was responsible for her murder, however proving it would be a somewhat difficult task. After all, you’ve got to toss in the two boyfriends in Nina’s life: a bisexual S & M enthusiast and the not-quite-yet-divorce jealous Greek guy.
Sounds like a great backdrop to a true crime story, right? It is!
But Lee writes Presumed Dead as if it a newspaper account. Every little mundane detail is included, such as this paragraph on page 126:
On the same day Hans e-mailed Steele, Nina went to the IKEA store in Emeryville to buy a one hundred dollar coffee table. She exchanged the table several days later.
Readers will find most sentences begin with “The next day,” “On [insert date]“, or “At [insert time],” making it clear that Lee is going step-by-step through the court documents, police reports, and other available material to write. In other words, there isn’t “story” here but more a recitation of facts.
Many of you enjoy this kind of cut-and-dried writing, such as my true crime counterpart at Amazon, and others, such as myself, prefer more novel style writing. If you’re part of this latter group, Presumed Dead isn’t for you; just-the-facts fans, on the other hand, will love it.
