Customer Reviews
A chilling but gripping Read - By: Carrie, 27 Jun 2000 
This is a superb book which gives a very compelling account of the lives of some of America's most gruesome killers. It takes the perspective of a psychiatrist & her colleague who for quarter of a century studied these criminals.
By the end of the book we are made to feel extremely sorry for the murderers.
Otnow also points out that there is very little difference between a murderer & his executioner the only difference being that one has been given state permission to murder while the other has been denied permission.
This is a superb book & reads more like a suspense thriller than a chilling journal of psychiatric & medical findings.
This is a great book. - By: , 29 Aug 1998 Wow, what a book. I picked this book up Wednesday afternoon & read over half of it in one sitting. I finished the book the next afternoon. The literary style is brilliant & the content is intellectuallly stimulating. I hurt inside as I read this book because I, like the people Dr. Lewis wrote about, identify with the witch on the stake. It is a good hurt, though. I want Dr. Lewis to know that she has at least one more allly in her fight against the inhumane manner in which our criminal justice system frequently operates. When I picture a human being burning on a stake, or electrocuting in a chair, or laying in a sterile room in Huntsville with poison flowing through their veins, I think "there but by the grace of humans stand, sit, or lay I."
Gripping, enlightening and inspiring - By: , 01 Jun 1998 This serious subject of the correlation between childhood abuse & physical injury with criminal behaviour builds from the start of the research of Dr.Lewis & reads like a page turning novel. Her generosity in revealing her own misteps alllows the reader to enter 'the research process' & makes it a very rewarding book to read.
A "must read" for layperson and professional alike. - By: , 30 May 1998 Anyone concerned with issues of violence, child abuse, legal defense & prosecution should read this compelling narrative. The vivid scenes, rendering of character, & fascinating dialogue make the reader read on in a process accessible to the layperson. As Dr. Lewis learned & refined her diagnostic skills, the reader learns with her in a truly pioneering work. The book makes the reader consider many critical issues in the fields of law, public policy, psychiatry, & family dynamics. Never are these problems dry or academic; they are gripping, troubling, & vitallly important.
