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出版社周刊评论
On the surface this is an account of the plot conceived by Chris Pritchard to murder his mother and stepfather, Bonnie and Lieth Von Stein, to inherit a large sum of money; the crime involved two of his friends, James Upchurch, the actual killer of the stepfather and wounder of the mother, and Neal Henderson, the driver of the car which took them to the Von Stein home in Washington, N.C., on July 25, 1988. All three, from middle-class families, were college students of exceptionally high intelligence. They were also players of Dungeons and Dragons, a game which, according to Bledsoe, teaches the philosophy of selfishness. The book is far more than a true-crime study: it is a devastating and profounly disturbing portrait of a certain kind of family life. Here people marry casually, have children, move on to another incompatible marriage. The children of these broken homes are adversely affected, often find school no challenge and squander their youth on addiction, whether to alcohol, drugs, sex or fantasy games, until the groundwork is laid for tragedy. Bledsoe ( Bitter Blood ) brilliantly points up the terrible waste of human potential. Photos not seen by PW. BOMC selection. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
Chilling if overlong true-crime chronicle by the author of the bestselling Bitter Blood (1988). Here, as in the earlier work, the setting is North Carolina and again the narrative revolves about a brutal murder committed by a family member. Though less involving than Bitter Blood, this is nonetheless top-notch reporting. In mid-1988, a hooded figure burst into the bedroom of Lieth and Bonnie Von Stein in the town of Washington, N.C. The intruder bludgeoned and stabbed the pair, leaving Lieth dead and Bonnie gravely wounded. The woman was able to summon aid and eventually survived. Suspicion soon focused on Chris Pritchard, Bonnie's son by a previous marriage. Chris was a college student in nearby Raleigh, where he apparently was less interested in his studies than he was in drugs and the game Dungeons & Dragons. Evidence, including a crudely drawn map of the area and a charred baseball bat, was discovered near the scene and seemed to link the young man to the crime. Bledsoe traces the subsequent police investigation in painstaking detail, showing how it eventually became clear that Chris had enlisted the aid of two college chums, Neal Henderson and James Upchurch, and masterminded the plot to kill his mother and stepfather in order to inherit their multimillion-dollar estate. The author is especially effective in capturing the aimlessness and amorality of the campus scene, though he does tend to overload his narrative with such details as street addresses and incidental figures in the story. Also, the linkage he attempts to establish between Dungeons & Dragons and the crime seems tenuous. Still, by and large, a worthwhile follow-up to Bledsoe's earlier blockbuster--but for a richer, more riveting account of the same crime, see Joe McGinniss's Cruel Doubt, reviewed below. (Eight pages of photographs--not seen.)
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
On July 25, 1988, in the early morning hours, the Von Stein house in Washington, North Carolina was invaded and the Von Steins brutally attacked. Lieth was murdered, and Bonnie, severely injured, barely survived. Their son Chris was away at college, but suspicion quickly focused on him and his friends. Chris, a very bright but totally unmotivated student, had become immersed in a world of drugs, alcohol, and the game Dungeons and Dragons. With a tenuous grasp on reality, and perhaps playing out a version of Dungeons and Dragons, he had convinced two friends, Neal Henderson and James Upchurch III, to kill his parents so that he could claim his very sizable inheritance. Ultimately, Henderson confessed. All three young men are now in prison, with Upchurch on death row. Although well written, this book is about a third too long, with too much emphasis on Upchurch's attempts to evade the police. Still, it makes a worthwhile addition to true crime collections.-- Sandra K. Lindheimer, Middlesex Law Lib., Cambridge, Mass. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.