Book picks similar to
The Black Widower: Malcolm Webster, the Sociopathic Killer Whose Crimes Spanned Two Decades and Three Continents by Charles Lavery
non-fiction
true-crime
don-t-have-yet
relationships
Clean: A story of addiction, recovery and the removal of stubborn stains
Michele Kirsch - 2019
And yet, when she finally does have something like that life, as a wife and mother in 1980s London, she is the one blaring music from her room, necking vodka and valium and making an almighty mess of her home and family.Cleaning other people’s houses, eventually, is the only option left. At 50 years old, post rehab, living alone in a Hackney bedsit, Michele finds herself finishing her working life as she had begun, “in a dumb job that you do when you can’t really do anything else...”This is a remarkable, powerful, and often unbearably funny memoir in which cleaning and getting clean intertwine as a strange and magical form of redemption. Michele Kirsch is a Nora Ephron for the modern age.
VASSILI ZAITSEV: Secrets from a Sniper's Notebook (Best Snipers Series 5)
Robert F. Burgess - 2015
After basic training these lads were sent directly into what was then called the battle for Stalingrad. What none of them knew then was that the average life expectancy of a new soldier in Stalingrad was 24-hours. Based on his words this story describes how this sailor-turned-soldier became one of Russia’s most revered sniper heroes. He became so infamous that Germany sent their own crack super-sniper to kill him. From Zaitsev’s sniper notebook we learn how he managed to stay alive and make some of his 242 confirmed kills. Zeitsev himself tells you exactly what his tricks and tactics of this deadly trade were that enabled him to be better than anyone else. Here’s this author’s description of what he said Stalingrad looked like when he first saw it as a greenhorn soldier: “The men were startled to see the city engulfed in flames. Zaitsev said it was like looking into the mouth of a spewing volcano while above this hellish cauldron layer after layer of German bombers including screaming Stuka dive bombers were feeding that fiery inferno. He could not even imagine that somewhere within that hell men were fighting a war… Vassili said that the city “looked like a smoldering and sulfurous hell, with burned-out buildings glowing like red coals, and fires consuming men and machines. Profiled against the glow of the fires were soldiers on the run. Were they theirs or ours? None of us could tell.” Better wear your asbestos gloves and flak jacket for this one because Vassili takes you right into the molten core of this blast furnace and tells you how he came out of it as the Soviet’s top ranking sniper hero of World War II
Donut Hole: A Marine’s Real-Life Battles in Vietnam During 1967 and 68 Marines, 1st Force Logistical Command Clutch Platoon
R.C. Lebeau - 2019
Your very belief is tested in combat, you must kill your enemy, or your enemy will kill you – that is the simple, hard cold fact. Because in my humble opinion, War is hell on Earth. Evil roams freely in War, and it will kill you, one way or another, with its evil intent. Nightmares are common and, in their fantasy, never reflect the real horror and the reality that War can bring to your mind. No matter what your personal spiritual beliefs are, you will be tested. The conduct of your intent will be your judge for life. It is your second guessing that can be dangerous to you. A wise Philosopher once said in Greece, “If you want real peace, you must always prepare for War.” This book is about war. It tells my experiences of the paths I took as a United States Marine in Vietnam. The mouths of many soldiers will say the same – the same soldiers who had shared my paths with the experiences of my many paths in life. I have not shared these words or reflections with anyone, except in bits and pieces, and that too, with other veterans in the form of bunker talk.
The Fire She Set
Leigh Overton Boyd - 2020
They did not talk about their mom's extended absences or why their dad put Scotch tape on the backdoor frame. To cover up the chaos, they kept their clothes neat and got good grades. But when they were teenagers, an arson fire destroyed their home and killed their parents. Rumors were thick that summer that smart, angry, fourteen-year-old Lisa set the blaze. Then, adult powers they did not understand squelched the investigation. As teenagers accustomed to keeping silent, they packed up and moved on.Forty years later, Leigh, the oldest, decided it was time to find out who killed their parents. She obtained copies of the police and fire investigations and began unwrapping the past. This memoir is the story of that investigation as Leigh tried to piece together the truth, but found more lies instead. With the help of her sisters, Leigh was able to reconstruct much of what happened to them in the beach towns around Atlantic City in the early 1970s. After the fire, one sister turned to heroin and another to alcohol; Leigh became Miss Atlantic City. Then, one by one, they each moved to California and shut the door on their past, even though they privately wondered whether one of them killed Frank and Nancy Overton. It's funny. They never wondered whether one of their parents was trying to kill them.
Doctor, Doctor: A True Story of Obsession, Addiction, and Psychological Manipulation
Merry Freer - 2014
Although smart and successful in a controlled and stable workplace, she has been taught since childhood to substitute her own judgement for that of others, leaving her naïve, gullible and ill-prepared to effectively manage the complexities of her new life.When Susan meets Mark, a charismatic and charming doctor, she thinks she has found the kind of love and passion she has longed for. But things are not as they appear with Mark, and slowly she becomes aware of the deceptive life he is leading. Seeking counsel and solace in a trusted therapist, she encourages Mark to accompany her to a session.The three year odyssey begins with intense therapy - appointments orchestrated by a psychiatrist who develops a personal stake in the couple’s progress. Secrets, lies, and silent pacts draw Susan, inexperienced and trusting, deeply into Mark’s treatment plan. The shrewd therapist’s unorthodox and manipulative schemes break all the rules, taking Susan into a world of drama, deceit, betrayal, and an excruciatingly close encounter with the law – an encounter that forces her to choose between saving Mark or saving herself.
Stay With Me, Rhys: The heartbreaking story of Rhys Jones, by his mother. As seen on ITV’s new documentary Police Tapes
Mel Jones - 2018
‘Please stay with me. I love you.’
There was still no expression in his eyes. I was talking and talking to him, desperate to let him know I was there, but there was no flicker in his face. In hindsight, it was like he’d already gone.
It's a Wednesday evening in Liverpool in the summer holidays, and Melanie is expecting her Everton-mad eleven-year-old son back from football practice very soon. She turns on Coronation Street and sets about stripping the wallpaper off the walls in the lounge, which is long-overdue a makeover. Suddenly she receives a frantic knock at the door. Rhys has been shot on his way home.From that fateful day when Melanie cradled her child as he lay dying, repeating to him ‘Stay with Me, Rhys’, to the day in court when his killers were finally sent down, this is a story of a family in trauma, of a community united behind them and of how a notorious local gang who terrorised the neighbourhood was brought to justice.In 2017, more than 7 million people watched the drama unfold in the highly-acclaimed ITV series Little Boy Blue. And now Melanie Jones tells the family's unbelievable story for the first time.Melanie, her husband Steve and Rhys’s brother Owen have been through unimaginable pain. The grief doesn’t go away, but the strength they’ve found within it is an inspiration.
The Fall
Amy Dale - 2014
She is too late. A secret camera captures him covering her mouth to suppress her screams as he drags her back inside. 69 seconds later Lisa Harnum is dead. But Simon Gittany insists he has done nothing wrong - he claims his beautiful partner died for a secret she feared would be exposed. The grainy final image of Lisa alive would later horrify a nation, a chilling reminder that the greatest harm can come to us from the hands of those we love. It was also the first hint police had that all was not what it seemed with the outwardly charismatic Gittany. What was Lisa's secret? Did the bubbly Canadian hide a past she would die to protect? How far did Gittany, a man with a criminal past, go to watch her every move and conversation? Police sensed a ruse the man who installed cameras in every room in his luxury apartment was trying to lead them off track with tales of his troubled lover's final days. Their suspicions are further confirmed when it emerges his well-kept recording devices had been switched off only hours before Lisa died. With only two witnesses to that final minute, one who can no longer speak, detectives question if they could ever prove a charge of murder. A week later, a grieving, distraught mother in Toronto answers the phone. A man who looked up 15 storeys into the city skyline has come forward. And what he's seen changes everything. The Fall goes behind the headlines of the country's most captivating court case to bring the story of how Lisa fell in love and grew to fear her fiance. It reveals that while Lisa couldn't escape the danger of Simon Gittany she left behind clues to help catch a killer from beyond the grave.
Murderer with a Badge
Edward Humes - 1992
Pulitzer Prize-winner Humes, the first to break the story, conducted exclusive jail-cell interviews with convicted LAPD officer Bill Leasure to give an enthralling account of his chilling crimes. 8-page insert.
RED-HANDED: 20 Criminal Cases That Shook India
Souvik Bhadra - 2014
As the nation watched on in horror, the police uncovered the body parts of fifteen more children in the same location. These grisly killings were found to have been the handiwork of Surinder Koli, a serial killer who lived in a house nearby.In Red-Handed: 20 Criminal Cases That Shook India, lawyers Souvik Bhadra and Pingal Khan narrate the stories behind some of the most sensational criminal cases to have caught the attention of the country in the last few decades. From the murder of Nitish Katara in a case of ‘honour killing’ to the shooting of Jessica Lal; from the Harshad Mehta scam to the Best Bakery arson of 2002; and, from the horrifying ‘tandoor’ case, in which Naina Sahni was killed and then cremated, to the trial and conviction of Sanjay Dutt under TADA, Red-Handed examines the motives behind these crimes even as it aims to lay bare the inner workings of the Indian judicial system. Additionally, the authors illuminate the crucial role that the media has come to play in judicial matters—it shapes public opinion, and often even investigates cases and delivers justice, much before the judges do.
Hollywood Private Lives Uncensored
Alan Royle - 2016
Hollywood minus the hype and hokum.
Honeymoon Dive: The Real Story of the Tragic Honeymoon Death of Tina Watson
Lindsay Simpson - 2010
But that picture was to tell a desperate story. In the lower right-hand corner of the shot, Tina Watson's lifeless body lies 25 metres down on the ocean floor, her arms outstretched, reaching upwards. This is the photograph which shocked millions across Australia and the US.How could this young woman have died, a mere seven minutes into her dive, when Gabe Watson, her diving buddy and husband of only eleven days, was a certified rescue diver? How could such an experienced diver have panicked and abandoned his new wife to her fate, as he later told police? As the tragedy unfolded and witnesses came forward, disturbing evidence mounted that something more sinister might have occurred. Could Gabe Watson have murdered Tina?This is the captivating mystery at the heart of this true-life thriller, as Lindsay Simpson and Jennifer Cooke cover two continents to discover the real story.
No Lights, No Sirens: The Corruption and Redemption of an Inner City Cop
Robert Cea - 2005
Rob Cea starts off as an idealistic young cop, a true believer in the system for which he works tirelessly. He is sadly mistaken. The system he tried so hard to appease ultimately led to his downfall and the ruination of his life.What separates this from other cop–and–robber stories is the brutal authenticity from the cop himself. We will see and hear exactly what is discussed in a patrol car. We will see how the law was栮d is汯utinely bent to make collars stick any way possible. And we will see how Cea slowly spirals to depths of hell.No Lights, No Sirens is simplistic in its scope: A young idealistic boy becomes a man through fire, and then becomes exactly what he has been chasing for so long, a hardened man possessed by demons. With rapid fire and gritty narrative, Cea writes about his fall to the depths, and his salvation. We see the dark side of detective work in New York's most crime–riddled neighbourhoods from a first–hand view never before seen.
One of the Family
John George Pearson - 2003
Moreover, he was as legendary a figure on the streets of New York as on the streets of London.Pearson persuaded the mysterious criminal leader to talk to him - and the result was a story even more extraordinary than that of the Kray twins. Here Pearson reveals the true story of the Englishman who became the adopted son of Joey Pagano, the head of one of the major New York crime families. Here the Englishman tells the story that no-one else dared to tell.
The Doctor, the Hitman, and the Motorcycle Gang: The True Story of One of New Jersey's Most Notorious Murder for Hire Plots
Annie McCormick - 2020
Fatal Prescription: A Doctor without Remorse
John Griffiths - 1995
a remarkable story—Leeza Gibbons, NBC-TV • Grippingly told ... a wonderful, powerful book—David Berner, Radio CKNW Vancouver • Reads with the pace of a taut thriller—George Henderson, Gloucestershire Citizen • Mesmerizing—Bob Stall, Vancouver Province. Now revised and updated. The amazing, true story of how medical authorities allow a family doctor to continue practising even after he begins living with a 15-year-old patient—and allegedly has sex with another girl in exchange for giving drugs to her father. The notorious doctor still carries on as before and a third patient complains about infamous conduct—until he silences her by putting out a contract for murder.