Still Shocking After All These Years...
585422
I was only 12 years old and living in Dallas when Candy Montgomery took an axe to Betty Gore during the summer of 1980. Too young at the time to be concerned with local scandals and crimes of passion, I scarcely even remember hearing about the murder. "Evidence of Love" was first published in 1985 when I was in high school and that was when I read this book the first time. I'm 40 years old now and have just re-read it.

Having read it as a kid and now, having read it as an adult, I realize I see this story in a whole new light. It's well written and the character development is practically flawless. No effort has been made to gloss these people over - they are all too human and that makes what happened even scarier. The idea that average, ordinary, church-going people can be tangled up in such an unsavory mess is more than a little un-settling. The Gores and the Montgomery's could be your neighbors or mine. Additionally, the way the Collin County officials and judicial system handled the investigation and subsequent trial is alarming. Judge Ryan's obvious bias is enough to make anyone question the presumption of innocence in 1980's Collin County. I don't know if Candy Montgomery was guilty or not but I do know, that in this country, everyone is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury of their peers. After reading this book, I question the methods used by the Collin County DA's office in building their case against Candy Montgomery. In reading this book for the 2nd time, I realized that secondary to the crime itself and the events that lead up to it, is the story of how skewed justice can be in small towns where everybody knows everybody else.

I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who is enjoys reading about true crime. Although these events took place almost 30 years ago, they are still stark reminders that things are not always as they seem and that justice isn't always what it should be. In that regard, it's still a very relavent story for today. I do wish though, that the authors had included photos of all the characters and of the places where these events unfolded. I think it helps the reader to see them as real human beings and not just characters in a story.

Strangely enough, I now live just minutes from where these events took place and I often drive through the Collin County towns referenced in this book. The landscape hasn't changed much - a Starbucks or two have gone up but other than that, these are still the same sleepy little towns they were in 1980...and after all these years, it's still shocking that they were at the epicenter of so much scandal and tragedy.
3109224
I read this book years ago and decided to revisit it.  In today's world of politics, it is amazing how little things have changed over the years. I was filled with sadness that this is still the world we live in......where the rich determine the fates of many.
2389463
I feel sick after reading this, a moment of dawning comprehension. A lot of the doctrines I have been taught and taken on board over the past 20yrs are in fact incorrect at best, at worst, doctrines of demons. I am amazed how far we have wandered from the truth. Seeing the real history of Pentecostalism is an eye opener.
2581218
I was outraged when I read this in hardback years ago. It was so obvious the man (& his partner) were innocent. He was finally freed but it took years but his so-called partner still sits on death row. He's as innocent as the title character.  To understand this in full......you MUST READ THIS......AND FIND OUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
873347
I was nineteen years old and sophomore in college when this album came out. It blew me away then, and still does today. Twenty years have gone by, but they absolutely do not cut them like this anymore -- there is no comparison!  You take this trash off the shelves today that they shove down your throats and compare it to this album and it blows you away. Panama, Jump, I'll Wait, Hot For Teacher, Girl Gone Bad, these guys were absolutely genius. I remember seeing (Rothized) Van Halen in concert in Pullman, Washington during their "final" tour,  -- I was absolutely floored, blown-away, you name it, it was amazing! Twenty years have gone by, I listen to all types of music today: jazz, classical, country, but after a few stiff ones, I come back to these fellas and this album. The genius of Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth, they wrote the book on "American" hard rock and no one since has even come close. I think back to those years gone by and thank the lucky stars above -- I was at the perfect age when this album came out. Do yourself one helluva favor and listen to it (you'll wonder what planet you've been on). Now Noah, where to put that hammerhead shark?!
4182446
Wow..amazing stuff here..it is rare to get a chance to see clips like these uninterrupted by narration. You truly get a sense for the era and people..this dvd is  like a time machine that will hurl you back to that amazing era. Apparantly many of the clips included in the set have never been released in any form as they were newsreel out-takes that were not even seen back in the day...
For anyone who really wants to experience what that era FELT like..check this DVD/CD out...and the CD is fabulous..just the tune THE PANIC IS ON is worth the price of purchase!
3683003
I got this book years ago knowing I would have to read it one day.  Last week, that day came. The year before the murders, I was Tyler's babysitter and I babysat Les Howletts kids many times - along with a few other families in the trailer park.  I knew bits and pieces of this story, but I had no idea the number of mess ups, ridiculous mistakes and lack of concern these families had to go through!  The book is as infuriating as it was sad.  As it was a personal story for me, I probably had a greater interest than most.  Seeing the names of people you knew in print is a strange and bizarre read.  The story has a lot of detail, but you need the detail to understand the whole picture!  I felt, enlightened to finally know the details, but it was written in a "just the facts ma'am" way that I didn't cry like I thought I would.  Until the verdict was read....then I did cry.  I would recommend it
958494
This book is a terrefic piece of work and it always amazes me when I think that this book was written nearly 70 years ago.  If you do not fear Big Brother, Genetics, and other such things you will after you read this.
I was forced into reading this in High School...and thank God I was.  This is an absolutely amazing piece of classic writing that seems frighteningly close to the not so distant furture.
2508688
I saw this movie many years ago when it first played in theaters.  It scared me then and it still scares me (I have it on VHS).  Based on a true story in the Southwest, a man goes on a murdering spree.  He targets couples who go to out of the way lover's lanes, but later attacks a woman and man in their own home.  Law enforcement agencies are desperate to catch this man, but are unsure to this day if he was ever captured.  Some said that he might be serving time for another crime, while others think he died in a swamp after be nearly caught and shot.  The truth is you just don't know.  They didn't even have a clue to what he looked like.  If it wasn't for the fact that he would be extremely old ( I think this happened in the late 1940s or the early 1950s ), I'd still be extremely nervous!!!!
663538
Veronika's life story is so shocking and profoundly sad that I found myself in tears as I read. it actually made my heart hurt to think that human beings could inflict torture on another in this way. It is a testament to her strength and courage to live the story not once but twice as she retold it in her memoir. For a person to come through a life of horror and maintain her humanity against all odds is truly an amazing feat. Many thanks for sharing your story and continuing to shine your light with others! Keep writing as it is one of your special gifts to the world!
4934547
Unbelievable but I dare say very true, our sordid history, past and present. Most of us from births n 1950's and prior, senses and believed that all of this is probably true. It's amazing to hear of an incredible number of plane crashes, suicides, and murders that took place with people who questioned what was really going on versus what we were fed. I only pray that I have passed on before the evident outcome occurs. God help us all!!!!!!!
4408298
I saw one of the "Wolf Man" pictures with Lon Chaney when I was in one of the primary grades in elementary school.  I was in the front row as they put the youngest and lowest grades in front as the children in the higher grades could see over our heads. It was on a Friday afternoon, and I, being just a child, had the hell scared out of me (the large bed sheet used as a screen was no more than 10 feet in front of me) when Larry Talbot changed into the Wolf Man in a jail cell, snarling and rattling the bars as the camera panned in for a closeup.  To mention just how effective the special effects were at the time, that scene created a fear that lasted for a very long time.  I was especially fearful at night when alone and for years afterward dreaded going into my dark bedroom.  No matter how I tried to describe my fears to my parents, they could not understand and never allowed me have even the tiniest light to allay my anxieties. (They were not cruel . . . things were simply different in those days.)

Looking back, I think that those original "Wolf Man" movies were the state of the art in their day and there are few things new today that can compare with those ground-breakers.

This is the first time I came across the movie ("Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man") where I thought the scene was.  It was not.  Next I watched the first in the series, "The Wolf Man," and it was not in that movie either.

This is the first time I have seen any of the "Wolf Man" series since I saw that movie almost 70 years ago, and I can still picture that transformation from man into beast, with the creature wildly raging against the confines of the bars in the cell.

Is there anyone out there that recalls this scene and in which movie it occurs? Perhaps I am recalling the correct movie but the scene was not included in the re-release.

Thanks,
1823414
I cannot state how important this book is to history. This shocking, horrifying and mentally unsettling book does a remarkable job of describing the true filth of war. Not yo mention that i recieved an "A" in History and English combined because we were able to recreate and relive the battles on a huge floor model we made. It was my Freshman year at Seton Hall Preparatory school in 1976. What a rush! What a thrill to see the battlefields! Unfortunately, we can't learn from our mistakes. The toys only get bigger, better and made to murder many millions more, more easily.
3464583
I am surprised that I had never heard about the Green River Killer until I was older but then again we are talking about something that happened beginning 30 years ago this year, and we didn't have the internet like we do today. When I first read another book years ago about the Green River Killer and got to the end only to find that he had not been caught, I was stunned so I remember very well my reaction when Gary Ridgway was finally caught in 2001--again stunned. I have to say that while I do understand the frustration of the families because this guy could not be caught, I also have to say that I can understand the limitations of investigative tools that law enforcement had back in the 80's and early 90's. DNA technology was not available in the 80's and it was in its infancy in the early 90's so without fingerprints or living witnesses, there really just wasn't much they could do. Although Ridgway was not an intelligent man, he knew the evidence that could be used at the time to tie him to the murders so he made sure that he destroyed that evidence. Luckily, he wasn't smart enough to envision the technology of the future that would eventually lead to his arrest. I was intrigued by this book because I am the same age as some of the victims were so when dates were mentioned, I could remember where I was in my own life and what I was doing on many of the dates. Hindsight being 20/20, it is easy to see now, as the book also says, why it took so long to catch Ridgway. He was very discreet in how he picked up women. He would pull over and wait for them to come to him. And even Ted Bundy hit the nail on the head when he told investigators that when you get too much into the profile, you lose something. Ridgway did not fit the FBI's profile. He looked harmless to these women and when necessary, he played the doting father card with his would-be victims. I have no doubt from reading this book that had it not been for advances in DNA technology, he may have never been caught. I think the book is well-written and I am glad that pseudonyms were not used (in the movie based on this book, they are for some of the victims/suspects). I recommend this book if you are a true-crime reader.
3647201
I found it informative and shocking. Once again a reminder of what man can do to an without any sense of remorse or responsibility for what they have done. It's frightening to think what our children are capable of. I also wondered how many of these books were written by Daleen Berry and what is she doing with all the proceeds from them?
609694
Im still amazed that everything was "discovered" in the 60s-70s.... Movies like this one are no longer issued anymore, today movies are not so good enough
3005008
Have loved this story from the first time I saw it about 40 years ago.  It was scary then when I a kid ,now it's becomes even more scary when I see how close technology and politics have brought us to that fictional time and place.
Still a great read.!!!