Cruel Doubt

McGinniss, Joe

ISBN 10: 0671679473 / ISBN 13: 9780671679477

Published by Simon & Schuster, New York, 1991

About this Item

1991,1991 As New Book, As New Unclipped jacket, First Printing 1,3,5,7,9,10,8,6,4,2 460 clean tight unmarked pages, two pages of b/w photos just after the introduction, grey end pages, book has red boards with 1/4 black cloth covered spine, gilt lettering and lines on the spine, jacket is red, white and grey with black and raised white lettering, b/w photo of the author on the back jacket, no wear to book or jacket. Bookseller Inventory # 004434

Bibliographic Details

Title: Cruel Doubt

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, New York

Publication Date: 1991

Binding: Hardcover

Book Condition:As New

Dust Jacket Condition: As New

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

Describes the bludgeoning of North Carolina housewife Bonnie von Stein and the murder of her husband, a crime for which her own son, Chris, is arrested

From Kirkus Reviews:

Reporting on the same crime as Jerry Bledsoe in Blood Games (see above), McGinniss (Blind Faith, 1988; Fatal Vision, 1983, etc.) again shows why he heads the ranks of true-crime authorsdelivering a page-burner of shifting suspicions, macabre ironies, and reversals of field too extreme for fiction. In the early morning of July 25, 1988, in the town of Washington, N.C., Bonnie Von Stein, 44, and her second husband, Lieth, were attacked in their bedroom by a stranger wielding a club and a knife. Lieth was killed and Bonnie survived with stab wounds, head lacerations, and a collapsed lung. Having almost no clues, detectives turned their attention to Bonnie's college-age son and daughter. When the children were brought to intensive care, they seemed bored by their mother and completely indifferent to their stepfather's death. As she recuperated, Bonnie also seemed too cool, too efficient to the local gumshoes. When it was discovered that Lieth had left two million dollars, she too became a suspect. Eventually the investigation narrowed to Chris Pritchard (Bonnie's son) and his college buddies. Instead of going to class, they played weeks-long games of Dungeons & Dragons, acting out fantasies fueled by alcohol, Ecstasy, pot, and much LSD. Eleven months after the attack, Pritchard was charged with murder and a long manhunt began for the ``Dungeon Master,'' a shady figure named Moog. Pritchard had sent Moog and another player to his family house: If they killed the parents, there would be enough money for Ferraris, top-end stereo equipment, and serious computers. Covering the trial, McGinniss draws a chilling portrait of Pritchard's lawyer agonizing over the good chance he has of getting Pritchard off. The lawyer dislikes Pritchard's insolence and tells his colleagues he fears the boy will murder again if acquittedso he cuts a deal with the D.A. ensuring that Pritchard will not be executed, but will do life. Exciting reading that edges out Bledsoe's account and, no doubt, will hit the charts and find a home there. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.