Predator: Rape, Madness and Injustice in Seattle; the True Story of a Sociopath, His Victims, and the Innocent Man Who Was Blamed for His Crimes

Offers a startling picture of serial rapist McDonald Smith, who escaped conviction for his Seattle-area attacks for years, and what happened when a police officer arrested an innocent man for Smith's crimes

Olson ( Cold Kill ), arguably the best true-crime author around, triumphs again with the story of a serial rapist on the West Coast and of an innocent man destroyed by the police and the justice system--which found him guilty of one of the rapes. It is the tale of McDonald ("Mac") Smith, a child of the '50s raised in Ohio and the L.A. area by very young, seemingly psychotic parents. It's also an account of Steve Titus, a happy-go-lucky, rising young Seattle executive who was convicted and then exonerated of a rape charge in 1981, not long before his death from a heart attack. Olson tells, too, of Paul Henderson, a newsman who risked his career at the Seattle Times to prove Titus's innocence, and of Ronald Parker, a policeman and violent bully who withheld and distorted evidence to convict Titus. Compelling throughout, the book builds to a climax in its final sentence, dealing a blow to the idea that police in the case cared a whit about justice. Literary Guild/Mystery Guild selection; author tour.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Olsen, author of "Doc": The Rape of the Town of Lovell ( LJ 5/15/89) and other gripping crime accounts, once again chronicles the career of a sex criminal, here the pseudonymous "Mac Smith." He describes in painstaking detail Smith's childhood, which created a human beast who sought domineering women to love and who stalked submissive ones to rape. In tracing Smith's adult life and crimes, Olsen also tells the tragic story of Steve Titus, a Seattle man who was wrongly accused of Smith's attacks and whose life was shattered by the injustice he suffered. The stories of these two men--one a hardened fiend who coldly figured out the odds against being caught and knew exactly how to work the criminal justice system, the other an innocent man caught up in a whirlwind of false accusation--intertwine in a fascinating, wrenching story. Very highly recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/90; for another account of the Steve Titus case, see that in Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham's Witness for the Defense , LJ 3/15/91.--Ed.
- Sally G. Waters, Stetson Law Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.