Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder - Hardcover

Rule, Ann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0453005403 ISBN 13: 9780453005401

Publisher: Dutton Adult, 1987

Synopsis

Documents the case of Diane Downs, a young mother from Oregon, who was convicted of shooting her three children after a violent, bitter divorce and an obsessive romance with a married man who did not want children

About this title

About the Author:

Ann Rule, the undisputed queen of true crime, is a former policewoman whose 2-million-copy selling THE STRANGER BESIDE ME ranks as one of the classics.

From Publishers Weekly:

This searching analysis of the shooting of three children in Oregon by their mother devolves into a study of personality. In May of 1983, Diane Downs drove to a Williamette Valley hospital emergency room with her children, all gravely wounded; one did not survive the first hour, and the other two were disabled for life. Downs initially told of a "bushy-haired stranger" who had committed the crime, but frequently changed her story. Under police questioning she recalled her childhood with a cold, domineering father who abused her sexually, her weak mother, a rape by one of her bosses, her failed marriage and many men with whom she had sex. One of these men, whom she claimed to love, did not want children, and that may have prompted the crime, speculates the author. The greatest strength of this book is the exploration by ex-policewoman Rule (The Stranger Beside Me of the aberrant personality of Downs, who is now imprisoned and not eligible for parole until 2009.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dutton Adult
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0453005403
• ISBN 13: 9780453005401
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 487