Lori review of An Angel Betrayed: How Wealth, Power and Corruption Destroyed the JonBenet Ramsey Murder Investigation David J. Hughes

I would give this book zero stars if I could. It is the most poorly-written and possibly the worst book I have ever read. I wish I could get my money back -- don't spend yours.

First off, it's less a book than a self-published, rambling screed. The author is not a writer, a journalist, a law enforcement professional or a part of any other profession that could shine a light on this complicated and extremely sad case. It turns out he is a poster at web sites websleuths and forumsforjustice with no credentials or standing to write the book -- just a guy with a rambling, unsubstantiated, incoherent theory and the money to publish it.

There is no new information in this book. People and testimony are quoted from other sources; there are no citations, no footnotes. Posts from the forums are quoted using posters' nicknames. Other authors' and investigators' work is mined for the only factual information in the book. The author has a theory and subjects the reader to his smug opinions on every page.

The grammar is horrendous. The book is poorly organized with constant refrains of "More on that later" and no index.

With an almost creepy lack of cohesion, the author slips in opinions of things, names and cases that don't have anything to do with JonBenet's tragic murder, whether in venom-filled statements or clumsy, at times illiterate analogies. In this over-the-top jeremiad he mentions, among other things, Family Guy, Anna Nicole Smith, Star Trek, and Barack Obama.

He uses vulgar and vile language throughout the book. One of the attorneys from the Boulder DA's Office is said to be "a bitchy little nudnik." A female attorney is characterized as "a radical feminist." DA Alex Hunter is called a "a no-good, weak bastard." Ramsey attorney Lin Wood is described as "a slimy, ugly, bald, unprincipaled maggot with a law degree." And there's this (and many more like it): "Another problem is that nobody can seem to unglue the DA's lips off of John Ramsey's ass."

I could go on but you get the point. The book is trashy and ill-informed. Save your money.

superdave wrote:
Not when you balance it against everything else. That's the key.

irex wrote:
Ha ha ha, sooooo funny. He presents all the evidence and conclusions and you dismiss it with that weak response.

Spin, why do you even bother going to all that trouble?? Just use a one liner like he does.