Heart Full of Lies: A True Story of Desire and Death (2003)

This took place at the Lostine River in Oregon where we often camped when I was little so the story was close to home. As always well researched with a good story too. jj ( )

i am on ann rule's side in this one. liysa seems like a piece of work. of course rule is always extremely sympathetic to the victims but then they never deserve to die. blair brown is a great reader. ( )

Not all of Ms. Northon's neck is visible in one of the two photographs taken of her when she was taken to the hospital, but there's enough showing that I have to wonder why a woman who claimed her very strong husband had been choking her isn't showing any bruises there. I haven't personally seen the evidence against Ms. Northon that's mentioned in this book, though I can't help wondering if her defenders would still defend her if they had read her handwritten journals. It would have been nice if any of those persons to whom she said Mr. Northon had abused her had photographed her bruises, even if they had to do it without her knowledge. Too bad none of the Hawaii friends had sneaked over to their house to listen to arguments or peek through the windows. It would also have been nice if the man who repaired the holes in the walls at the house in Bend had photographed them with a ruler showing scale, but how could he have known? I do wish that Ms. Rule hadn't written about Mr. Northon's thoughts and feelings in some situations as if she were a mind reader. In any case, it's a sad story. ( )

This was not one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. I read it because I somehow stumbled across a website devoted to proving Liysa Northon's innocence and how evil Ann Rule is for having written this book. I don't doubt the tale told in this book, but it's just not all that interesting. By the end, I was just in a race to finish it, and I lost track of who some of the people were. I don't particularly regret having spent time on this book, but neither do I think it was really worth my time.

Audiobook - I always come back to True Crime no matter how hard I try to stay away. And if I have a pick of author, I usually pick an Ann Rune book. She did a great job with this one. ( )