Ken Englade (1938–2016)

A sickening fiend who imprisoned women a basement whole, ala Buffalo Bill, what really made this book fascinating for me was the legal wrangling. Heidnik's defense lawyer thought he was insane legally and this could not be sentenced on the first degree murder charges, for which he was ultimately executed. This book goes through sentencing, but not any appeals or the 1999 execution.) I can't go that far; there too much history of what I felt was malingering and manipulation of the system for show more me to be convinced he was too crazy to be guilty. However, I don't think murder one was even the appropriate charge as meant for imprisonment and rape, etc. and two deaths were incidental to these evil deeds, meaning it was second degree murder IMO. The feeling from the book is that the judge and jury got carried away with the heinous nature of the deeds and set such legal niceties aside choosing vengeance over justice. Oh well, the planet is better off without him. show less

This book has been on my shelf for years. Maybe a decade even.
I am reading it now and enjoying it.

Update: June 22 2012.
Finished it this morning and I must say I enjoyed reading this.

The writing style was one I liked. Maybe other people thought it was slow. It is a lot about how the cops were preparing for the trial, but I did not mind that at all. (The end was a bit of a let down but hey, not the author's fault) Other observations: I would have liked to know more about his friends, the ones show more that were mentioned a lot in the first chapters. So much that they had even a lot of dialogues, so it must be that they talked with the author, or he made it up?

I would have enjoyed it more if I got to know what happened. Where they angry with him. Did they stop talking. How did he react or was he already in jail? What happened with the baby? Did the families manage to keep the friendship. Parents of the killer and parents of the victim. They have the same grandchild.
In the beginning of the book you feel like you start to get to know them, so when you do not read anything anymore in the later chapters, you have questions.

I do suspect the author making up some of the dialogues though. There are people who consider this to be a boring book but weirdly enough, I did not think it was boring to me. Maybe because I was glad to read true crime again? Not sure what to give this book. 3.5 stars yes. show less

Craig Rabinowitz was everybody’s best friend, and then he wasn’t. Deception, betrayal, lies and then the ultimate confession severed the ties he worked so hard to establish. His apparent loyalty to his wife and baby daughter was so convincing that his network of friends supported him until they finally saw him for what he was, a dishonest man who took advantage of them and committed the ultimate crime.

Craig and Stephanie Rabinowitz seemed like an odd pairing from the start. Stephanie show more was interested in obtaining higher education and went on to become an attorney. Craig had little to no aspirations to become anything. After Stephanie gave birth to their daughter she began working part time while Craig made money with his latex glove “business.” From outward appearances Craig and Stephanie had a great life. Craig was solicitous towards his wife and seemed to adore their little girl. The couple shared a small network of friends who supported and loved them even when Craig’s behavior was at times a little peculiar or immature. Things were normal in the Pennsylvania town where they lived until tragedy struck. Stephanie, at only twenty nine years of age, drowned in her bathtub while her husband was at home. No one in Craig’s close circle of friends believed he had anything to do with it, but detectives and prosecuting attorneys disagreed. Of course, Craig adamantly denied having anything to do with his wife’s death, and his friends supported him in every way possible, including financially, until digging into his past unearthed secrets and lies that cast doubt on his innocence. Craig was quickly going from everybody’s best friend to no one’s.

This story was told in a format that was easy to follow and understand. It was sad to see how greed and the lack of industriousness on the part of Craig Rabinowitz led to the obliteration of his family’s assets, and the desperation that resulted in an unthinkable criminal act. A good portion of the book was devoted to building a case against Craig Rabinowitz by the prosecution. It was interesting learning how that’s done. The audio narrator brought the book to life. If you’re a fan of shows like Dateline or Investigation Discovery (ID), you’ll appreciate this story.

Thank you, Tantor Audio, for a complimentary download of Everybody’s Best Friend. All opinions stated about it in this review are my own. show less

For someone so completely diabolical and disgusting, you would think that this book would be something that is a must read / listen. I found it to be poorly written and boring at times. It slogged and really didn't get to where it should have been. It’s really a disappointment, because this guy should have had his story told with the rest of the big names in the serial killer world. What a freak show.