Lethal Marriage: The Unspeakable Crimes of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka

This is my February Books Banned By Country. This book was removed from the shelves in Canada.

Written by a newspaper reporter about the Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka case, this book allegedly contains inaccuracies, additionally, complaints were received by the St. Catharines library board from the mother of a victim that led to the book being removed from all public library branches in the city. As recently as 1999 this book was still unavailable to public library patrons in St. Catherines.

Legally, I get it. American law is not the same as Canada. Unfortunately for Canadians that live on the border, this was a lost cause by the 1990s. Everything contained in this book was fair game for the American press.

Emotionally, I understand why show more this was removed from the shelves. It's reasonable that the victim's parents didn't want their children's suffering out for all the world to read about.

I read the beginning of the criminal passages to get the general idea, but when it came to the extended, explicit descriptions, I skimmed. It's extreme horror. Their crimes were pornographic, horrific, and cruel. Bernardo's crimes were depraved and vicious enough to be described as unspeakable.

The purpose of Lethal Marriage was to make the public aware of how depraved Paul Bernardo is, and what souless creature Karla Holmolka became during the few short years of their marriage. Pron was aware of the videotapes made by the couple and wrote the book knowing that the evidence would be destroyed. (He was right. The tapes were destroyed.) To keep Holmoka and Bernardo in prison, the evidence needed to be protected.

Bernardo can now apply for parole, but has been turned down. Holmolka is already out of prison and living a normal life. She's unlikely to re-offend.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I think that evidence of the crimes must be preserved until Bernardo and Holmolka are dead. The author did a faithful job of recreating the events from Bernardo's and Holmolka's childhoods to their crime spree. The honest litany of the crimes were laid out plainly, although, until the end, it was fairly clear he thought that Holmolka was a victim of Bernardo. The last chapters clear that up.

Tough book. show less

Very, very disturbing book. Very gruesome in sexual details. Difficult to read. The book gave me nightmares.

The only reason to pick up this book is to read never before seen transcripts of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka's crimes. These people reenacted the most unspeakable fantasies. Really sick and depraved.

Wow, Paul and Karla are both disgusting. This book left me mentally disturbed. Luckily I was in a hospice while getting through most of this and was somewhat sedated. But it left me depressed for a while. Still reeling...

A thorough telling of the Paul Bernardo/Karla Homolka story.