Cruel Doubt
by Joe McGinniss
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One hot summer night in 1988, Bonnie Von Stein's second husband was murdered in their bed, Bonnie herself stabbed, beaten, and left for dead beside him. It looked like a brutal but tragically typical case: Von Stein was newly wealthy, and Bonnie's troubled son Chris, seemed like the obvious suspect. But Chris turned out to have an air-tight alibi and new leads suggested the crime could be much more complex. The trail led to Chris's two strange new friends from college and a real-life show more enactment of a bizarre Dungeons and Dragons fantasy adventure, and it implicated Bonnie's teenage daughter as well. In Cruel Doubt, Joe McGinniss probes the dark heart of family life and small-town North Carolina society to uncover a fascinating and terrifying story that is at once a chilling murder mystery, a tense courtroom drama, and a heartbreaking account of a mother forced to doubt her own children. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Very well written but I noticed I started to get a bit annoyed because it appeared the author believed anything Bonnie van Stein told him. I want to read jerry Bledsoe's book about the same case. I've heard that he had access to the other defendants. I am not sure if the real killer(s) was punished enough. 3.5
Well written but not a intriguing as Fatal Vision.
3649. Cruel Doubt by Joe McGinniss (read 11 Nov 2002) I read the author's Fatal Vision on Jan 5, 1985, with great appreciation, so when I came across this 1991 book by him I decided to read it. It is absorbing, telling of the July 25, 1988, murder of Leith Van Stein and the wounding of his wife in Beaufort, N.C. by the arrangement of the wife's son and his Dungeons and Dragons fellows. The book holds one enthralled, and one can see at 421 S.E. 2d 577 (N.C. 1992) information not in the 1991 book. This is an outstanding true crime account with a well-told account of a dramatic criminal trial.
Keeps you on your toes...but pretty "heavy" Got this book from me dear friend, D.D. Priddy!!
The gruesome true story of a small town murder in 1988.
did not rate
Dieses Buch ist ein Schocker. Nicht im herkömmlichen Sinne. Es untermauert Fakten mit dem Psychogram verschiedener Personen. Es legt Fakten dar und erlÀutert die daraus gewonnenen Erkenntnisse. Der Autor verschönt nichts, hinterfragt teilweise die Geschehnisse und zeigt die RealitÀt unverschönt auf. Dabei wird deutlich, dass niemand jemals wirklich als unschuldig betrachtet wird, da man als Opfer stets seine Unschuld beweisen muss. Die Polizei sollte von der Unschuldsvermutung ausgehen, doch das Gegenteil ist der Fall. Das es in einem Zusammenhang stimmt verbessert nicht die Situation, aber wie das eigentliche Opfer stets bei den Ermittlungen zum TÀter verdreht werden kann, ohne es zu sein, ist ehrlich gesagt erschreckend.
Aug 13, 2013German
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4,052 works; 108 members
Author Information

16+ Works 3,954 Members
Joe McGinniss was born on December 9, 1942. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1964 and worked as a newspaper journalist. He wrote several nonfiction books including The Selling of the President, Going to Extremes, Fatal Vision, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro and The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin. He also wrote a novel show more entitled The Dream Team and a memoir entitled Heroes. He died of prostate cancer on March 10, 2014 at the age of 71. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Cruel Doubt
- Original publication date
- 1991
- People/Characters
- Bonnie Von Stein; Lieth Von Stein; Steven Pritchard; Angela Pritchard; Chris Pritchard; Wade Smith (show all 12); William Osteen; Jim Vosburgh; Lewis Young; John Taylor; Neal Henderson; James Upchurch
- Important places
- North Carolina, USA; Welcome, North Carolina, USA; South Carolina, USA
- Related movies
- Cruel Doubt (1992 | IMDb)
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 364.1 — Society, Government, and Culture Social problems and social services Crime Criminal offenses
- LCC
- HV6533 .N8 .M37 — Social sciences Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology Crimes and offenses
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 458
- Popularity
- 66,364
- Reviews
- 7
- Rating
- (3.75)
- Languages
- 6 — English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 14
- ASINs
- 9




























































