Review: First Half Interesting, Second Half Repeatitive and Boring
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 29, 2013
In January 1981, Suzanne Maria Rossetti was happy, carefree - living life to the fullest.As such was life the night she pulled into the U-Totem convenience store on Van Buren Street in Tempe, Arizona. It was a pit stop, intended only to waste the few minutes before she was to meet her parents at a nearby hotel, that would forever change the lives of so many.At the store were two men with lengthy criminal histories: Jesse James Gillies and Michael David Logan, who was an escapee from the Michigan correctional department as well. The duo was out of money and thinking of ways to get some fast cash so they could buy booze and drugs when Suzanne pulled into lot. Eying her closely, the men noticed she was well-dressed and decided she likely carried a nice stash of cash with her.In their sick and twisted minds, it must have seemed like fate when Suzanne exited the store and realized her keys were locked in her car. While trying to decide what she should do, Gillies and Logan approached her and offered to help. When they popped the doors open, Suzanne was most grateful and asked how she could repay their kindness. A six pack, they said and Suzanne happily made the purchase.But it wasn't enough. Not at all. In the time it took Suzanne to re-enter the store and purchase the beer, the two thugs had decided to rob her.Yet things only went from bad to worse. Much, much worse.Author Ronald J. Watkins was opposed to the death penalty at the time of Suzanne's brutal kidnapping, rape, and murder but even he couldn't justify letting such evil continue to waste perfectly good oxygen. In his 1992 (eBook version updated 2011)Evil Intentions: How an Act of Kindness Led to Senseless Murder, Watkins chronicles the fateful meeting of a friendly young woman and two scumbags who believed the world owed them just because they were born to craptastic parents and the end result is, like Watkins, even the anti-deathers will have a hard time not wanting to push the button on these pathetic losers.At least for the first half. If you're anything like me, however, the second half, which is the trial and serves as a drawn-out, dryly-written version of the first half, you'll be nodding off from boredom. I found myself skimming much of the second half.Being an interesting case nonetheless and not very well known (not even online) in addition to the great detail, including insider information, I recommend you readEvil Intentionsby Ronald J. Watkins - just grab a used copy if you're not into the mundane trial proceedings like me.