Brother's Blood: A Heartland Cain and Abel
Anyone who is acquainted with the Iowa family murder recounted here will not only revisit the facts as they are known, but also speculate with the author about what thoughts might have gone through the twisted mind of the perpetrator both perspectives in keeping with the rich potential of faction. Those familiar with Truman Capote's In Cold Blood; will find Cawelti's handling of fact and fiction masterful and will conclude Capote has nothing on Cawelti. All readers should steel themselves for a disturbing encounter with the bafflements of a brother's commission of a horrific act and an unpardonable sin. --Robert Gish, author, West Bound: Stories of ProvidenceThe Marks were an Iowa farming family less well-known than the Clutters of Kansas, but comparable in the hideousness of their murders. Using interviews and trial transcripts, Scott Cawelti has given us the terse and mercifully distanced account of how one jealous brother carried out the crime. The allusion to Cain and Abel is apt; one dearly wishes the killer had read that story, and learned its lesson. --Robley Wilson, author, The Victim's DaughterBrother's Blood is a thoroughly researched and straightforward account of a horrific crime. Scott Cawelti has captured the darkest of deeds the cold-blooded and premeditated murder of family members. Reminiscent of true crime classics like In Cold Blood and Fatal Vision; Brother's Blood is absorbing, tense, and disturbing. Scott Cawelti's well-researched and taut narrative will keep readers turning the pages. --Thomas Wolf, co-author, Midnight Assassin: A Murder in America s Heartland