'The Stalking of Kristen" is the sad tale of the cold -blooded murder of a female college student in Boston in May, 1992. The author is none other than her distraught father, a Washington Post reporter. SOK is deeply disturbing on several levels. Readers know from the outset that Kristen never had a chance. Further, the perpetrator commits suicide, so there is no prosecution. SOK is one-quarter paean by a grieving father for his departed daughter and one-quarter portrait of the troubled, unloved loser who was the murderer. Another quarter is the indictment of the authorities in eastern Massachusetts who failed to protect women like Kristen from dangerous stalkers, to seriously enforce orders of protection or even crack down on parole violators.. A final portion of SOK is a quasi research paper into stalkers and the troubles and tragedies they cause. These elements dilute the impact of SOK. With all due respect to the grief stricken author, SOK is too long. Mr. Lardner had a powerful tale to tell but could have done so far more briefly. The epilogue, bibliography and notes stretch over 90 pages! SOK is a powerful and worthwhile 5 star work, with one star deducted for its' unfortunately excessive length. This reviewer is guessing that many females, especially those in eastern Massachusetts, will add back the 5th star.

I found this book thought-provoking and very interesting. It must have been exceptionally painful for George Lardner to dig this deeply into his daughter's murder, but also somewhat theraputic when he finished writing the book. THE STALKING OF KRISTIN will hit home especially to parents, since the worst nightmare of any parent is to see their child hurt, or even worse, killed. It also will appeal to women, as it discusses the difficulty we sometimes face when all we desire is justice. It caused me to think about our legal system today and how it fails us AND protects us everyday. Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I highly reccomend it...

With heart-rending honesty, Lardner recounts the tragedy that turned his picture-perfect life into a horrendous nightmare. Lardner's daughter, an art student in Boston, was murdered by a disgruntled boyfriend who first stalked her and then shot her dead. The beginning of the book is great. The dad speaks with candor about his love for and his frustrations with his daughter from the time she was a young girl through her college years. She grew up in Chevy Chase, a suburb of Washington, D.C., a setting very familiar to me. The author had me laughing out loud and crying real tears before I was barely into the book at all yet. He reported on the details of his daughter's tragic death as well as the sad state of affairs in the United States which allows hardened criminals back on the streets to quickly become repeat offenders. Lardner recalls the story of murderer Michael Cartier's youth and the criminal record he accumulated during his short but turbulent life.

This is not a book for everyone due to it intense subject matter, but it was nonetheless quite engrossing to me. Good writing. Incredibly sad story. The story Lardner presents of Cartier, is quite frightening. It demonstrates the lengths to which a criminal's right's are protected by the United States criminal justice system versus the appalling lack of consideration given to a victim's right to safety and freedom from fear. What made the book all the more creepy was that, during the few weeks it took me to finish the book, a murder under similar circumstances occurred in a suburb of Washington, D.C. The March, 2000, Washington Post article which ran the news story ("Md. Man Gets Life Term in Girlfriend's Slaying" by Ruben Casteneda) ended by saying of the killer's girlfriend "A month before the shooting, she filed assault and kidnapping charges against him after he allegedly abducted her at knifepoint, but the arrest warrant was never served." Some things never change.

Two things struck me while reading this book, the first is that I doubt there is a book out there that is truly balanced and not somewhat biased. The second thing was that Gore really got the shaft, not so much by the recount wars, but by the election official that came up with the Butterfly Ballot. In the history of the USA this decision ranks up there with new Coke and the XFL, what a mistake. As far as the reporting in the book it was not bad for a review of all the articles they had in the paper, but it did not really dig into the particular issues very deeply. I wanted more detail and behind the scenes with both the candidates. I also wanted more details on the court cases; I felt like the sky-high overview of the issues of the cases did not do such an important issue justice.

In reading the book I think a little bit of a democratic bias comes out, just a little, but enough to notice. I also thought it interesting that they had far more details of the Gore group then the Bush camp, it follows the perception that the Post is somewhat liberal in its views. The book is an overview that came out almost 10 minutes after Gore hung up the phone on the second concession call so there are a few more details out now that they did not get in the book. Overall it is a good effort and a readable book, but not the end all be all on the subject.

This book, by the editors of the Washington Post, does a good job of describing the events which led to the deadlocked 2000 Presidential election. In addition to detailing the paths which led to the deadlock, the book discusses all the post-election issues in a very readable format. Surprisingly, the books editors seem only slightly tilted towards Gore (especially considering it is the Washington Post, which is noted for its liberal bias), so no matter who you voted for, there is much to be found here for anyone with an interest in contemporary politics.

I personally think the Washington Post and NY Times are liberal rags that are generally not worth the paper they are printed on. However, in fairness, when they do well I think they should be commended. I read the NY Times "36 Days" and still think that book was not worth the paper it was printed on. It was nothing more than a reprint of their articles.

Conversely, though, Deadlock was a well-written book. Two passages are worth noting. The first is about the book itself. About one-third of the way into the first chapter the book says: "These are the ... decisions, alliances, power plays, snap judgments and personality flaws revealed when a flukishly close election is played out for staggering high stakes. Both sides were nimble and brilliant and occasionally shady; both sides were also capable of miscalculations, divisions and blame. The best and worst of politics were on displayed in those 36 days, and both sides trafficked in each. This is how it happened." Although the Post endorsed Al Gore (no surprise) they tried to be equal in their appraisal of how the two campaigns sought resolution in their favor.

As for the two sides' strategy one only has to look within the first three pages of Chapter 2 where the Post records that the Democrats enlisted the services of three authors who wrote "The Recount Primer". The book reads: "Anyone who read and heeded the booklet could predict how the two sides would play America's closest president election -- at least in the broad outlines. Gore would gamble; Bush would stall. Gore would preach a doctrine of uncounted ballots; Bush would extol the dependability of machines. Gore needed more: more counting, more examination, more weighing and pondering of more ballots. Bush needed it over while he was still ahead." The only trouble for the Gore forces with this gospel was that the Republicans knew the same gospel. The book attempted to show how the two sides played out the roles assigned them.

For a behind the scenes objective look at the two sides, I think the Post did a very decent job. This could have been a... job on the Republicans and conservatives, but generally it was not (though I expected it). It could have been a... job on the Democrats and liberals, but it was not (nor did I expect it). I am not accustomed to this degree of fairness from the liberal Washington Post nor do I expect to see it very often in the future.