Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #342814 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-12
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.00" h x 6.40" w x 9.60" l, 1.03 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Andrea Yates's horrific murders of her five small children-drowning them one by one in their bathtub-remains one of the most shocking crimes of recent years. In this overly detailed retelling, investigative journalist O'Malley has transformed herself in the popular current style from observer into participant, albeit with ample justification. O'Malley, who had written for TV's Law and Order, was suspicious when a prosecution witness, attempting to establish that Yates acted with premeditation, testified that the television show had recently aired an episode in which a mother killed her children and then escaped punishment by asserting a postpartum depression defense. Sure enough, no such episode was ever made, and O'Malley led the Yates defense team to rebuttal evidence that came too late to affect the guilty verdict. The author asserts that Yates was never properly diagnosed and relies on psychiatric opinions that claim, tragically, that a different diagnosis and appropriate treatment could have prevented her devastating actions. The writing sometimes jars ("To say this day sucked didn't begin to cover it," O'Malley says of the fatal day), but some new information and heartbreaking extracts from correspondence the author received from Yates add interest. More analysis would have been welcome, even if the nature of the murders seems to necessarily render a satisfactory understanding forever beyond human capacity.
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From AudioFile
Meticulously researched and sensitively reported, the story of model Texas housewife Andrea Yates, who drowned each of her five children in the bathtub, is a harrowing, fascinating listen. Far from the sensational journalism we've come to expect in cases like this, O'Malley's study delivers the story with intelligence and even compassion. Reader Becky Ann Miller is memorable, conveying not only the details, but the voices of distraught family members, cops, lawyers, and especially the opaque and troubled Yates. You will cringe as Baker enacts recorded transcripts of Yates's confession and observations, chilling and pitiful as they are. A riveting journey into psychosis, religion, law, and pity. D.J.B. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine