I Married a Communist

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Iron Rinn (né Ira Ringold) is a self-educated radio actor, married to a spoilt, rags-to-riches beauty, silent-film star Eve Frame (née Chave Fromkin). He is a Communist, and a "sucker for suffering," locked into the cycle of violence from which he has emerged. She has risen by assiduous imitation of what is "classy"--which seems to include a wide swathe of anti-Semitism--and ultimately denounces her husband as a Soviet spook. And who would be the narrator of this McCarthy-era meltdown? None other than Philip Roth's longtime alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, who learns the full tragedy several decades later, owing to a chance encounter with Ira's brother: "I'm the only person living who knows Ira's story," 90-year-old Murray Ringold tells Nathan, "you're the only person still living who cares about it."

Characteristically, Nathan also discovers that his own story was bound up with the blacklistings and ruined careers of the immediate postwar period. It seems that he had been tainted by his association with the Ringolds--Murray was in fact his high-school teacher--and was denied the Fulbright scholarship he deserved. "They had you down for Ira's nephew," Murray tells Nathan. "The FBI didn't always get everything right." Roth's acerbic style and keen eye for emotional detail goes to the heart of this moment of high tragedy in which the American dream was damaged beyond repair. --Lisa Jardine

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

There was a time in America's not-so-distant past when a person could get genuinely punished for having unpopular beliefs, when pushing for workers' rights could get someone in serious trouble. Ron Silver gives voice to one of those people, retired schoolteacher Murray Ringold, one of the most colorful and passionate characters to emerge from Philip Roth's immense canon. Silver doesn't try to capture the cracks and wheezes of a 90-year-old man's voice (a good thing, considering this unabridged audiocassette's length); instead, he goes for the cadences, the pain from wounds incurred decades ago but recounted so vividly you'd think they happened yesterday. (Running time: 11 hours, eight cassettes) --Lou Schuler

Book Description

I Married a Communist is the story of the rise and fall of Ira Ringold, a big American roughneck who begins life as a teenage ditch-digger in 1930s Newark, becomes a big-time 1940s radio star, and is destroyed, as both a performer and a man, in the McCarthy witchhunt of the 1950s.

In his heyday as a star—and as a zealous, bullying supporter of "progressive" political causes—Ira marries Hollywood's beloved silent-film star, Eve Frame. Their glamorous honeymoon in her Manhattan townhouse is shortlived, however, and it is the publication of Eve's scandalous bestselling exposé that identifies him as "an American taking his orders from Moscow."

In this story of cruelty, betrayal, and revenge spilling over into the public arena from their origins in Ira's turbulent personal life, Philip Roth—who Commonweal calls the "master chronicler of the American twentieth century—has written a brilliant fictional protrayal of that treacherous postwar epoch when the anti-Communist fever not only infected national politics but traumatized the intimate, innermost lives of friends and families, husbands and wives, parents and children.

Customer Reviews:

Clever and thoughtful .......2007-08-21

Roth's subject and style in his later novels has devolved into political/social/personal interrogations of post WW II America; this one is insightful, original, masterfully written, clever, and authoritative. Roth has stated the significant aspect of the novel is 'voice' and this is a perfect example of it. There are fascinating ironies in the book that entwine to develop a multi-layered novel of a variety of Americans caught up in competeting allegiances of the 1940's and 1950's. It is a study in imperfections of the left and right; the confusion of a nation whose citizens grasp after meaning whether through the studies of history; the search for financial security, the fear of the 'red scare,' the ruts that unlearned abstract thinking can lead to as well as the dangers of ideologies when championed by people with personal, unconscious agendas. Roth has the ability to write a finessed novel like Nabokov if he chose to. Thankfully, he has used his talents to create works of importance that are more than literary. Additionally, I listen to about 12-15 audiobooks a year, and Ron Silver, the actor's rendering of the New York City accent is subtle, true and utterly mesmerizing.

Passion, betrayal, and the blacklist.......2006-09-04

The life of Ira Ringold, a Communist activist-cum-radio star who was betrayed to the blacklist by his actress wife, is reflected upon by the last two people alive who knew him--his brother Murray, a former English teacher, and Nathan Zuckerman, who grew up idealizing him. The result is a complex and fascinating novel about the nature of human passion, betrayal, and much more.

Ira emerges as a tremendously angry and violent figure who latches on to Communism as a means of civilizing himself. Young Nathan is initially swept along by the purity of Ira's fervor, but ultimately gains perspective as he matures and broadens intellectually while Ira remains mired in a pure belief in Communist doctrine that blinds him to all its faults. Murray tries to act as the voice of reason to shield Ira from his own impusivity and rage. All of this goes on again the backdrop of the Hollywood blacklist and the vicious social mercanaries of the elite. Recommended.

Roth Just Gets Better.......2006-08-02

It's amazing that Roth continues to produce such first rate novels. This sad story about the seductions of communism in the 40's and 50's, and the hysterical reactions of the paranoid right, is an excellent introduction to the craziness of the HUAC manipulations of public fears (which has so many applications to todays political scene) while telling a story of how the age impacts the lives of one group caught up in it.
Yet the flaws of the characters are fully developed and so that there is no hint of mere propagandizing.

Roth is a national treasure.

A Great Historical Novel.......2005-12-20

I really liked this book. It is actually my first Philip Roth book. I was drawn to it because I find this period of American history, the 1930s-1950s, fascinating. I'm drawn to the idealism of people like the fictional hero of this book (Iron Rinn) and of real life activists who figure in the book (Paul Robeson). I find labor history during that time extremely interesting. I also find the betrayal and spying and generally insane political atmosphere of the Cold War period horrifying and yet something that we should never forget.

I admired Roth's portrait of Iron Rinn. Although he is an idealist, an obsessive, and an altogether annoying person who incessantly repeats himself and refuses to admit any shortcomings in his Communist ideology, it is easy to see why someone like him would be drawn to Communism. A working-class man with little education who has dealt with anti-Semitism his whole life, Iron Rinn is naturally in sympathy with the working classes and with black Americans. At that time, unfortunately, there seemed to be limited organized ways to aggressively address glaring social inequities.

And while I certainly find it upsetting that people like Ira failed to listen to the stories of what was actually happening in Stalinist Russia, his anger at a society that felt that persecuting "communists" was more pressing an issue than poverty, exploitation, or racism is certainly something the reader can identify with.

So basically this book is a skilled and moving portrait of a flawed, angry, and naive man-a deeply human man- who genuinely wants social justice; of the bitterness and pettiness and hysteria of red-baiting (which cost countless people their jobs and reputations), and one individual's too human frailties that are his downfall.

The story is narrated by a man twenty years Iron Rinn's junior who once worshipped him. The story unfolds as this now middle-aged man, Nathan, talks to Iron Rinn's brother Murray about the late Iron Rinn. Iron Rinn lost everything due to his connections to Communism, and in fact both Murray and Nathan were victims through their connections to him, even though neither was a communist (Nathan flirted with it for awhile but was a teenager).

I enjoyed this aspect of the story, Nathan's recalling of his hero-worship of Iron Rinn, because it's a universal emotion we can all identify with-when we are so young and first begin to pick intellectual and moral heroes in our lives and try to model ourselves after them. And then it is quite upsetting when, as in Nathan's case and in many like these, we find out that our heroes are flawed, and in some cases, we can become disillusioned.

Roth also does a great job lambasting the hypocrisy and the pathetic nature of those who persecuted men like Iron Rinn for political purposes. And at the center of the story, showing the banality that usually accompanies these types of political crucifixions, is the fact that Iron is betrayed by his own wife for purely personal reasons.

(I also really liked Roth's description of Nixon's funeral!)

I enjoyed this story on so many levels; the history lesson about American life and politics and the shrewd insight into family relationships. It is a great read.

Every action produces a loss.......2005-08-15

Near the end of Philip Roth's underrated wonderful novel "I Married a Communist", a character who is kind of unsatisfied with existence arguments that every action produces a loss. The right sentence, as we all know, is that every action produces a reaction -- but nearly the end of his life, Murray is certain that the so called reaction means losing something. However not Roth doesn't use the whole book to prove it, he certainly agrees with his character.

The narrative that goes back and forth in time depicts the life of Ira Ringold (Murray's brother), a very famous radio star who marries a very famous Hollywood's silent movies star named Eve Frame. It turns out that the "I" in the title of the book is Eve. But it is not out of the sheer patriotism that she declares her husband is a communist. Their story is told by Murray to Nathan Zuckerman, a sort of Roth's alter ego that has been in many of his books.

Alongside with "American Pastoral" and "The Human Stain", the novel is part of a trilogy written by Roth depicting life in North America in the XX Century. But different from the other two books, in "I Married A Communist", Zuckerman is much more active. This time round he used to be friend with the main character in the time when the events happened. Therefore, more than being only a listener or a narrator, the he is a character of Ira's story -- as told also by Murray.

When Zuckerman was a young boy, Murray used to be his English teacher and he met Ira who was already a famous radio star and married. In this sense, we can have two different points of views of Ira's rise and fall -- albeit both are biased and both men loved Ira a lot. The brother tells the inside story; while Zuckerman is able to tell how the world (specially his family) saw the radio star in different periods.

"I Married a Communist" has a plot better developed than "The Human Stain", albeit not as bombastic as "American Pastoral". But as most Roth's books, the narrative is first among equal, so is the use of language and the character development. The writer is able to inject life in every human being he proposes to create (even in the strange Portnoy, back in the past). Nothing is gratuitous in his books. Roth has a place as one of the best novel writers of the late XX Century. In his microcosms of Newark he is able to paint the world.

Sometimes tragic (Macbeth is quoted many times in the narrative) and often funny, "I Married a Communist" as a portrait of the past bridged to the present. Exploiting the witch hunting of the McCarthyism Roth reminds us that we are always looking for witches to be haunted -- no matter they are real or imaginary. And he reminds us that paranoia can be the first threaten to freedom of expression.

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I Married a Communist

Manufacturer: Vintage/Ebury (A Division of Random House Group)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0224059122

Me case con un comunista/ I Married a Communist (Contemporanea)

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Me case con un comunista/ I Married a Communist (Contemporanea)
Philip Roth
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Spanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Libros: La dureza de lo sucedido.(Me casé con un comunista)(TT: Books: the harshness of reality.)(TA: I Married a Communist)(Reseña): An article from: Proceso

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Libros: La dureza de lo sucedido.(Me casé con un comunista)(TT: Books: the harshness of reality.)(TA: I Married a Communist)(Reseña): An article from: Proceso
Jorge Munguía Espitia
Manufacturer: CISA Comunicacion e Informacion, S.A. de C.V.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008IEJYW
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Proceso, published by CISA Comunicacion e Informacion, S.A. de C.V. on May 6, 2001. The length of the article is 586 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Libros: La dureza de lo sucedido.(Me casé con un comunista)(TT: Books: the harshness of reality.)(TA: I Married a Communist)(Reseña)
Author: Jorge Munguía Espitia
Publication: Proceso (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 6, 2001
Publisher: CISA Comunicacion e Informacion, S.A. de C.V.
Page: 71

Article Type: Reseña

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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I Married a Communist

Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Product Description

Philip Roth Fiction.

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I Married a Communist
Philip Roth
Manufacturer: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UDPEOY

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I Married a Communist
Philip Roth
Manufacturer: Trafalgar Square
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OGUMSK

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I Married a Communist
Philip Roth
Manufacturer: VINTAGE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLLJF0

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i married a communist
philip roth
Manufacturer: Jonathan Cape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OOKGMO

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I Married a Communist 1ST Edition Uk
Philip Roth
Manufacturer: JONATHAN CAPE LTD UK
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VB18HW

Customer Reviews:

Pretty good for his first novel..........2007-09-14

This book, I think, has a lot of potential, as does the author. It reads as though you are experiencing what the characters are feeling. From the abuse that is experienced through the father, to the love, the betrayal, and ultimately the sorrow, i think all too many of us have a story way too familiar to this one to not give it all the credit that it is due. For this being his first novel, it was actually a pretty good job and i am awaiting his next one.

See Dick run, run, run...........2007-05-21

I promise not to ever go by the reviewers on books anymore after this one!!!...After reading "must read" "couldn't put it down" "best book ever" I decided to give this book a shot. Huge disappointment!!...It reads like a Dick and Jane story!...Everything is totally predictable!!...I'll bet if you read 3 words off of every other page, you'll still understand what happened in the whole book!!!...Refund please!!

I listened to the Song and LOVED IT.......2007-01-12

Mr. Avery's masterpiece is one of the few books that I have read that I could not put down after reading the first page! I highly recommend it and have to my co-workers.

I anxiously await his next book as we speak! Hurry up Dayne! :)

THIS BOOK IS SOOOO GOOOD.......2006-05-31

I WAS SO EMOTIONALLY MOVED WHILE READING THIS BOOK. I READ IT IN TWO DAYS AND IF IT HADN'T HAVE BEEN FOR THE FACT THAT I HAD TO GO TO WORK AND DO CLASS WORK I WOULD HAVE READ IT IN ONE. HIS FIRST BOOK! WHEW! I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE. SEQUEL MAYBE??

An excellent human story.......2006-05-22

I decided to take a chance on this book and I was not disappointed. It was incredible in a heartbreaking, eye puffing, noise running sort of way. Dayne Avery certainly did a good job of depicting a story that was both believable and powerful that it had me by the first chapter. I read this in one sitting because I could not put it down and the only time I did was when I had to eat. That was how captivating it was.

It was written in such a way that you just can't put it down. Even now I'm still a bit shocked as to how it ended. Although it was a good ending, if not heartbreaking, it leaves me wanting for more. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is not afraid to take a dose of reality through a well written novel.

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Not Free SF Reader

Hard SF Is Not Entirely Dead

GREAT book!

Undiscovered Country

good way to learn more about SF

The Hard SF Renaissance

Manufacturer: Orb Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Hartwell, David G. | ( H ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Anthologies | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 031287636X

Amazon.com

Edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, The Hard SF Renaissance (2002) is a thematic sequel to their 1994 anthology The Ascent of Wonder. The first anthology argued that "[t]here has been a persistent viewpoint that hard [science fiction] is somehow the core and the center of the SF field." The Hard SF Renaissance asserts that hard SF has truly become the heart of the genre and supports its assertion by assembling nearly a thousand pages of short stories, novelettes, and novellas originally published between the late 1980s and early 2000s. A different theory says hard SF stories are engineering puzzles disguised as fiction; The Hard SF Renaissance repudiates this theory in regard to modern hard SF. Most of the selections have strong prose and rounded characters, several are classics, and gadget-driven clunkers are mercifully few.

Contributors to The Hard SF Renaissance range from SF gods like Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke, and Frederik Pohl; to promising newcomers like Alastair Reynolds, Karl Schroeder, and Peter Watts; and to acclaimed SF writers not usually associated with hard SF, like James Patrick Kelley, Kim Stanley Robinson, Bruce Sterling, and Michael Swanwick.

You may have noticed the lack of women in that list. It reflects the book: the 30-odd contributors (some with two stories) include only three women (Nancy Kress, Joan Slonczewski, and Sarah Zettel, with one story each). Some eyebrow-elevating omissions are Eleanor Arnason, Catherine Asaro, Nicola Griffith, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Connie Willis, all of whom have written hard SF stories in the period covered by The Hard SF Renaissance. They've certainly written SF harder than the book's implicit definition (the book reprints Kim Stanley Robinson's fine story "Sexual Dimorphism," in which fossil DNA serves as a metaphor for the protagonist's failing relationship; a few cosmetic changes and this SF story would be mainstream). The absence of several crucial authors makes The Hard SF Renaissance a less-than-definitive anthology of late-20th-century hard SF. --Cynthia Ward

Book Description

omething exciting has been happening in modern SF. After decades of confusion, many of the field's best writers have been returning to the subgenre called, roughly, 'hard SF'-science fiction focused on science and technology, often with strong adventure plots. Now, World Fantasy Award-winning editors David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer present an immense, authoritative anthology that maps the development of this form, argues for its special virtues and present pre-eminence-and entertains us with some spectacular storytelling along the way. Included are major stories by contemporary and classic names like Poul Anderson, Stephen Baxter, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Arthur C. Clarke, Hal Clement, Greg Egan, Joe Haldeman, Nancy Kress, Paul McAuley, Frederik Pohl, Robert Reed, Charles Sheffield, Brian Stableford, Bruce Sterling, and Vernor Vinge. The Hard SF Renaissance will be an anthology that SF fans will treasure-and argue over!-for years to come.

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-08-01

A really fine, top quality selection of stories. The other writing by the editors is also really good, talking about the SF, the politics, and a piece about each writer, that is enough to boost it to the 5 level, give the stories themselves average 3.8 out of 5. Or, call the whole thing 4.8 out of 5 if you like, rounded up.

Gene Wars - Paul J. McAuley

4 out of 5

Wangs Carpets - Greg Egan

5 out of 5

Genesis - Poul Anderson

3.5 out of 5

Arthur Sternbach Brings the Curveball to Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson

4 out of 5

On the Orion Line [Xeelee] - Stephen Baxter

4 out of 5

Beggars in Spain [Beggars in Spain] - Nancy Kress

4 out of 5

Matters End - Gregory Benford

3.5 out of 5

The Hammer of God - Arthur C. Clarke

3.5 out of 5

Think Like a Dinosaur - James Patrick Kelly

4.5 out of 5

Mount Olympus [Return to Mars] - Ben Bova

4 out of 5

Marrow - Robert Reed

3.5 out of 5

Microbe - Joan Slonczewski

4 out of 5

The Lady Vanishes - Charles Sheffield

3.5 out of 5

Bicycle Repairman [Chattanooga] - Bruce Sterling

4 out of 5

An Ever-Reddening Glow - David Brin

3.5 out of 5

Sexual Dimorphism - Kim Stanley Robinson

4 out of 5

Into the Miranda Rift - G. David Nordley

4 out of 5

The Shoulders of Giants - Robert J. Sawyer

3.5 out of 5

A Walk in the Sun - Geoffrey A. Landis

3 out of 5

For White Hill - Joe Haldeman

2.5 out of 5

A Career in Sexual Chemistry - Brian M. Stableford

3.5 out of 5

Reef - Paul J. McAuley

4 out of 5

Exchange Rate - Hal Clement

3.5 out of 5

Reasons to Be Cheerful - Greg Egan

4.5 out of 5

Griffins Egg - Michael Swanwick

3.5 out of 5

Great Wall of Mars - Alastair Reynolds

4.5 out of 5

A Niche - Peter Watts

4 out of 5

Gossamer [Xeelee] - Stephen Baxter

4 out of 5

Madam Butterfly - James P. Hogan

3 out of 5

Understand - Ted Chiang

4.5 out of 5

Halo - Karl Schroeder

4 out of 5

Different Kinds of Darkness - David Langford

4 out of 5

Fast Times at Fairmont High - Vernor Vinge

4 out of 5

Reality Check - David Brin

3.5 out of 5

The Mendelian Lamp Case - Paul Levinson

4 out of 5

Kinds of Strangers - Sarah Zettel

3 out of 5

The Good Rat - Allen Steele

3.5 out of 5

Built Upon the Sands of Time - Michael F. Flynn

3 out of 5

Taklamakan [Chattanooga] - Bruce Sterling

4 out of 5

Hatching the Phoenix [Heechee (Robinette Broadhead)] - Frederik Pohl

4 out of 5

Immersion - Gregory Benford

4 out of 5

Hard SF Is Not Entirely Dead.......2006-04-20

If, like me, you lament the state of science fiction today, and if, like me, you long to read stories that will transport you back to the days of the masters of "hard" science fiction--writers like Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, Hal Clement and Malcolm Jameson--then this thick volume could be just what you're looking for.

In general, I find today's science fiction unreadable. Every once in a while, out of desperation, sheer boredom or an attack of unwarranted optimism, I pick up a new-release SF paperback, or check one out from the library. I am invariably disappointed. Some current SF books I can't even finish, whereas I continue to read the old ones over and over. I can't recall ANY memorable SF books written within the last 20 years. In my humble opinion, there are very few recent books that even begin to compare to the "hard" SF classics like "Space Cadet," "The Deep Range," "Mission of Gravity" or "Bullard of the Space Patrol," to name just a few.

"The Hard SF Renaissance," however, gives me some hope that all is not lost. If you're a fan of "hard" SF, the stories in this book should appeal to you. While I don't agree that they collectively presage a "renaissance" of the "hard" SF style, they are nonetheless all quite good and live up to their billing. I commend this volume to you if you want to read good, "hard" SF without having to pull out an old, dog-eared, brittle 1950s classic from your collection.

GREAT book!.......2005-08-17

Well worth the money. Lots of interesting and thought-provoking stories. A essential addition to any budding or serious SF fan's reading list.

Undiscovered Country.......2004-12-17

This anthology includes some of the most insightful speculations I have ever encountered. Do you wonder where we are headed as a species? Do your ponderings of the future keep you awake at night, imagining what is possible? When you read the paper or watch TV, can you keep from wondering "what does it all mean" for this ever-the-more complicated and confounded global civilization? Then this book is for you. Fantasies and nightmares abound in this collection of short-stories; the common theme of science and technology as a cultural catalyst binds these very different contexts and characters in an extremely readable anthology. No bird-people, no tap-dancing robots...no motherbrains, and only a few laser-beams. This stuff is far-out without all of the bells and whistles. It approaches the question of what lies ahead from the perspective of a human being living in the late twentieth/early twenty-first century--eye-witness to the marvels and horrors of the modern and postmodern age. This is the stuff that makes you simultaneously hopeful and terrified of what lies ahead for Homo sapiens.

good way to learn more about SF.......2003-09-05

Biographical information about the authors and their works is included before all of the stories. This information is a little more detailed than in Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction and gave me a little more of an idea about the personalties of the authors. I found this particularly helpful in regard to my future reading goals as I like to pick an author and read several stories or novels by that person. I read a library copy of the book but am tempted to buy it to keep as way to remember the names of the authors included and their works. There is also some discussion of trends, such as libertarian SF, which whetted my curiousity. On a radio program recently, I heard a current non-SF author say, "I read to learn about life." I am always surprised how much I learn about life in the worlds of SF.

HARD SF RENAISSANCE, THE - FIRST HARD COVER - BARGAIN SALE - FREE BOOK COVER

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HARD SF RENAISSANCE, THE - FIRST HARD COVER - BARGAIN SALE - FREE BOOK COVER
DAVID G. & CRAMER, KATHRYN - (Edited By) - HARTWELL
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTV37G

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Well Worth Reading

Who Needs 20/20? This Is Better!

A Gripping, Real-Life Crime Caper That Will Astound You

I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!

My Sister Is Missing: Bringing A Killer To Justice
Sherrie Gladden-Davis , and Brad Crawford
Manufacturer: Emmis Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Adult Children of Alcoholics | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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Such Good Boys: The True Story of a Mother, Two Sons and a Horrifying Murder

ASIN: 1578602017

Book Description

On October 1, 1991, Fran Gladden-Smith disappeared without a trace from her home in Princeton, New Jersey, and suspicion immediately turned to her new husband, John David Smith III. In a highly unusual move, the police allowed her family to be involved in the investigation — as long as they didn't interfere with law enforcement. Over the next several years, Fran's sister Sherrie Gladden-Davis played a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, tracking Smith and his activities across the United States. She could go where police couldn't — and she dedicated herself to helping authorities get the evidence they needed to unravel the mystery of her sister's disappearance. My Sister Is Missing is Sherrie Gladden-Davis's harrowing account of the search for her sister's killer, and the inspiring story of her extraordinary path to justice.

Customer Reviews:

Well Worth Reading.......2006-02-26

This book is a very interesting chronicle and very well written saga of the murders of two women at the hands of their husband at the time, John David Smith. The book, written by one of the victims sister, chronicles the exhaustive search by the victim's family for the answers as to what happened to their beloved sister. It also details how that search ended up helping to resolve a cold case, from the 1970's, and eventually put the murderer into police custody. The book is fascinating since it is written so "un-like" many true crime novels which are often to full of courtroom drama and endless descriptions of the police involvement in the cases at hand. This book tells the day to day feelings and frustrations of the victims family, their quest to find answers, and somewhat ultimate justice for their sister. It is a "page turner" and well worth reading. UPDATE: As of the writing of my review Smith sits in an Ohio prison at the age of 54 while in his 4th year of a 15-life sentence. UPDATE #2: Sandra Anderson, the dog handler who assisted in the search for bodies in this case, pled guilty in 2004 in U.S. District Court in Detroit, MI to five felony charges (including obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal authorities) involving "planted" evidence cases in Oscoda, Bay City and Oakland County, MI in 1999 involving her cadaver dog Eagle. A two year prison term and financial restitution was paid to at least one (Lapeer) MI. county by Ms. Anderson.

Who Needs 20/20? This Is Better!.......2005-04-30

I'm not usually a big fan of true-crime/mystery-type books, but this one pleasantly surprised (and intrigued) me! The book's plot may sound slightly familiar, as it has been featured on various TV news magazine shows -- including 20/20 -- but you'll never get such amazing detail and narrative quality from a one-hour TV show. In the book, you can really get into the tale and feel the emotions of someone searching for a lost family member -- and seeking justice for the person responsible. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery and a story you just can't put down.

A Gripping, Real-Life Crime Caper That Will Astound You.......2005-03-23

Unbelievable! Sherrie Gladden-Davis's story is compelling, evocative, and a testament to the power of family. With the support of her niece, Dedy, Sherrie tracks her sister's suspected killer across the country, working alongside various law enforcement officers, her search for justice unwavering.

The author chronicles her search to uncover the missing puzzle pieces that she hopes will ultimately solve the mystery of her sister's disappearance. Despite limited financial means, no Internet access (the bulk of the story takes place in the 1990s), and the disparate agendas of those around her, Sherrie remains committed to finding justice for her sister.

Operating on hope, coffee, and the power of her faith and family, Ms. Gladden-Davis's story is a compelling one that had me reading at all hours of the night.

Tightly crafted, insightful, outrageous, and poignant ... this is one of the finest, real-life crime capers I've ever read. Highly recommended.

I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!.......2005-03-22

This engaging story will send chills up your spine and renew your appreciation for your own loved ones. The author takes you through the search for her missing sister--from the initial shock to navigating the red-tape of the justice system. You'll come to admire her strength and tenacity while gaining a fascinating glimpse into her sister's life and suspicious disappearance.

I don't want to spoil the mystery, but as the story unfolds, you'll discover details that rival any suspense novel. The suspected killer's behavior is like a car wreck unfolding in slow motion--you won't be able to look away. Step into the world of this real-life, unsolved crime, and you'll soon find yourself repeating the unbelievable tale to everyone you know. It's better than any "ripped from the headlines" show on television.

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