true crime – Page 2 – Pleasant Nights

Adnan’s Story

I was very reluctant to read this book, only because I listened to both Serial and Undisclosed and just didn’t want a rehashing of the same facts I already knew. And there are a few pieces of information that I hadn’t known, but mostly it was old information. However, it was really worth reading for a few reasons.

It’s no surprise that Rabia is going to write a biased story about the facts. And I have no problem with this. She makes no apology at all for believing in Adnan’s innocence. And I agree with her 100%. I was pretty sure after Serial, mostly sure after Undisclosed, and completely sure after reading this book. Having the facts in paper in front of me was really helpful to see all the inconsistencies. And one great thing about the book is the inclusion of original documents like police reports, cell phone records, and attorney’s notes. Rabia also does an excellent job of putting a lot of things into context within the Muslim faith. Why is it such a big deal that Adnan was sneaking around behind his parents’ backs? Why is Ramadan such an important holiday? How is faith used in support and simultaneously against him within the trial? This information was touched on in Undisclosed, virtually ignored in Serial, but well explained in this book.

The best part about this book is getting to hear Adnan’s voice. There are entire sections that he wrote himself. These parts give his side of the story behind his relationship with Hae, his interaction with Sarah Koenig, and his thoughts on his situation in jail. These were my favorite parts because I knew his words weren’t being edited or taken out of context. I knew Rabia would do his voice justice.

Rabia gives credit to Serial for bringing Adnan’s story to the masses. There would be no PCR and subsequent new trial without Serial first existing. Although it seems like Rabia is frustrated with Koenig with good reason when Koenig discusses the police mostly did a good job at their investigation (that is absolutely NOT the case; my goodness they were so inept), she is also upset that Koenig didn’t give Adnan the support she was hoping for. And I see this differently. I got up at 6am the morning the last episode was posted. I laid in bed in the dark and listened with excitement for Koenig to take a side on the issue. And it irritated me that she didn’t. However, after much reflection, I believe she did the right thing. She’s a journalist. And in a world of complete bias from most mainstream media, I think presenting the facts and letting the listeners decide for themselves was the right thing to do. It would have been wrong of her for her to flat out tell us what she thought. And granted, she only presented part of the story (obviously, there was no way to put it all out there in the 12 episode limit), Undisclosed took up the slack and filled in the blanks.

I really do recommend people who are not only familiar with Adnan’s case and a MUST read for anyone on Team Adnan. It really did help solidify my thoughts on the case. Rabia might not be a spectacular writer, but that’s irrelevant because her passion comes through loud and clear. She believes in Adnan and so do I.

The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer

About a year ago, I participated in a book exchange with some friends. We all brought a book wrapped as a gift, drew numbers, and the book you picked was what you took home. Of all the books my friends brought, this was the only one I had never read, so it was lucky that I picked it. Granted, it took me an entire year to finally sit down to read it, but I should never have waited. What a fascinating book!

I had never heard of Richard Kuklinski until this book. He was a Polish man, abused by his parents, grew up poor, made fun of by all the neighborhood boys, and he turned into one of the mafia’s biggest contract killer. Because he wasn’t Italian, he couldn’t be made, so he worked for the 5 biggest families in NY, and the 2 biggest in NJ. He was simply a killer for hire. And, and far as anyone knows, all the families used him, but never targeted him for a hit he did as retaliation. He was too good, too efficient, too successful to hold any hits against him. If Family A wanted to kill a member of Family B, they called Kuklinski. If Family B wanted to kill a member of Family A, they called Kuklinski, no hard feelings for his previous job against their family.

He was a killer for over 30 years, no regrets, no conscience. He was also a giving family man. He was terribly abusive to his wife (beating her until she had miscarriages, even), but never beat his children. He bought them anything they wanted, paid for sick kids in the hospital to have treatment, enjoyed feeding the ducks at the park. I watched a documentary on HBO after I read this book, and he had such a shift in personality when speaking about the killings vs his family. He teared up (maybe crocodile tears, I don’t know) when talking about how his family meant so much to him, but had zero remorse for the over 100 people he killed. It was just a job to him. He killed at will. Anyone who looked sideways at him was a target.

Kuklinski was eventually brought down by police. An undercover cop gained his confidences and set him up. Kuklinski was arrested and confessed to 5 murders. He wasn’t given the death penalty because of his confession, but died in prison due to a rare blood vessel inflammation.

There are a few books on Kuklinski, and this is the only one I read, but I highly recommend it, if true crime is something you enjoy reading. It read like a novel, telling Kuklinski’s life story. I would love to hear the author speak about all the interviews he did to get this information. This book is such a well written comprehensive of Kuklinski.