Fatal Vision
It had been sitting in the back of my library for over a year. I was a bit afraid of it, with its 1000 pages and its horror story style cover. But my German grandfather gave it to me, and he still has good taste, so I went for it. How a good idea that was.
Jeffrey MacDonald is a man who is successful in all aspects of his life. He is handsome, he is a doctor, he has a wife, two children, and he is expecting a third. Everyone who knows him describes him as caring, honest, funny, intelligent, and in short, lovable in every way.
Then one night, tragedy strikes. While falling asleep on the sofa, he is awakened by a small group of hippies who chant "Kill the pigs. Acid is groovy" and kill his pregnant wife and two little girls brutally. They are stabbed multiple times, and the assailants write "PIG" on the headboard. Jeffrey MacDonald escaped with only a few scratches.
Soon, the investigators notice that something is wrong. What the handsome doctor tells them does not match the physical evidence. The living room, for example, is barely disturbed, even though Jeffrey claimed to have fought with the assailants. There is no evidence of grass or rocks from the outside. Threads from the father's pajamas are found under his wife's dead body. Etc. etc.
Could the exemplary family man be the perpetrator of these horrific murders? That's what the book's author, journalist Joe McGinniss, is trying to find out.
Incredible, but true
It's a good story in itself, but it's also true. Jeffrey MacDonald is still alive, still in prison, and has denied committing the murders for over 50 years. January 2017, he demanded a new trial. And there are several sites dedicated to the case entirely devoted to providing updates on the MacDonald case, that of this "falsely accused" man.
This book is not 1000 pages long. It's a real page-turner, the kind of book you can't wait to finish your day so you can dive in. I finished it a few months ago, and I still think about it regularly. A favorite that I warmly recommend.
Joe McGinniss
10,90 $
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