About The Book:
In Dead Reckoning, Pulitzer-nominated journalist Caitlin Rother tells the chilling, authoritative story of how Skylar Deleon, a former child actor turned conman and hermaphrodite wanna-be, schemes to kill Tom and Jackie Hawks by tying them to the anchor of their yacht and throwing them overboard – alive – near Newport Beach, California.
With the help of his pregnant wife Jennifer and their 10-month-old daughter, Skylar charms the Hawkses into taking him and his two cohorts on a sea trial from which the Hawkses never return. Skylar would have done anything to keep his wife happy, but he also wants a sex operation so badly that he is willing to kill to pay for one.
Deeply in debt, the Deleons attempt to steal the Hawkses’ yacht and pillage their bank accounts, not expecting to be thwarted by the Hawkses’ loving family and the Newport Beach Police Department’s incredibly thorough investigation, which spans three counties, two states, and goes into Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Even behind bars, Skylar doesn’t stop scheming as he tries to implicate his own father in the murders, then tries to solicit hits on several witnesses, including his father and cousin, to prevent them from testifying against him.
My Thoughts:
True crime books are unique in that they follow the henious lives of murderous criminals, bringing the reader into the mindset of the culprit as well as into the very heart of the crime they commit. It takes a talented, sensative writer to portray these criminals and crimes in a manner that will impart information without disrespect to the victims and their families.
In this book, "Dead Reckoning," author Caitlyn Rother taps into her journalistic background to tell the chilling story of Skylar and Jennifer Deleon, their backgrounds and how they arrived at the point that they felt desperate enough to take the lives of two innocent people in order to continue the out-of-control mayhem they called their lives. But Rother is also respectful to the memories of the victims, Tom and Jackie Hawkes, the innocent couple who was caught in the maelstrom of madness and evil that ultimately resulted in their senseless deaths.
Rother delivers her story in a fast-paced, entralling manner that will captivate readers. However, this book is not for the faint-of-heart.
About The Author:
Caitlin Rother is the author of true crime books Dead Reckoning, Body Parts, Twisted Triangle, and Poisoned Love, and the thriller, Naked Addiction.
She is also the co-author of My Life, Deleted and Where Hope Begins, soon to be re-released as Deadly Devotion. She is now working on The Makings of a Monster, the story of the rape and murder of beloved teenagers Chelsea King and Amber Dubois.
Rother, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist, worked as an investigative reporter at daily newspapers for nineteen years before deciding to write books full-time. She is the founder of the San Diego Writing Women blog, and her work has been published in Cosmopolitan, the Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and The Daily Beast. She has appeared as a crime expert on E! Entertainment, the Oxygen Network, Investigation Discovery, Greta Van Susteren’s “On the Record,” and America at Night.”
She also teaches journalism, narrative non-fiction and creative writing at UCSD Extension in San Diego. She is now working on The Makings of a Monster, the story of how John Gardner grew from a caring troubled boy into an angry man who couldn’t control his compulsions to rape and murder beloved teenagers Chelsea King and Amber Dubois.”
You can visit her website at http://www.caitlinrother.com./
My Thanks to Dorothy Thompson at Pump Up Your Book Promotion and Kensington Books for the review copy of this book, and for including me on this tour. I was not compensated for my opinions.
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