Bully: A True Story of High School Revenge

Bully: A True Story of High School Revenge

3.87 of 5 stars 3.87  ·  rating details  ·  696 ratings  ·  53 reviews

Bobby Kent was a bully—a steroid-pumped 20-year-old who dominated his peers in their comfortable, middle-class Ft. Lauderdale beach community through psychological, physical and sexual abuse. But on a summer night in 1993, Bobby was lured to the edge of the Florida everglades with a promise of sex and drugs. . .and was never seen alive again. The tormentor had become the v

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Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages
Published February 1st 1998 by Avon (first published 1997)
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Community Reviews

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Kara
I found this a fast and engaging read, even though it is about a vicious murder. I can't feel entirely sympathetic with the victim, nor his murderers. He seems to have been a sociopath and the rest were not of a sound and reasonable mind. It's obvious from every move they made that they were not responsible adults, instead their parents just let them do whatever they wanted and paid their bills. I am disgusted with the parents a lot more than the actual 'kids' involved in the murder. They should...more
Emmy
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David
From time to time I enjoy a true crime story and I have to admit I read this one rather quickly..

Bully is the story of Buddy and Marty. The two are best friends, but Buddy dominates Marty fiercely. He hits him, teases him, and tortures him. That is, until Marty meets and starts dating Lisa. Lisa, fed up with her man being the target of Buddy's temper and wild mood swings, instigates an evil plot to murder Buddy. Before it is over she enlists seven teens (most of who do not even know Buddy) to p...more
Liz  Dalton
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Leslie Kent
Actual rating 2.5 stars but am rounding down as my opinion was at the lower end of the spectrum. I watched this movie when it first came out and was disturbed enough but not in a true crime phase at the time, so left it alone. It was on tv recently and, as much as the first time, gave me chills. This time it sparked an interest in checking out the book. I am not giving this book a 2.5 based on the crime. This was a sickening event, primarily because of the lack of remorse by all primary and remo...more
Laura
This book isn't your typical inside-out in depth account of a true crime. It's written more like a novel which kept the pace rolling real quick for me. The conspirators and victims, man what can I even say about them? Their almost constantly drug fueled decision making skills were making me face-palm up until the incredibly brutal murder. To me, the title seems a bit misleading, "a tale of high school revenge" when most of the attackers didn't even finish high school. Also the author REALLY must...more
Tracy
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Jessica
I had issues with this author. The first is he spends too much time writing about incidents that have no direct bearing to the story nor do they even serve the purpose of character background. I would read through pages of stories that were neither here nor there and and the end scratch my head thinking what the hell did that have to do with anything? The other issue, and this is a big one, he writes dialogue as if verbatim. Which unless he was there recording every last word each person said is...more
Susan Kelley
Feb 10, 2008 Susan Kelley rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: true crime fanatics
Recommended to Susan by: Yahoo ReadNSwap Group
This is a book about disturbed people - deeply disturbed. The worst part is that this book is a true-crime book. These people really exist, adme they really did the horrible things that the author describes. Seven kids ranging in age from 15-20 brutally murdered a friend of theirs because he was a bully. He was no ordinary bully - he was sick. He forced people to do sexual things, he beats and ridicules people.

Even worse than the amoral behavior of these kids is the way the parents reacted. All...more
Mark R.
Fast-paced and very detailed, "Bully" is quite an impressive book, a nonfiction novel about some kids between the ages of seventeen and nineteen who decide to kill one of their friends, a nasty son of a bitch named Bobby Kent.

Bobby's been humiliating, beating, and otherwise terrorizing his best friend, Marty Puccio, since they were little kids, and when he starts getting on the wrong side of Marty's girlfriend and some of her friends, the kids decide to kill him.

Naturally, Schutze had to theoriz...more
Tenderfoot
Garbage! This should be listed under "fiction" because that is exactly what most of the book is. Sure Bobby Kent was murdered by the kids he bullied and they were caught and are now serving time. However, I doubt very much that that this tragic story went down the way the author described. Don't waist your time. Believe it or not, the movie was way better and I can't stand pederast filmmaker Larry Clark either but it was.
Aaron Powell
This story can serve as a kind of warning to society about what can occur when our youth are ignored and allowed to run free. I personally found the movie to be much better (and that is rare for me), and I highly recommend that in conjunction with this book. But while this book isn't so great in my opinion, it does fill in some gaps that the movie simply doesn't address.
Kevin L.
During the initial pages of reading this book, I had determined that I was going to through it out after finishing. It is a disturbing read of a true life disturbing group of young people who had no regard for life, themselves or others. The book did become easier to ingest, but it was truly sad to see in writing what humans are capable of.

P.S. I will be forwarding the book to my sister and then throwing it in the trash. (per her request)
Alex
It was a true story about a group of kids who murdered one of their 'friends' and left him to die before being caught the very next day. It was disturbing to say the least, but it was the kind of book I couldn't put down because, even though it was slow at times, I knew it would heat up. By nature, the story is gripping. The writing wasn't fantastic, though.
Ann237
I usually find the book more enjoyable than the movie, I cannot say that in this case. But I also hate giving low ratings that has to do with someone's life experiences.
And if not for any other reason if one cannot see the movie than the book needs to be read because of the way society is today it is a situation that's sadly all to real today.
Jen
As my first true crime book, I think I made a pretty awesome choice. I read this book in less than 24 hours. I could not put it down. I've read it about 8 times and I've had 3 or 4 copies of it. It's written really well and easy to follow. Anyone who has interest in true crime should definitely pick this up.
Tracy Snyder
This is a great, well-written book about a tragic true story. What a DUMB bunch of kids these happened to be. The whole entire fiasco was like a comedy of errors, which makes it even more unfortunate that someoen lost his life in the process, though the guy was truly a jack-ass.
Corey
When this book was written this wasn't as a big deal as it is today... But having known the brother of a kid that whacked his bully, this book hit home... A must read for parents of a child bullying or being bullied. It will help with the tell-tale signs of what may come...
Faith Mccready
Not too impressed with this book at all. It's written almost like a fiction, its not like any other true crime book I've ever read and I'm not sure if thats a good thing or bad thing. I guess I'm glad I read it but I wouldnt be upset to never read it again.
Georgeann
Read this book years ago and still get the chills thinking about it. It's hard to put down and the true crime story it covers is very disturbing. I wouldn't re-read it in a thousand years, but it definitely made an impact on me.
Dewayne
Read this book after seeing the movie several years ago. The true story told in the book/movie was unbelievably tragic, but this book was not an interesting read. The writing was awkward, lacking a flow, leaving me frustrated.
Nicole Dellomo
Absolutely love this book & the movie. The book is exactly like the movie. The only difference is there's a little more detail in the book, which is expected, but the movie was great & followed the book perfectly.
Robf
great book extremely to the point and grafic seen the movie. they bring a tear to my eye everytime. I know them all personally and 1 of them for a very long time. I wish this never happened...
Joanne
Incredibly well written and thoroughly detailed. I could not put this book down. It is one of the most heinous crimes I've read about, and was chillingly cold and calculating. Higly recommended.
R to the -izzo
I read this one after I saw the independent movie. Basically it is a true story about kids at a high school that end up beating their friend/bully to death and then leaving him on a Florida beach for crabs to devour. Great flick and great book. I gotta say that you could probably watch the independent and get the majority of the story. The only thing you would miss is the back story for each person (who was on the honor roll and who was on probation) as well as what happens when they finally get...more
Amanda.w
Really couldn't put the book down. it was very well written. I'm not sure how I feel about the tragic event that happened to Bobby. It breaks my heart, regardless.
Stephanie
I really enjoyed this book, it also was made into a movie. It really is scary how young kids can do such terrible things. The victim can often be the culprit. This book will have you thinking long after it's over.
Stephanie Whittaker
scariest thing about this book is the kids thought nothing about what they did...just another night out.
Shanna
This book was such an easy read. The fact that it happened and is just so absurd what these kids do make it simple to breeze through. The author's way of describing what goes on and what they may have said fits completely. Way better than the movie. The pictures inside the book also show the damage to the one that was murdered and descriptions. It also includes the mug shots of all the kids involved. Although at the end when it says what they ended up being charged with was inaccurate. The one k...more
Kendal
This is a good book but knowing it was written based on true events is disconcerting.
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