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Death Trap
Phelps relates the horrifying true story of Jeff McCord, a police officer who uses his expertise to plot with his wife and carry out the murder of her ex-husband in order to secure permanent custody of their two children. Original.
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
March 1st 2010
by Pinnacle
(first published 2010)
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This book reminds me of Ann Rule's writing and that is not a compliment!
It seems I am the only one who got really annoyed reading this book. I mean yes there are people who got annoyed because the way it was written but I do not see anyone who was annoyed for the same reason i was.
Okay Let's have it out. Why does Mr Phelps feels the need to constantly tell us how bad Jessica mcCord is and what an angel Alan Bates was.
It felt like Ann Rule because she has the same annoying habit.
Come on. We all k...more
It seems I am the only one who got really annoyed reading this book. I mean yes there are people who got annoyed because the way it was written but I do not see anyone who was annoyed for the same reason i was.
Okay Let's have it out. Why does Mr Phelps feels the need to constantly tell us how bad Jessica mcCord is and what an angel Alan Bates was.
It felt like Ann Rule because she has the same annoying habit.
Come on. We all k...more
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I have read quite a few true crime books over the years, but I have to say that this particular book was quite memorable as far as the perpetrators of the crimes go. A young man married his pregnant high school girlfriend (a woman who regularly used abortion as birth control I might add even though she ended up giving birth to six children) but as young marriages often do, this one failed, primarily due to the personality problems of the girl, Jessica. She then carried out a many year crusade to...more
We teach our children, from a young age, to do the right thing. Make the right decisions. Stand up to your responsibilities. Accept the consequences of your actions. What we fail to teach them is that in doing so the heartache that can arise from "Doing the right thing" can have tragic endings. This story brings to the forefront how love can turn to hatred. Such a fine line. Other's saw the psychology of the woman in this story. But because the young man was raised in such a good home he overloo...more
This was undoubtedly the worst written book I have ever read except for Taken by Debra Lee. It was awful. I feel like this author has never entered an English classroom, let alone have a sufficient enough command of grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc. to think that he could ever be an author. The writing was so poor that after getting through a little more than half of the book, I looked up the story on Google, found that it had been profiled on the TV show Snapped, and watched it on my...more
I read this book because of a second degree of separation from the victims, who were valued friends of a valued friend. The low rating is because the writing is weak, but the story is incredible enough that it can still come through the bad writing. Having said that, please read the book. Maybe if enough people is the world are completely disgusted with Jessica she will spontaneously combust in her jail cell in Alabama.
I found this book hard to read although I do love criminology books, even though it was a struggle for me to read. It was small view into a murder's mind & personality. In this book M.William Phelps didn't deliver the punch like he does in a lot of his other criminology books. My suggestion is if you want to read this book then don't It was one I could have gladly left on the shelf never ever to read.
Death Trap is a great true crime book that I couldn't put down. The story takes place in Alabama and Georgia and is an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end. Jessica McCord is a woman who got what she wanted, when she wanted it, even if it meant the murder of her ex-husband and his new wife. I highly recommend it to those who like to read true crime.
The book's title suits the story dead on. It's apparent that there is no limit to the level of hate towards another person. Jessica McCord's head had to be rotted with hate to the last brain cell. To hate somebody to this extremety is beyond diabolical. The book is well written, I recommend this book if you like reading about crazy evil women.
I would have given this book a higher rating if M. William Phelps hadn't written it in the same voice that the narrators on every crime show on televsion use. The vast majority of the sentences are extremely short - some to the point of barely having a noun and a verb. It probably would have made an excellent audio book, but the overly simplistic writing style ruined what could have been an otherwise fascinating, in all the wrong ways, story.
What did I think? Not much. I wanted to read some non-fiction, and was also interested in a murder story. This book is both of these, but I wish it was written a little better. I had trouble staying with it, and found it somewhat redundant in places. It also has too many grammatical errors for my taste. I thought the description of the characters was ok, but I wasn't riveted as I thought I might be.
I've read quite a few True Crime books and this was the first from M. William Phelps. He lays out the story very well, doing a great job of transitioning between the timeline of events. I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.
Quite horrific...and to think, I went to school with this girl and my mother worked with the police office for quite some time. Hard to believe...
This was a good book; one of Phelp's better ones. Very disturbing story. This story has been featured on Oxygen's Snapped.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Every single time I read one of his books I grow more appreciation for his style of writing. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to take a book based simply on fact and make it so interesting to a reader! This book was great :)
Wow awesome book.. Couldn't put it down.
Writing wasn't as good as Kathryn Casey, but the story was very enthralling. I also just finished She Wanted It All a while ago and it's amazing how similar these two women are, I mean Celeste Beard and Jessica McCord, who were featured in these books.
Completely Captivating!
I've read a lot of true crime, but there are few people who seem to be anywhere near as hateful as Jessica was in this book. I was left with a feeling of really just wanting to make her suffer as much as she made Alan and Terra suffer.
This would've been a fine 200-page book but at 400 pages it went on too long and repeated too much of the same information. Got a bit weary, too, of the simplistic portrayal of the killers (eeee-vil!) and the victims (saints!).
I always read his stuff, it is good for when I have a craving for true crime. It just is what it is, and these people sure walked into it...and yet some of us would have seen it coming...
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M. William Phelps lives in Connecticut with his wife and three children.
He is the author of 14 true crime books.
More about M. William Phelps...
He is the author of 14 true crime books.
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