I just finished this a few minutes and want to do this while it's still fresh in my mind. I should also say that this is the first true crime story I've read in a lot of years. This, for a time period of a few years or more, was pretty much the only genre I read, so while I am sort of knowledgable, it's been awhile.
One thing that struck me different with this book versus others I've read in the past is the legal spectrum. Others that I've read, with the exception of Ann Rule's book (she could never bore me) bored me when they got to the legal crap. As much as that is a part of a true crime book, I wanted to to only read what actually happened, who said what, why she did that and who and how it affected, etc. I didn't want to really learn anything- not anything legal anyway.
I did learn a lot reading this- and I wanted to- which was the big thing with me here. I wasn't bored in the least. I never once considered skipping a paragraph or two.
Barer includes a lot in the second half of the book (the first half is dedicated to the crime and it's participants for the most part) about the legality of the situation. He included statistics and much, much more. The difference was that he did this without boring the people like me. Big plus for a true crime book IMO.
The story itself is about a bunch of trash to be honest. One older p.o.s. named Barbara Opel to be exact. This woman was basically equivilant to a piece of garbage you may run over with your car on any given day. I'd rate roadkill as higher up than her. She had three children between the ages of 7 and 13. She had the children not seeing their fathers, living in and out of motels and cars, etc.
One or all (I forget) of the children met a man one day and they started doing odd jobs for him, taking care if his elderly mother and such for a few bucks a day. They needed a place to live- ONE MONTH after meeting Jerry Heimann. ONE MONTH.
Heimann, by all accounts, was the most generous man around. He moved the entire family in, within weeks bought a bigger place for all of them, gave them money for extras like going to the movies and skating, let the egg carrier drive his cars, etc. He basically did everything he could for ger except wipe her ass.
So, one day Opel gets fed up and wants his money. A whole, whopping, substantial sum of $30,000. (The average car costs more than that these days by the way.) So, Opel hatches a plan to murder Heimann. Clever. She tries and fails to get numerous people to play her worthless pawns until she finally finds someone. A 17 year-old kid. She "gives" her 13 year old daughter to the kid to grab him in and it worked.
I'll leave everyone hanging now because there's no way I can say much more without giving away the ending and I happen to hate marking the spoiler button. :)
Read it- you won't be sorry.