David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "serial-killer"
The Wilderness of Ruin
Ostensibly, THE WILDERNESS OF RUIN is about Jesse Pomeroy who tortured and murdered several children beginning in 1871 when he was only twelve, but the book also addresses whether great American author, Herman Melville, also might have been insane due to the stress he put himself under monetarily and intellectually while writing such literary works as MOBY DICK and PIERRE.
At first Jesse Pomeroy guilty of sadistic assaults against very young children. He was readily captured and sent to reform school, but his mother fought for his release, claiming she needed him to help run a small grocery and to help his older brother who ran a news stand and delivered newspapers. A charitable organization helped get him out, and the family moved to South Boston from Chelsea where he wouldn't be so well known. Shortly after he was freed, two children were murdered, and of course, Jesse was the principal suspect. Ten-year old Katie Curran wasn't found for months, although she was buried in the basement of his mother's grocery, which had been “searched” several times.
The reason Pomeroy is significant is that he was eventually found guilty and held in solitary confinement for over forty years. Jesse was quite adept at trying to escape. Once he drilled through the bars, made it into the passageway and might have escaped had it not been for a guard's cat who drew attention to him.
Melville did well as an author as long as his ambitions were in the popular vein. As a young man, Melville served on a whaling vessel; he wrote several novels such as OMOO and WHITE JACKET about his experiences Once he was introduced to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville aspired to more literary ambitions, culminating in MOBY DICK. Melville was also inspired by the Essex tragedy where a whaler was attacked by a whale, and he used books on that incident as research. Melville was also interested in insanity and read everything he could find on the affliction. Captain Ahab is symbolic of that fascination. The public hated MOBY DICK, especially the long encyclopedic information on whales. This led to money problems and Melville was forced to take a job working at the Custom Office for a miniscule salary. It's surprising that author Roseanne Montillo never mentions “Bartleby the Scrivener,” one of our greatest short stories, which was obviously influenced by Melville's job.
It's surprising how similar issues surrounding mental illness and what to do with young offenders were in 1871 and 2015. Today, perhaps Jesse would have been declared an adult and tried for first degree murder. Pomeroy who taught himself the law while in solitary always argued he should have been given an insanity defense. What is really surprising is how many organizations and individuals fought to get either a pardon or a release for Jesse into the general population at the prison. I would imagine his record of over forty years in solitary confinement still stands.
At first Jesse Pomeroy guilty of sadistic assaults against very young children. He was readily captured and sent to reform school, but his mother fought for his release, claiming she needed him to help run a small grocery and to help his older brother who ran a news stand and delivered newspapers. A charitable organization helped get him out, and the family moved to South Boston from Chelsea where he wouldn't be so well known. Shortly after he was freed, two children were murdered, and of course, Jesse was the principal suspect. Ten-year old Katie Curran wasn't found for months, although she was buried in the basement of his mother's grocery, which had been “searched” several times.
The reason Pomeroy is significant is that he was eventually found guilty and held in solitary confinement for over forty years. Jesse was quite adept at trying to escape. Once he drilled through the bars, made it into the passageway and might have escaped had it not been for a guard's cat who drew attention to him.
Melville did well as an author as long as his ambitions were in the popular vein. As a young man, Melville served on a whaling vessel; he wrote several novels such as OMOO and WHITE JACKET about his experiences Once he was introduced to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville aspired to more literary ambitions, culminating in MOBY DICK. Melville was also inspired by the Essex tragedy where a whaler was attacked by a whale, and he used books on that incident as research. Melville was also interested in insanity and read everything he could find on the affliction. Captain Ahab is symbolic of that fascination. The public hated MOBY DICK, especially the long encyclopedic information on whales. This led to money problems and Melville was forced to take a job working at the Custom Office for a miniscule salary. It's surprising that author Roseanne Montillo never mentions “Bartleby the Scrivener,” one of our greatest short stories, which was obviously influenced by Melville's job.
It's surprising how similar issues surrounding mental illness and what to do with young offenders were in 1871 and 2015. Today, perhaps Jesse would have been declared an adult and tried for first degree murder. Pomeroy who taught himself the law while in solitary always argued he should have been given an insanity defense. What is really surprising is how many organizations and individuals fought to get either a pardon or a release for Jesse into the general population at the prison. I would imagine his record of over forty years in solitary confinement still stands.
Twisted Prey
TWISTED PREY is a continuation of Lucas Davenport's new role as Federal Marshal. In this one, he confronts an old enemy, Senator Taryn Grant.
Somebody tries to kill Senator Porter Smalls, junior senator from Minnesota, by running him off the road. Whoever did it did manages to kill Smalls's mistress in the process.
Lucas calls Bob and Rae, fellow U.S. Marshalls who are enamored of flying business class as a result of working with Lucas. Smalls insists he was run off the road, but when a camera points to a Ford-250 as the guilty vehicle and they track down the owner, there's very little evidence that the truck was involved.
Lucas and Smalls are pretty sure Grant is behind the attack since she's done this sort of thing before, and Smalls has been giving her a hard time in the Senate. Grant also has connections to Heracles, a mercenary military outfit. Heracles hires retired special forces types to do Grant's dirty work and Lucas tracks one of them down. Then Weather is T-boned and almost killed; it looks like a drunken driver until Lucas's aides prove he couldn't have done it.
When Weather is attacked and we know he knows who did it, the reader is amazed at how cool Lucas is. Instead of ripping his guts out, Lucas is after higher prey, and he's pretty sure the guy who owns the Ford-250 can lead him to them. But you need some suspension of disbelief. One big criticism of the PREY novels is that Lucas is involved in so much blood shed, and he still has a job in law enforcement. He's got more of a hair trigger than this.
I really liked the way Sandford handled the ending. A woman tries to take Sanford out with a machine gone in his own apartment, but he'd moved across the hall. The woman happens to be the girlfriend of one of the special forces types who was killed, and the higher ups at Heracles are saying Lucas water-boarded him before he killed him. Once again, instead of throwing her off a bridge, Lucas straightens her out and fills her in on what really happened. They're almost friends. Again, hard to believe, but Sanford needs this to happen to make the ending work.
Sandford doesn't do the little things as well as he used to when the series was set in Minnesota. It's hard to do that when he's working all over the country. I'm also from Minnesota, so I liked those little elements of setting that I recognized, like the amazing Summit Avenue where Lucas still lives when he's not chasing all over the country. About all we get here is the Watergate complex where Lucas is staying while in Washington. Sanford now lives in New Mexico, Tony Hillerman country, so it's hard to make New Mexico the new Minnesota.
Somebody tries to kill Senator Porter Smalls, junior senator from Minnesota, by running him off the road. Whoever did it did manages to kill Smalls's mistress in the process.
Lucas calls Bob and Rae, fellow U.S. Marshalls who are enamored of flying business class as a result of working with Lucas. Smalls insists he was run off the road, but when a camera points to a Ford-250 as the guilty vehicle and they track down the owner, there's very little evidence that the truck was involved.
Lucas and Smalls are pretty sure Grant is behind the attack since she's done this sort of thing before, and Smalls has been giving her a hard time in the Senate. Grant also has connections to Heracles, a mercenary military outfit. Heracles hires retired special forces types to do Grant's dirty work and Lucas tracks one of them down. Then Weather is T-boned and almost killed; it looks like a drunken driver until Lucas's aides prove he couldn't have done it.
When Weather is attacked and we know he knows who did it, the reader is amazed at how cool Lucas is. Instead of ripping his guts out, Lucas is after higher prey, and he's pretty sure the guy who owns the Ford-250 can lead him to them. But you need some suspension of disbelief. One big criticism of the PREY novels is that Lucas is involved in so much blood shed, and he still has a job in law enforcement. He's got more of a hair trigger than this.
I really liked the way Sandford handled the ending. A woman tries to take Sanford out with a machine gone in his own apartment, but he'd moved across the hall. The woman happens to be the girlfriend of one of the special forces types who was killed, and the higher ups at Heracles are saying Lucas water-boarded him before he killed him. Once again, instead of throwing her off a bridge, Lucas straightens her out and fills her in on what really happened. They're almost friends. Again, hard to believe, but Sanford needs this to happen to make the ending work.
Sandford doesn't do the little things as well as he used to when the series was set in Minnesota. It's hard to do that when he's working all over the country. I'm also from Minnesota, so I liked those little elements of setting that I recognized, like the amazing Summit Avenue where Lucas still lives when he's not chasing all over the country. About all we get here is the Watergate complex where Lucas is staying while in Washington. Sanford now lives in New Mexico, Tony Hillerman country, so it's hard to make New Mexico the new Minnesota.
