Homicidal

by Paul Alexander

"People simply will not accept the fact that there is such a thing as a homicidal mind," Truman Capote once said, "People who would kill as easily as they would write a bad check." But people like this do exist-and in Homicidal, journalist and crime writer Paul Alexander profiles one of the most brutal homicidal minds in criminal history.





According to allegations, Lonnie Franklin Jr. killed at least ten women-maybe more-in the Los Angeles area over 25 years. Because of serious mistakes in the LAPD's handling of the case, Franklin stayed active for decades-a terrifyingly normal "serial killer next door" who met his victims mostly through random encounters.





The best-selling author of true crime titles Accused, Murdered, and Mistried, Alexander delves deep into law enforcement records and collects never-before-heard firsthand accounts to cast new light on this complicated case. Combining the attention to detail of a crime journalist with the eloquent style of a literary master, Alexander will leave you wondering-could you recognize the serial killer next door?

Genres: True Crime, Audiobook, Nonfiction, Mystery, Crime, History, Thriller

77 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 14, 2011

About the author

Besides the bestselling Kindle Singles Murdered, Accused, and Homicidal, Paul Alexander has published eight previous books of nonfiction: Ariel Ascending: Writings About Sylvia Plath; Rough Magic, a biography of Plath; Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times, and Legend of James Dean, the bestseller that has been published in 10 countries; Death and Disaster: The Rise of the Warhol Empire and the Race For Andy’s Millions; Man of the People: The Life of John McCain; The Candidate, a chronicle of John Kerry’s presidential campaign; and Machiavelli’s Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove.

A former reporter for Time, Alexander has published journalism in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, New York, The Nation, The Village Voice, Salon, Worth, The New York Observer, George, Cosmopolitan, More, Interview, ARTnews, Mirabella, Premiere, Out, The Advocate, Travel & Leisure, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Biography, Men’s Journal, Best Life, The New York Review of Books, The Daily Beast, and Rolling Stone.

Shane Salerno’s forthcoming feature documentary Salinger is based on Alexander’s biography of J.D. Salinger. Alexander is the author of the plays Strangers in the Land of Canaan and Edge, which he directed. Developed at The Actors Studio, Edge, the critically acclaimed one-woman play about Sylvia Plath, ran in New York, London, Los Angeles, among other cities. Edge toured Australia and New Zealand and enjoyed a second run in New York. In all, Torn performed Edge 400 times. Alexander is also the director of Brothers in Arms, a documentary film about John Kerry and Vietnam (First Run Features).

A graduate of The University of Alabama and The Writers’ Workshop at The University of Iowa, Alexander is a member of the Authors Guild and PEN American Center. In the fall of 2002, he was a Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Kindle short/Audible freebie is a "true crime" story about Lonnie Franklin Jr., the serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper" because he supposedly stopped killing for over a decade, before resuming.



The real story here is not so much Lonnie Franklin. As serial killers go, he's not very interesting. He is your basic working-class schlub, in and out of trouble with the law, who ran a chop shop in his yard that all his neighbors in South L.A. knew about. Naturally, most of the women he killed were prostitutes, drug addicts, or otherwise troubled women living in environments where no one is really surprised when they go missing and/or turn up dead, and not coincidentally, mostly black. Which is where the real story, such as it is, is revealed in this scant book.

The author milked a single case to cover a really broad range of topics, and for the short length of this book, he took on too much. Covering California from the 70s to the present day (as of this date, September 2013, Lonnie Franklin has not yet gone to trial), Paul Alexander tries to connect the history of race relations in L.A., particularly with its notoriously corrupt and brutal police department, the AIDS epidemic, the rise of crack cocaine, the Rodney King riots, the history of DNA evidence, and the large roster of other Los Angeles serial killers, to his main story. Most of the connections are tenuous at best.

The author's main thesis is that the LAPD has a history of corruption and incompetence, a case that's hard to dispute, and that this led to them not catching Lonnie Franklin earlier, which is probably true but some of his specific accusations are a bit of a leap.

But what becomes glaringly evident, though it's the one thing the author doesn't spell out, is that the reason Lonnie Franklin wasn't caught earlier was that the women he killed didn't matter. They were mostly poor African-American women from the bad parts of L.A., either living/working on the streets or not far from it. The very name given to the murders initially - the "strawberry murders," so-called because street slang for women who traded sex for drugs was "strawberry" - tells you what the police and the media thought of them.

"Wrong zip code. They’re dead where it doesn’t count."

— Mike Fletcher, The Wire

Homicidal was somewhat interesting, but much too broad and the coverage consequently superficial, with the author's conclusions not very well-supported. It's not much more than an expanded magazine feature on a fairly unremarkable loser of a serial murderer.

[Carole (Carole's Random Life) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - somewhere in chapter 2

I found this to be incredibly dull and not at all interesting. This just isn't for me.

[Bear · Rating 1 out of 5]

When reading Homicidal, I felt like it was having issues with multiple personality disorder. It begins with the story of murders taking place that set things up like you are reading a fiction novel (hint, its not). It then moves to what seems to be like reading a newspaper article of incidents that occurred. Then it settles on being nonfiction at its core. If that wasn’t frustrating enough, the overall story arc doesn’t actually complete because the trial the author is referencing isnt yet complete… thus leaving the reader hanging.

If this book followed the same flow [nonfiction that sounds like fiction – something like Killing Lincoln, or straight nonfiction] and actually had some closure, it may have been listed as a better rating. I could even have gotten on board if it didn’t feel like a very disjointed effort. Unfortunately it was neither cohesive nor clean. Avoid this one.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

What...? I have no idea what was going on in this book. I expected it to be about the serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper" but it goes so far away from that point that I really have no idea what the author was trying to achieve with this book. There was a whole long section on crack and AIDS and other serial killers in California, and to me this just didn't flow well at all, especially in such a short book with such an inconclusive ending. The one part that mildly interested me was the part with Anitra Washington (no idea how to spell her first name), but otherwise this book was a bit of a bore. I'm not even sure how a book on a serial killer can be boring, but this book managed it. Thanks, Audible, for the gesture of the free gift, but I feel like with this book they were trying to punish me more than anything else.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a true-crime drama that spans the almost 25-year serial-murder crime spree of Lonnie Franklin Jr., who was alleged to have killed at least ten women in Los Angeles, if not more. The media nicknamed him the Grim Sleeper because there seemed to be a 13-year gap in the killings, Franklin met most of his victims by accident or random encounters that ended in their murder. The Los Angeles Police Department helped Franklin avoid arrest for years because they seemed to bungle every attempt at investigating the crimes. He was the “serial killer next door,” he even collected a government pension.

The narration is a bit dry and clinical in style. If you ever watched Dragnet, a great 50's-60's era cop show, it has the same feel as that. just the facts. I am not always a fan of true crime but sometimes you find something that makes it more interesting than some others.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn't realized when I picked up this freebie from Audible in 2013 that it was a true crime story (not a genre I care for much). However, I found this captured my interest, at least in part because I lived in L.A. during the 1980s so remembered some of the news from that time. Paul Christy did a good narration.

One negative worth mentioning though: the book jumps around in time a bit abruptly. A few extra sentences connecting the previous chapter with the new one might have helped in this regard.

[BibliofiendLM · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well it is a good thing this was free.

[BJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

So that was ~2 hours of my life that I will never get back. This was actually an Audible freebie, now I know why.

This was a like listening to a documentary, a bad one.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lonnie Franklin, a former city worker on disability, openly runs a chop shop in front of his home. Stolen cars parts get recycled. Got to make ends meet. His neighbors all know and don't mind. After all this is South L.A. and there are far worst things going on. Loads of drug dealing, prostitution, shootings and a few odd serial killers on the lose. But his neighbors all know Lonnie and they even leave the keys to their car with him and he does repair work for them for cheap. If it had not been for his son's arrest and California being one of two states that use familiar DNA to track criminals he may still be in his front yard putting stolen parts into other cars and allegedly killing women. When 70 cops descend on Lonnie's house one day in 2010 and arrest him for killing at least 10 women over a 25 year period, and attempted murder of one, there is surprise in just about everyone who knew him.

I think the most interesting part of this story is what is yet to come. The trial. The LAPD are 100% sure they have the right man. They don't even use the word "alleged". They have Franklin's DNA on the bodies. Franklin has a collection of photos of the victims before and after being killed. Franklin committed the murders and maybe more they can't convict him on. However this will not be a straightforward case. The problem lies in the multiple mistakes the police have made in collecting evidence,(remember O.J.), the big discrepancies in the description of the killer by the one living victim. There is the lack of a weapon and vehicle (a pimped out orange Pinto) that the killer drove. And the cops blundered the case by not collecting DNA from Franklin for past convictions and they did not interview key witnesses after past killings.

What starts out as a promising story of the South L.A. serial killer, "The Grim Sleeper", quickly becomes a history of Los Angeles riots and police brutality, the rise of crack cocaine and then simply descend into a mundane police report. It would have been much better if the story was more complete and written when the trail is over. But that will have to wait until late in 2014 or possibly later. Franklin's lawyer is delaying the trail as long as possible.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I understood this was to be a somewhat fictionalized account of an actual serial killer murder case. I think that's stretching it a little. Some parts of it read like a novel and other parts sound like someone reading a wikipedia article to you. Overall, I found the book to be disturbingly interesting, but it seemed like it was shoddily put together. And then add to that, the book just ended very abruptly with the case seemingly having been solved, but the perpetrator not yet convicted. Seems like maybe they should have waited until the trial was concluded before publishing a book of this nature.

Update: I found upon my second reading of the book that I enjoyed it a lot more and found it more cohesive.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea (Audiobook)
I do enjoy Audible giving the members free books & chapters, it forces me to listen to genre I wouldn't normally purchase and there are some that I have really enjoyed that lead to future purchases.

This book reads more like a police report with a little story thrown in. The story & narrator drones on & on about past murder case synopses and I found my brain wandering on several occasions. The actual story part of the book has good qualities but sadly it is a very small part of the book and doesn't really end. Evidently I was expecting a verdict as opposed to the story ending in the middle of the trial.

I am not a fan of cop stories so please take this review as 'not my cup of tea".

[Marianne Weber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got the free audible audio book and decided to give it a shot. It was short, and was about like listening to a news article or a wikipedia article. Interesting if you want background into a serial killer in LA, and expect a lot of side commentary about corruption and issues with the LA police department.

[Dum · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such a disappointment. It started off pretty good (or else I wouldn't have bought it) but then the rest of the book reads worse than a wiki article. I regret paying for this book, as I'm fairly sure the wiki article on him is better.

[Manda · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was hard to tell what was fact and what was fiction. it read like a weak copy and paste job from wikipedia with some lifeless dialogue thrown in. so much potential, no real suspense or character development and the weakest ending I have read in a long time.

[Ashley Lewis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this book for free...and now I know why. It was terrible. This book may have started off and ended with the same focus, but the middle was all over the place. Poorly written. If there was a point to this book, I failed to find it. Don't waste your time.

[Marc-Antoine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very short and choppy, feels like your reading the notes from a police report.

[Nanette Fandino-Diaz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abrupt ending left me scratching my head even after listening to it a second time.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a short read (free from audible in 2013) dramatizing the true crimes of a serial killer. However, if you read the wiki on this, it was more complex because there were several serial killers in LA at the time. This one was identified by the fact that he almost exclusively used a .25 calibre gun to kill his victims. Anyway, the narrator was dull as dishwater, but clear. No longer available at Audible.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very little about the killer, a career criminal moving beneath police radar during the decades when the murders took place. The result feels like a project where multiple societal factors are briefly discussed. I was hoping for something closer to investigative journalism.

[Kitty · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather disjointed collage of murders in general. This is a 1.5 star for me and the extra half star is for the effort of the author. How can such a short book be so drudging?

[Kathy Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book

[Ed Carhart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lacks a true storyline. It more a recitation of facts about many brutal homicides. The only redeeming value is that it is short.

[Leanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

That was just..... 😑

[Jennifer Hing · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine. Not a lot of details and some stories felt unfinished or missing info. Touched on some of the popular true crimes, but most I’ve never heard of.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disjointed and felt like it just cut off at the end.

[Danielle E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I will have to look up how this case ended!

[Timothy Darling · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a departure from my regular reading habits. I chose it because it was a free selection in Audible and nothing in the list appealed to me more. I have not read true crime books before, so I had no idea what to expect.

The main thing I did not expect was to hear a story that had not finished. The case is ongoing and so the reader is in the chair of the jury, looking at the evidence presented and wondering how he should swing his vote. It's an interesting dilemma.

Alexander is quite critical of the police department, and maybe the snapshot he gives of LAPD is accurate, but I have to say, If I was overseeing a case that eluded solution for so long, I would have to expect problems along the way. There were, by necessity, so many people involved that mistakes were inevitable. No system is perfect.

That said, having read this book, I will be keeping my eyes open for the continuation of this case. One has got to hope that there is more to it than this writer has revealed, something more decisive. But that's not what life is like, and it's not how the system works.

If Franklin did it though, he is one messed up individual.

[Christina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I learned nothing except there was a serial killer named The Grim Sleeper -- "Sleeper" because he took a 13 year break in between killings. Also, evidence was inconclusive anyway, and the cops are incompetent? I don't know. I also didn't realize that the author had interviewed anyone until Chapter 8 (there are 9 total). A lot of historical events were mentioned, which really had nothing to do with the story at hand, even the mention of other serial killers like Richard Ramirez. I mean, yes, serial killer is the common denominator here, but there was no point being made. My best guess is just that the author was establishing a time period, which, okay fine.

I think this could have been interesting, but it mostly just read like a research paper and not the narrative it was trying to be.

[Bradley Mcguffey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is organized (or not-so-much) in a seemingly random, disjointed way. The author tries to tie it altogether in the end, but not well enough. It turns out this is not only a "true" story but one in which not even those in the story the one writing it knows for sure if the events are completely accurate. But the best part of the book is the ending. Unfortunately it is missing. The book just ends with the presentation of evidence in the trial of the killer you have been trying to find with the police throughout the book and of the potential mishandling of that evidence by police. And that's it. Want to know more? Go to Google.

A better suggestion is to go to Google first, look up Grim Sleeper, and skip this sort book completely. Sorry, Paul. Not my kind of book.