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True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa

Michael Finkel (Goodreads Author)

3.87 · Rating details · 4,644 ratings · 515 reviews

In the haunting tradition of Joe McGinniss's Fatal Vision and Mikal Gilmore's Shot in the Heart, True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa weaves a spellbinding tale of murder, love, and deceit with a deeply personal inquiry into the slippery nature of truth.

The story begins in February of 2002, when a reporter in Oregon contacts New York Times Magazine writer Michael Finkel w ...more

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Hardcover, 320 pages

Published May 24th 2005 by Harper (first published 2005)

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Apr 26, 2018 Sam Quixote rated it really liked it · review of another edition

It’s fair to say that Michael Finkel had a pretty dramatic 2002. He went from being an award-winning journalist working at the prestigious New York Times to a publicly disgraced pariah whose career was suddenly in the shitter! How? In a story about child slavery on West African cocoa plantations, he had tried to pass off a composite character as a real person and got found out. Then, in a call from an Oregon paper that he assumed was about his scandalous breach of journalistic ethics, he was ask It’s fair to say that Michael Finkel had a pretty dramatic 2002. He went from being an award-winning journalist working at the prestigious New York Times to a publicly disgraced pariah whose career was suddenly in the shitter! How? In a story about child slavery on West African cocoa plantations, he had tried to pass off a composite character as a real person and got found out. Then, in a call from an Oregon paper that he assumed was about his scandalous breach of journalistic ethics, he was asked about the murders of a woman and three children committed by New York Times journalist Michael Finkel! Whaaaaaaat?!

The old adage “truth is stranger than fiction” certainly applies to this book! True Story is the bizarre and thoroughly compelling account of how Michael Finkel fell from grace and then immediately got wrapped up in the case of Chris Longo, the young Jehovah’s Witness who strangled his family in December 2001, fled to Mexico, where he told people that he was Finkel, before being caught by the FBI and brought back to the States to face justice.

The book is an original blend of memoir and true crime masterfully written in the nonfiction novel style pioneered in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. Finkel’s scandal/confession/mea culpa though, while interesting in itself and adding a unique dimension to the narrative, only takes up a relatively short part of the book as it could be covered much more succinctly than Longo’s crimes, the latter obviously being the main draw anyway. I can see why it was included as both Finkel and Longo are revealed as liars albeit to very different degrees. Finkel’s lies were minor and benign and he’s clearly learned from his mistakes while Longo’s lies led to the deaths of four people.

Finkel’s portrait of Longo is utterly mesmerising. A charming and likeable man with a magnetic personality, Longo is also a narcissistic pathological liar who is acutely sensitive to how people perceived him – he had to look like a success to everyone, especially his wife Maryjane – with a complex about his intelligence (though the reader can see his limitations from the direct quotes from his letters showing misspellings, poor grammar and a pretentious use of complex words to impress his audience).

Longo was completely incapable of living within his means. Like a car crash in slow motion, you can’t turn away as his failing construction company’s finances and his own out-of-control spending leads him to compound lies with more lies before escalating to stealing cars and counterfeiting cheques. Things get worse and his behaviour becomes more erratic: he cheats on his wife, the pressure of constantly hiding the increasing chaos from family and friends begets more lies, more theft, more fraud, causing him to up stakes and flee with his family across America, desperately trying to stay one step ahead of creditors and law enforcement… until it finally all fell apart and overwhelmed him.

Longo on the stand during the trial is the most gripping section as we see his true nature emerge. I found the unvarnished audacity with which Longo brazenly lied to be completely breathtaking, revealing himself to be this irredeemable, warped, almost inhuman creature. Not just during the trial but afterwards too, the way he continued trying to futilely manipulate Finkel and reality with more and more lies, despite their contradictions.

There wasn’t much I disliked about the book but it definitely dragged a bit in the middle. There’s a part where Finkel and Longo fall out and waiting for Finkel to win back Longo’s favour was tedious. And, while the final months leading up to the murders was entrancing, a lot of Longo’s bio was boring – his courtship with Maryjane, building his business, his everyday life; very banal stuff.

Otherwise, True Story was an excellent and remarkable read - a morbidly fascinating and memorable tale of a deeply disturbing criminal, a horrific crime and the flawed but penitent journalist documenting it all who was inadvertently caught in the maelstrom. True crime fans will love this and I can easily see this becoming a classic of the genre up there with In Cold Blood. ...more

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Jan 22, 2018 Darlene rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, true-crime

In 2017, I read a book called The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit written by journalist Michael Finkel and that compelling story stayed with me throughout the year. Looking for anything else Michael Finkel may have written, I found True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa which is a mixture of things... part true crime, part memoir and also a story of redemption. To truly understand how this story came to be,it is important to provide some background.

In 2001, ...more

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Apr 26, 2009 Simon Cleveland, PhD rated it it was ok

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
What's one man's demise is another's redemption...or is it?, June 2, 2006

Michael Finkel wrote this book in an effort to alter the popular opinion that he is a dishonest reporter who falsified his articles. He wrote with one objective in mind - to emerge as a talented author and honest human being. But was he able to do so? It's up to the readers to decide.

What's the book about? As it turned out, a serial murderer used Mr. Finkel's identity t ...more

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Mar 29, 2015 Sarju Shrestha Mehri rated it really liked it

Omg! What a book! I picked this book because I saw the preview of the movie.Since it is based on true story I wanted to understand the story before it hits in the movie theater . I started reading the book three days ago and could not rest until I finished it.
This story is about a con man who is convicted of murdering his whole family, who performed many illegal work and impersonated a real New York Times journalist, Michael Finkel.
This is very interesting memoir from of the writer who falls fr ...more

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Mar 14, 2014 Jennifer Willis rated it it was amazing

I don't think I could accurately estimate the percentage of time I spent with my mouth hanging open or the number of times I exclaimed, out loud, "Oh, my God!" while reading this book. The sheer audacity and calculated rationalizing of Chris Longo -- the convicted murderer around whom this story revolves -- are at once both mesmerizing and horrifying.

"True Story" is the perfect title for this book, wherein the author struggles with the honesty/dishonesty of his subject, even as he comes clean ab ...more

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Jul 16, 2015 Aditi rated it did not like it

Shelves: memoir, my-reviews

Waste of money.. everything sounds like a lie. Recently it's movie adaption compelled me to buy this book, unfortunately the book is not that worthy or anything delightful to read about. I mean who wants to read about a smart-ass manipulative mass-murderer who killed off his whole family of three children and a wife. In fact the author doesn't sound so real, I mean he was trying to prove his worth to his fans. But I tell you, it didn't work! Anyhow, the protagonist put me off!
...more

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Apr 10, 2017 Diane Yannick rated it it was amazing

So, I started with The Stranger in the Woods, then backed up to read this one. Another fascinating story that I couldn't put down. Truth truly can be stranger than fiction. The utter audacity of Chris Longo boggled my mind. That he could murder his family yet carry on with his dramatic charade is mind boggling. After murdering his family, Longo impersonates Michael Finkel during his Mexican "vacation". The real Finkel had just been fired from the NYT for making a composite character and careless ...more

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Jul 18, 2015 Sean rated it it was ok

Shelves: book-club

The story is interesting enough, but there's only so much ego-stroking I can handle.

Finkel and Longo, the two narcissists at the center of the story, have more in common than I think Finkel cares to acknowledge. Their story shares the same narrative. In a work of fiction, I would consider this an interesting layer to the story. One is a mirror of the other. But this isn't fiction. These two people exist.

Finkel views True Story as his redemption story. Through the trial of Longo, he learns the d ...more

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Oct 03, 2011 Mary Frances rated it liked it

This book is most interesting for the way one narcissist, the author, tells the story of his relationship with another, the murderer/ con man Chris Longo. Over and over in the book I find these insincere comments by the author about his fictional article that got him fired from the New Yorker, about the lies he tells to his subject which he tries to justify while "regretting" the lies, about his insincerity with others. It's kind of fascinating in that regard. As a comprehensive study of either ...more

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Jul 14, 2017 Juletta Gilge rated it really liked it

I will admit, I watched the movie first and loved it, so I decided to check out the book. I loved it too. It was so well done and easy to follow. This is a crazy story but worth the read.

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Sep 14, 2014 Bonnie Faust rated it really liked it

Finkel is a disgraced journalist whose own hubris led him to lie about one of his stories about child slavery in Africa. Longo is a disgraced husband and father whose own narcissism led to the murder of his wife and three children and subsequent identity theft of Finkel (in name only, as an alias).

The two strike up an unlikely and tenuous friendship when Longo is arrested, and each uses this "friendship" to their own advantage. The result is an interesting study in the line between ego and pers ...more

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May 01, 2016 ♥ Marlene♥ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: true-crime, non-fiction, kindle, biography

Disgusted!

This book made me feel awful about the world today. So 2 lying nasty narcissists both got what they want. Longo was given a friend and someone he could tell all his lies to and him staying in control which is very important for men like him. Then the author gave this horrible man a voice. He let this man lie to him and even wrote all his lies down as if they are true!! He befriended him and liked him and that says enough to me.

Even Longo's mum warned him that everybody at first thought ...more

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Feb 24, 2019 Kimberly Dawn rated it it was amazing

Another five star rating for this author! This is the third book or story of his that I have read. I just love a well-written true story.

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Mar 16, 2012 Sherry Chandler rated it it was ok

Shelves: betterthantelevision

My son was assigned this book to read in an MFA class in nonfiction, and because he left it lying around, I picked it up and read the first few pages. It is a very well written book so I continued reading to the end. But the longer I read, the more I wondered why I was spending my time reading the tale of two liars and why I should believe Finkel's assertions that his association with Longo had allowed him to reform himself when he had just told us all the times Longo himself had sworn himself r ...more

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Aug 22, 2013 Erika Nerdypants rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, compulsive-non-fiction, 2013-reading-challenge, true-crime, set-in-foreign-countries, memoir

I wanted to not like this book, really, I did. What's to like about the story of a husband brutally murdering his wife and three small children, especially when that story is told by an investigative reporter fired from the New York Times for falsifying details of a cover story? And yet, there is no denying that Michael Finkel wrote a page turner here, that's riveting precisely because this is the meeting of two, in the end very similar narcissists. Because if there is one thing Finkel does in t ...more

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Apr 29, 2007 Morgan Williams rated it did not like it

Shelves: non-fiction

This book starts out as a somewhat interesting look at what can happen to a journalist, or a writer of creative non-fiction, if they stray from the truth. He is, presumably, completely honest in his account of his disgrace with the New York Times, and his apparent willingness to help others avoid his mistakes is quite admirable. Unfortunately, the book quickly turns into the literary equivalent of one of those sordid television courtrooms, and his personal involvement with Longo overshadows what ...more

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Feb 09, 2017 Kimba Tichenor rated it liked it

Shelves: true-crime

This book chronicles the relationship that developed between disgraced NYT writer Michael Finkel and Christian Longo, who murdered his wife and 3 children. The two men become friends after Finkel has been fired from the NYT for falsifying information in a news story. In a bizarre turn of events, Finkel learns that a murderer while on the run had taken his name and identity as his own. Wanting to learn why him, he writes Christian Longo and thus begins their intimate friendship, one characterized This book chronicles the relationship that developed between disgraced NYT writer Michael Finkel and Christian Longo, who murdered his wife and 3 children. The two men become friends after Finkel has been fired from the NYT for falsifying information in a news story. In a bizarre turn of events, Finkel learns that a murderer while on the run had taken his name and identity as his own. Wanting to learn why him, he writes Christian Longo and thus begins their intimate friendship, one characterized by mutual sharing of their life stories and dreams. As condition of friendship, both pledge absolute honesty and yet neither man proves capable of delivering on that promise.

As an exploration of the thin line between truth, deception, and fiction, the book is a fascinating read. Christian Longo gives multiple versions of the events that led to the murder of his family: first declaring his complete innocence, then claiming that he only murdered two family members, and then finally stating that he murdered all family members. With each explanation, the reasons shift and it becomes clear that each version is aimed at pleasing his listener. While it is hardly surprising that a murderer would be prone to making excuses for his behavior, Finkel's explanation of his transgressions is more disturbing. It becomes evident to the reader and eventually Finkel himself, that the two men are not different in kind, but only in degree. Each casts the truth aside in order to please others, in order to present themselves in a better light, and in order to save face. And while by the end of the story, the author wants us to be convinced that he has realized the dangers of the path that he has been following and that he is repulsed by the bond that he formed with Christian Longo...this reader, at least, was not completely convinced. I could not overcome the sense that like the murderer, the author was still in denial, still lying to himself and the reader in order to save face. In other words, there is no real mea culpa, no redemption as the title would have one believe. And it is for this reason, I cannot give the book more than 3 stars. ...more

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Nov 18, 2015 Brittany rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

I wanted to give this two stars, but I had to add a star simply because this was such a page turner for me. Two extremely narcissistic personalities competing to one up each other. There wasn't anything truly outstanding about any of the information obtained by Finkel from Longo regarding his case, so if that is what you are looking for you might try another source. There was however, a look in to the ways habitual liars even lie to themselves. Always trying to rationalize and justify their acti ...more

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Aug 17, 2014 Kelly rated it it was amazing

Such a fascinating story!!

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Oct 08, 2015 Lynda rated it it was amazing

I was absolutely mesmerised by this True Story. Couldn't put it down!! ...more

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Apr 28, 2010 Dennis Littrell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: true-crime

Brilliantly done, but unsettling

I found this fascinating. I stayed up until two o'clock in the morning to finish it. It is a true crime story written in a clear, elegant style. Every sentence is polished, and every sentence is planned and placed in exactly the right place. There is no obvious striving for effect, no lurid prose, no fancy writing. Michael Finkel employs what George Orwell once called the invisible style. The writing is so unobtrusive, so deliberate in not calling attention to its Brilliantly done, but unsettling

I found this fascinating. I stayed up until two o'clock in the morning to finish it. It is a true crime story written in a clear, elegant style. Every sentence is polished, and every sentence is planned and placed in exactly the right place. There is no obvious striving for effect, no lurid prose, no fancy writing. Michael Finkel employs what George Orwell once called the invisible style. The writing is so unobtrusive, so deliberate in not calling attention to itself that what the reader experiences is the story itself, pure and simple.

Or stories. The book is like a film or a commercial novel in that there is a main plot and a subplot. The main plot is the story of Christian Longo who murdered his wife and three children and then ran to Mexico where he pretended to be Michael Finkel, ace reporter for the New York Times. This was a startling coincidence because Finkel had just been fired from the Times for falsifying a story about cocoa plantation "slaves" in West Africa. He was disgraced and fallen from the pinnacle of journalistic prestige. That is the subplot. Both stories are interwoven together in a masterful way. And the sequence of events is presented in a dramatic--not a strictly chronological--way so that the tension is maintained and the reader is led to eagerly turn the pages.

The overall story began when Finkel found out about Chris Longo impersonating him. Struck with the coincidence, he felt compelled to know more about Longo and why the accused murderer took on his name. He contacted Longo and worked hard to establish rapport and a friendship. His motive was to get as much information from Longo as he could in order to write a book. The book would fuse the story of his disgrace with that of a man who had murdered his family. The thread that ties the stories together is not just the initial coincidence but an obsession with honesty that haunted both men and the obvious lack of honesty that they both practiced. Both Finkel and Longo strove again and again to come completely clean about what they had done and what they were doing while using each other under the guise of friendship. Longo used Finkel as somebody to talk to (he had been isolated from the other prisoners and had almost no contact with anyone other than his lawyers) and as a sounding board for his defensive strategy. Finkel used Longo as a source for a story that would restart his career. As Finkel makes vivid, both men were more than a little desperate.

At one point Finkel gives part of the voluminous correspondence he had with Longo to three shrinks. They conclude that Longo has a narcissistic personality. He may indeed be narcissistic, but more to the point, Longo is a psychopath. He has all the classic features: a charming personality; a behavioral record of lies and thefts and murders; a grotesque sense of ultimately caring about nobody but himself; and finally an ability to be completely without remorse and able to party after his crimes, as he did in Mexico.

Ironically, I think it is Finkel who has at least a touch of the narcissistic personality. We can see this in his tendency toward an exaggerated sense of his own importance, first in imagining that the world would be all that interested in his story (ah, but he made the world interested by his skillful writing) and in this from page 267 (he's talking to Longo's lawyers who want ideas for Longo's defense): He writes, "I felt, at that moment, as though Longo's life was in my hands--that if I said the right thing, he'd be spared the death penalty." We can also see this in the tremendous amount of energy Finkel put into researching and writing this book. He desperately wanted to regain his reputation and to be regarded again as a top flight journalist.

Both men are caught in a moral confusion about lies and honesty, Longo because he's a psychopath who doesn't understand how people can be so upset about lying since it would seen to be the natural thing to do if it might benefit you (sociopaths learn at an early age that they are supposed to be remorseful about lying, and that it's bad, but they never really appreciate why, and so they are fascinated with the dynamics); Finkel because as he freely admits has told many lies in his life including the lies that ended his career at the New York Times. Neither has apparently thought much about Emerson's "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Neither seems to understand that it is not so much the absolute consistency of what you say as it is your motive for what you say and especially how what you say affects others. That is what counts. Most people know this. Furthermore everybody lies at one time or another, but not when bearing witness and not when the lives of other people might be adversely affected.

I think what fascinated Finkel about Longo was that he could see in him a caricature of himself; and as long as he could imagine that Longo might not be guilty or as long as he didn't look too closely at the murders, that was tolerable. However after sitting through the trial and hearing Longo's grotesque self-serving lies about the murders and the horrific details, Finkel had to psychologically distance himself from his would-be, partial alter-ego. And rightly so since there is something terribly unsettling about their symbiotic relationship.

But in the final analysis I say good for Michael Finkel. This is an outstanding work, a fine addition to a genre I like to call "participatory journalism." What Finkel learned about himself from this chancy venture is possibly as important as what this book has done for his career and for his self-esteem.

--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri” ...more

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Jan 02, 2012 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

This book was recommended to me yesterday, and I finished it today. Obviously, I could not put it down. Literally.

This is a memoir sprung from coincidence. The author, Finkel, is exposed for having created a composite character in a story he wrote for the New York Times Magazine, at the exact moment when a man named Christian Longo murders his family, flees to Mexico, and begins using Finkel's identity as a writer for the Times.

I was drawn to the story originally for the true crime aspect of i This book was recommended to me yesterday, and I finished it today. Obviously, I could not put it down. Literally.

This is a memoir sprung from coincidence. The author, Finkel, is exposed for having created a composite character in a story he wrote for the New York Times Magazine, at the exact moment when a man named Christian Longo murders his family, flees to Mexico, and begins using Finkel's identity as a writer for the Times.

I was drawn to the story originally for the true crime aspect of it, but I quickly became engaged by the author's tale of his own downfall. In the end, I think this is the truly remarkable part of the book. The author was just hitting his stride as a journalist when he made the serious mistake of lying within an article about child slavery and poverty. He does not sidestep his mistake. In fact, he is so forthright about his own deceptive behavior, it is at times physically uncomfortable. In a book with several moments of high tension, nothing equals the description he gives of finally alerting his editors at the Times to the fictional aspect of what had been a well-received article. My stomach dropped along with his as he was marched across the eighth floor of the Times building to the editor-in-chief's office, where he was summarily fired.

Finkel is also frank about the way in which he used the Longo connection to rebuild his writing career, and why ("Longo was the only person in my life I felt morally superior to. . . .") But even though the relationship between the two men was somewhat symbiotic (just as Finkel was using Longo, Longo needed the connection to the outside world that Finkel provided), it evolves to a surprising extent. Structurally, Finkel weaves his story with Longo's in such a way that the reader can't help but notice parallels between the two downfalls, despite the cavernous differences between the two men and their transgressions.

It's tempting to dismiss the friendship Finkel forges with Longo as purely self-serving, a conclusion that could be bolstered by Finkel's sudden realization, during Longo's trial, that he actually despises this man who murdered his family. How convenient, one might think, that Finkel pretends to be a friend to Longo long enough to get the story but then declares his hatred of him at the last minute, to avoid appearing like an ally of a monster. But Finkel is so painstakingly careful to acknowledge the self-serving aspect of his friendship with Longo, both in the book and to Longo directly, that the reader sees beyond that aspect of it, or at least recognizes that however flawed, the men's friendship was mutually beneficial, too.

In the end, it's the honesty of this book about deceit that got me. When Finkel starts drawing his own conclusions and lessons in the final chapters, I really felt like I'd reached them too. "My year with Longo made me see how a person's life could spiral completely out of control; how one could get lost in a haze of dishonesty; and how these things could have dire consequences." And when Finkel offers his apology to the Times for his own deception, I found myself choked up at the sincerity of it. I suppose that's largely a tribute to how thoroughly we are allowed to live inside his own mind, with his own regret. But it's also tied up in the stunning portrait Finkel delivers of Longo, as pathological a liar as one can imagine. We learn that there are different kinds of deception, and that all acts of contrition are not created equal. ...more

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Mar 25, 2017 Amy Roy rated it it was amazing

I could not put it down. It is Saturday and there are so many things I should be doing, but I have sat, almost frozen in my comfy chair - turning page after page. This story is one that will stay with me for a while.

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Feb 24, 2017 Rachel Buckley rated it really liked it

To be honest, I almost DNFed this book at first. I'm so glad I didn't!

So, quick plot summary: Christian Longo, a man accused of killing his entire family, flees to Mexico and takes on the identity of Michael Finkel, a writer for the New York Times. Michael Finkel, however, is facing some rough times of his own. At the same time Christian is in Mexico, Michael is hiding out in his home, waiting for the Editor's Note to be published that will announce his termination from his position with the Tim To be honest, I almost DNFed this book at first. I'm so glad I didn't!

So, quick plot summary: Christian Longo, a man accused of killing his entire family, flees to Mexico and takes on the identity of Michael Finkel, a writer for the New York Times. Michael Finkel, however, is facing some rough times of his own. At the same time Christian is in Mexico, Michael is hiding out in his home, waiting for the Editor's Note to be published that will announce his termination from his position with the Times. As he is waiting, Michael receives a phone call from a reporter at the Oregonian, telling him about the now convicted murderer that was using his identity. Michael goes to meet him, and this story tells the tale of their year in contact and the true story of Christian's deeds.

This took me a long time to get into. The beginning is very dry since it's just background information and establishing characters. However, once Christian's life story began, I was hooked. Christian is an interesting man with a bad habit of lying, and I spent a lot of time trying to find the lies myself before Finkel pointed them out. What bothered me though was at one point, Finkel admitted that he liked to lie too, going into a detailed paragraph about his lying habits and tendencies. That made me question his reliability as an author since he opened this book by saying everything in it was true. Nevertheless, this story was gripping. Christian's life was a wild ride, even before the murders occurred. I don't know what I can reveal without spoiling anything, but Christian and Michael were both very interesting characters in this story.

The relationship between Christian and Michael was amazing too. Throughout the story, you see a bond form between them, with Michael talking to Christian about his relationship with girlfriend Jill and Christian telling him about the fun things he and his family used to do together. They seemed like they had been friends for years, when in reality they only spent one year together. But looking deeper, you can see Michael's feelings begin to change when the trial begins.

Overall, this book was captivating, and although I didn't love every second, I was definitely invested. Highly recommend. ...more

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Dec 22, 2017 Ylenia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-reads, yleniareads-library

2017 was definitely the year I fell in love with true crime! This was a Christmas gift that came early & I devoured it on Christmas Eve & the 25th.

True Story is part memoir, part story of a murderer: Christian Longo. As it happened with other true crime novels I've read in the past, there was some type of connection between the author & the murderer; in this case Longo impersonated Finkel during the time he escaped in Mexico after the crime & then they got in touch.

Longo was an interesting per ...more

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Feb 01, 2019 Erin (from Long Island, NY) rated it it was amazing

Wow! Lately I’ve just been devouring all types of thrillers, especially psychological thrillers, that’s just what I love.. when I came across a list of true crime books. Remembering how I used to enjoy this genre, I looked through a few of them & this 1 sounded pretty interesting. I’m actually shocked at how good it turned out to be! I couldn’t put it down! The author, a newly disgraced journalist, & his subject, a pathological liar & murderer, actually had quite a bit in common! Those parallels ...more

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Jul 08, 2015 Matthew rated it it was amazing

This book is awesome. Going into it, I thought this book would be a somewhat intriguing murder/mystery tale. I was wrong. True Story, by Micahel Finkel, exceeds the murder/mystery genre by telling a story that is as much about a friendship as it is a murder. The main premise of the book revolves around Michael Finkel-- a young, middle-aged journalist working for the NY Times. His life is very average until one day he discovers that the boy used in his most recent story does not even exist; rathe ...more

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May 04, 2015 Ashley rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: No one

Shelves: death-penalty, monsters, book-challenge-2016, dsm3, tragic-figures, wanting-more-to-life, controversial-books, courtrooms, crime, mystery

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!!!!!!!

Ok so let me get this straight..... A New York Times writer is found to be a fraud, and his way of making his "Journalistic Comeback" is doing a story on a News-Worthy story that NO ONE CAN MANAGE TO ATTAIN....he's blinded by Longos Con then when the wool is lifted he's angry/"betrayed"????? WTF?!?! He knew the man was guilty.. (No one goes to Mexico after there whole family is MURDERED!!!! But Michael Finkel Pleads that you BELIVE his intentions are noble....

CRAP ...more

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Apr 22, 2008 Anna rated it it was amazing

A quick and haunting read. Finkel, a disgraced NYTimes writer, finds out that a man suspected of murdering his entire family has been posing as him while on the lam in Mexico. His journalistic instincts, if not his career, still intact, the author embarks on a strange, intense relationship with the accused in the months leading up to his capital murder trial. As someone burned by the flames of invention, Finkel tries - tries - to give as "true" an account, of the relationship and the facts of th ...more

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Jan 09, 2015 Maureen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was an odd choice of book for me. I decided to read it for two reasons. One I saw the preview for the upcoming film about this story and knew I would need to read the book since the book is always better. And two the Christian Longo case was big news the first time I ever visited my favorite place on the planet, the Oregon coast. The trial was in the newspapers everyday we were in Oregon so I had a frame of reference starting out. This book is very well written and super fascinating. Not my ...more

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About Michael Finkel

Michael Finkel

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Michael Finkel is the author of "The Stranger in the Woods" and "True Story," which was adapted into a 2015 motion picture. He has reported from more than 50 countries and written for National Geographic, GQ, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, and The New York Times Magazine. He lives with his family in western Montana and southern France. ...more

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“The fact that Longo himself was a skilled liar seemed to engender in him an ancillary condition in which he was distrustful of everyone else’s honesty.” — 0 likes

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