Twisted Triangle: A Famous Crime Writer, a Lesbian Love Affair, and the FBI Husband's Violent Revenge

by Caitlin Rother, John Hess

Praise for Twisted Triangle

"This book will haunt you. It will move you to look at some of the harsh realities of life in a new way. A powerful story-and masterfully written."
-Aphrodite Jones

best-selling author, All She Wanted and Cruel Sacrifice

"A harrowing tale of one woman's struggle to maintain a balance between being a mother, an FBI agent, and dealing with a corrupt husband also an FBI agent. A must-read."
-Joseph D. Pistone

aka Donnie Brasco

"Hitchcock wishes he'd dreamed it up. Capote wishes he'd written it. Rother's mesmerizing narrative chronicles a wife's heroic struggle against great odds to survive her psychopathic husband's elaborate scheme to make her murder the perfect crime. This spellbinding tale offers an added treat-it's true."
-Marcus Stern

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, The Wrong The Extraordinary Saga of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught

"This in-depth account brought back memories of a most bizarre case, proving once again that the truth can be stranger than fiction."
-Paul B. Ebert

Commonwealth's attorney, County of Prince William, Virginia

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Biography, Mystery, Queer

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2008

About the author

New York Times bestselling author Caitlin Rother has written or co-authored 14 books, ranging from narrative non-fiction crime to mystery and memoir. Her newest book is DEATH ON OCEAN BOULEVARD: Inside the Coronado Mansion Case (April 27, 2021). Her backlist includes HUNTING CHARLES MANSON; SECRETS, LIES, AND SHOELACES; LOVE GONE WRONG; DEAD RECKONING; THEN NO ONE CAN HAVE HER; I'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU; NAKED ADDICTION; POISONED LOVE; BODY PARTS; TWISTED TRIANGLE; LOST GIRLS; WHERE HOPE BEGINS and MY LIFE, DELETED. A Pulitzer Prize nominee, Rother worked as an investigative reporter at daily newspapers for 19 years before quitting the news biz in 2006 to write books full-time. Her journalism has been published in Cosmopolitan, the Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and The Daily Beast. She has done more than 200 appearances as a crime commentator on TV, radio and podcasts, ranging from "20/20," "People Magazine Investigates," "Nancy Grace," and "Crime Watch Daily," to shows on HLN, Oxygen Network, Investigation Discovery, C-SPAN, XM Radio and PBS affiliates. She also works as a writing-research-promotions coach and consultant.

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book about a married female FBI agent who falls in love with a woman who is a mystery writer, and who is subsequently kidnapped, attacked, and nearly killed by her own husband, a fellow FBI agent (who she also happened to be informing on regarding some fraud issues related to the FBI) . . . this book was somehow lifeless.

I didn't feel connected to the story or to Margot (the FBI agent).

[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was just awful. The true story is unbelievable, the prose horrible, the set up kept me going but there was no answer to what the crazed husband was planning. No likeable characters. I am mad that my county library spent taxpayer dollars to buy this book. How did it ever get published? NO EVIDENCE THAT AN EDITOR EVER SAW IT.

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a horrible book. I do admit not finishing it because I got so annoyed by the people in this book. The wife pretended she was innocent while she wasn't and she was so dumb. Did not get really into it even though I did read 3/4th. I loved Caitlin Rother's other book so she can write.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recounts, entirely from the wife/victim's perspective, the story of the woman whose FBI agent husband tried to murder her. Got a lot of press in part because she'd had a brief lesbian affair with the novelist Patricia Cornwell. I remember reading Washington Post article about this case some time back and probably should have left it at that. The parts of the book that go beyond the article-length version (e.g., sad fallout for her daughters, who both ended up cutting themselves, and one had a lot of trouble with drug addiction, running away, etc.) get short shrift here, while aspects that are obvious (it's nerve-wracking to be cross-examined at trials......custody disputes are stressful....) were elaborated a great deal.

One thing I got out of reading it was that the book provoked me to think more about what makes good/bad writing, controlling statistically for the interest level of the story. It's inherently an interesting story, but I found it a tedious book. Aside from writing concisely, avoiding cliches and not repeating oneself, what do good writers do to hold your interest? I conclude from this book's counterexample that one thing they do is exercise good judgment regarding what to just claim (people who throw cigarettes out of car windows are a menace to society) vs. what to quote/attribute with scene-setting (sitting at the computer on a rainy Sunday, Dave reflected on having seen one too many cigarette tossed from a car window and said "those litterbugs drive me berserk. They are truly a menace to society"). In my opinion this author frequently made the wrong choice, taking banal/factual assertions and putting them in as quotes or assertions (the witness stated "I am a forensic psychiatrist" and the like). Always hard to say what contributes to an overall perception of not liking a book, but I think that may have been part of it.

Story itself - 4 stars. Writing -- 0.5.

[Kay · Rating 1 out of 5]

I find it hard to believe I was so excited to read this book! I have read all of Patricia Cornwell books and then when I recently found out about this case I knew I had to read it. The agony of waiting for it to be checked in at the library was almost as bad as the agony of reading it!

The true crime centers around a couple who are FBI agents [please hope they were not typical agents or this country is in trouble!:]. The wife meets Patricia Cornwell while she is doing research for her books and immediately the two start an affair [depends on who you believe- to the wife it sounds like a true love affair and to Cornwell a couple of rolls in the hay!:]. The husband later files for divorce, abducts his wife, and spends a year in prison for the dirty deeds [scamming, stealing, etc..:] his wife accuses him of. After getting out he then hold's his wife's preacher captive in order to trap his wife.

They say truth is stranger than fiction and in this case it's certainly true. I didn't like the wife nor did I find her believable. [the husband was dreadful also:]. She claims she knew nothing about his earlier scams [when they were going on:] nor did she find it strange about the excess of money they had for things. It seemed to be only after a divorce was coming that she had a revelation and she put 2 and 2 together to make 5. Now I can [to a degree:] believe the suburban housewife may be totally in the dark how her Wall Street husband makes his money and doesn't question him, but this is a FBI agent!

Even after serving a year in prison, the husband retained his joint custody [actually he had 4 days to her 3:] of the children. The story is even more stupid including how she lied on the stand about his scams because she 'thought' his evil partners in crime had kidnapped their children. The story just got sillier and sillier as it went along. I pity their poor children! And everyone who reads this book.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling true crime story.

[Crystal Jarvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real page turner I could not believe some of the things i was reading.. It kept you hooked from the first page.. When you read the book and you hear some of the things this lady goes through you really feel for her... whrn you see how patrica treats her you cant believe someone could be that way...

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't believe I'm actually admitting to reading this book.

[Sharon Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really haven't known quite what to make of this book. It details the hounding, torturing, life-threatening behaviour of a husband enraged partly by his wife's infidelity with another woman (Patricia Cornwell, no less) and partly by the wife finally confessing to fraudulent practices by both of them against their employer - the FBI! It certainly does read as if Gene Bennett put his wife Margo through hell; in fact, he sounds like the archetypal badass narcissistic powermonger and did go to gaol. But my problem is: how come the author couldn't at least get an interview with Bennett? Unfortunately for the sake of balance, all we get is Margo's point of view, immeasurably weakening the book, in my view. In many ways, this is just a marriage-breakdown story - admittedly a scary one - so what you really need is the other side. Okay, maybe Gene was everything Margo painted him to be, but was Margo perfect? She went along with his frauds - took part in them - and cheated on him as well - before dumping him in it. Not to mention the damage to her children - although this is always the way of it with traumatic marriage breakdowns.

As for Patricia Cornwell, I can understand her reluctance to open up on it. For her it was just an episode, obviously of less importance for her than for Margo, who was an emotional mess at the time. But this is not to criticise Cornwell; things like this can just happen. Cornwell was only mentioned, really, because it added titillation to the tale.

All in all, an uneven, oversensationalised account. Given better treatment, this story could have amounted to something.

[Kimberley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a favourite, but also not my usual genre.
Sensationalized/capitalized on the "lesbian love triangle with a famous author", which was a very *small* part of the story, overall. (very small) This was particularly irksome as in the story they talk about how the media picked up on that part and ran with it, overblowing it.

[SpareTheBS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story. The hell this woman and her kids went through because of her psychopathic asshole of a husband. The story kept me intriqued as to what else was going to happen and exactly what the punishnent for her husband was going to be. The editing was atrocious...non-existing. It really was a distraction but not enough to get me to quit reading it.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember hearing about this case at the time, but I really never knew how crazy or cruel the husband was. This was a very well told story.

[Renee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to be a Patricia Cornwell fan. I still think her early books are excellent thrillers. This book gave me a little insight into her personality, although she is a pretty minor character in this story.

This was not the best written of books, but it did tell the complete sordid tale. Since I was married to an emotionally abusive man, I understand the main character's point of view pretty well. There is no way to explain why some reasonably intelligent women make such stupid choices, but there are many of us, and some suffer for many years, rationalizing away that he's just misunderstood! But we understand. Uh huh.

Fortunately most of us aren't kidnapped and chucked into the trunk of a car. We aren't all closet lesbians, nor do we have a lot of other things in common. I guess you could say we have low self-esteem, but I don't really know that we all do.

This book is pretty depressing, all in all, but I would recommend it if you like Cornwell, or true crime woman-in-trouble books.

[Alyssa Rea · Rating 3 out of 5]

They say it again and again in this book-- the truth is stranger than fiction, and in this case I see it. I felt terrible for margo and her children after reading about her former husbands sentencing, but then I read a quote by her just this last November (she is a captain of UC Berkeley PD) defending the actions of her dept in regards to police brutality allegations against students of the nationwide Occupy movement. “The individuals who linked arms and actively resisted, that in itself is an act of violence,” UC police Capt. Margo Bennett said. How does a woman go from an actual victim of TERRIBLE violence to a quote like that? The book was a worthy read but while I believe that Gene Bennett is every bit the psychopath the book portrays, I have my doubts about Margo too.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great true crime novel, with Patricia Cornwell as one of the main people in the book. This shows how a narcissistic FBI #&*$(#&$(* treated and manipulated his family. What a jerk.

[When I · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a famous crime write, a lesbian love affair, and FBI husband's violent revenge.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, I am looking forward to reading more of her books. I was disappointed that Patricia Cornwell didn't back Margo up in the end... She should have shown her more support.

[Dorcus Abercrombie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these books based on true stories

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a page turner. I was surprised how little Patricia Cornwall was involved. In these reviews I am constantly amazed at how critical and judgemental people are of victims of not only domestic violence but that mindfucking that is the hallmark of a sociopath, especially a very intelligent one. It was clear to me that there were several elements of the story that were not spelled out but were classic signs of psychological abuse. For the people who don’t understand why an educated professional woman would comply with her manipulative husband’s fraudulent behavior. It is typical of sociopaths to groom the victim over years before setting them up to be trapped, keep in mind that she had a toddler and sick baby when the fraudulent housing deal occurred. Later when she was kidnapped and coerced into sex not only was she sleep deprived confused dehydrated but she had also been tasered repeatedly in the head.
I think this book was well written, while not high literature, it was very good for the genre and I think it was more than fair at assessing Margot’s relationship with Gene.
I hope in future printings there will be some comment on domestic violence and sociopathy. Sociopathic predators are everywhere in society. Domestic violence occurs in every socioeconomic strata.
Good job Caitlin Rother, John Hess

[Ginger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve had this on my TBR & my Kindle for years. It seems like every time I was going to read it, another book (or 3) took its place. So finally, I decided I would pick this as one of my books to read this year.

I have always enjoyed Patricia Cornwell’s books, so when I realized this book mentions her (the affair), I wanted to read it. In no way did this change my opinion on Patricia! For one thing, I don’t care who you have a relationship with...in other words, I don’t care if you are gay or straight. It’s none of my business anyway.

This book reads like fiction and kept me picking up this book whenever I had a free moment. I cannot believe the abuse Margo went through at the hands of her husband. She’s a strong woman for sure! I am not sure if I could’ve endured everything she did and still come out “ok”.

All of this took place in the early to mid 90s. Although I lived in VA at the time, I don’t remember seeing this on the news. I know it was a big story at the time, but I was busy in life raising my daughter on my own and then later meeting a man who would become my husband.

I’m definitely going to be looking up any articles I can find on this story and the trial.

[Denise Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is not that this book is poorly written, the author is a solid writer. The problem with this book is that Margo, the female in the marriage is a truly unlikable person. I do not belittle the crime and violence that she experienced, her husband was a nut job. That being said, Margot was not a very nice woman: she cheated on her husband,she got caught up in the fame of being involved with the famous author and was a bit of a name dropper (an entire irrelevant story about Demi Moore), and I feel she kind of phoned it in as a mother.
Overall, the story is interesting but I suggest you just read about it online.

[Lilithanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believe that the title was inaccurate and the book was sensationalized by the Patricia Cornwell association. It actually wasn't a relationship, but a short-term friendship that included a two-night stand. The real crime story is about the actions of Gene Bennett and his desire to hurt, and possibly kill, his wife Margo. His lies and sociopathic behavior started long before Margo became acquainted with Cornwell.

I didn't find any of the subjects particularly likeable or easy to relate to. The book can stand on its own as a mediocre true crime story. The Patricia Cornwell tangent didn't add anything to it.

[Bill reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two FBI agents, Margo and Gene Bennett, married, had two daughters and lived happily after. Not so fast. The rest of the story(sorry Paul Harvey), is a soap opera. Early on, wedded bliss was not to be, as Margo had met novelist Patricia Cornwell(Patsy throughout the book), and the two had a brief but intense relationship. Gene was understandably unhappy with the new family dynamic and took extreme measures to rectify the situation. A spousal abduction and threats led to the G- man's ultimate downfall. Rother did her research but relies predominantly on Margo's version of events. It is truly stranger than fiction and Twisted Triangle is a very good read.

[Bernie · Rating 3 out of 5]

April book club theme was true crime so I picked up this one with my new Houston Public library card. It made much of the fact that the victim of attempted murder in this case once had an affair with Patricia Cornwell but that seemed like a fact mostly unrelated to the case. And Patricia Cornwell has never publicly commented on the case. Anyway, I usually enjoy true crime but this one was a bit bland.

[Laura Valenziano · Rating 3 out of 5]

A true crime book that makes you wonder how people go on after someone they were married to tries to murder them in such a horrible way. When you realize that even FBI agents have done horrible crimes you can't help but wonder about the human race in general. It's a good read but quite disturbing.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of an ugly divorce, one that is further complicated because both husband and wife were FBI agents. The book comes off as a bit soap opera-ish, which is quite a feat considering how much crime takes place in the story.

[Imani · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story was boring and definitely did not live up to the hype of the title and the blurb. I usually voraciously devour this writer's retelling of true crime.

With this one, I gave up around the 25% mark.

From the writing, everyone involved came across kinda dumpy and bland. I couldn't find it within me to care how the story unfolded.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unpleasant people doing unpleasant, illegal and unsavory things. Topped off by the trying to titillate with the Lesbian! Triangle! With Famous Crime novelist! The affair was brief and really didn’t seem that important.

I used to avidly read true crime but I may not be able to any more.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. This is one of those times. Page turner.

[Candice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. But just fine.