Book I Can't Find!

[Fishface]

I have wanted for many, many years to find this story so I can read the whole thing. My parents subscribed to Reader's Digest forever and there was a TC case in there that I've never forgotten, yet can't remember well enough to find. A young woman -- probably in the late 1970s or early 1980s -- was getting ready to move into her first apartment & went into a store to buy window blinds. The manager invited her into the back to look at their samples and she did not realize that she was the only customer, and that he had locked the door behind them. He attacked her with a hammer. The next thing she knew she was in the back of her own station wagon, in the parking lot of a restaurant. The guy thought he'd killed her, loaded her in the back of the car, and went to get a bite to eat. Incredibly, he left the keys in the ignition, so she simply climbed over the seats, started it up and left, driving to the nearest police station. They took one look at her and got her to the hospital. She had a severe head injury and permanent brain damage. The guy went to prison, but just a few years later a senator got him out on account of he looked so sorry, and gave him a sweet job in the senator's office.

I cannot remember any names, the place this happened, the year -- but it was in RD so I suspect it was one of their condensed TC stories from a book-length treatment of this sorry tale. Does this ring any bells with anyone? Is there a whole book I can read on it?

[Julie]

Fishface wrote: "I have wanted for many, many years to find this story so I can read the whole thing. My parents subscribed to Reader's Digest forever and there was a TC case in there that I've never forgotten, yet..."
I have no idea-what book this is but it sounds really interesting. Can you contact Reader's Digest or checkout their website?
Check out this site - https://www.ebscohost.com/academic/re.... The librarians at your local library may also have some hints in finding this tale.

[Fishface]

Shelley at the TC group found me the story, in like 12 seconds, using the same search terms I used time and again without result:

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/05/us/...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archiv...

Armed with the right names, I quickly found a book that covers it: The Ambition and the Power by John Barry.

[Julie]

Fishface wrote: "Shelley at the TC group found me the story, in like 12 seconds, using the same search terms I used time and again without result:

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/05/us/......"

Yeah!

[Fishface]

My only qualm is that the last time I read a book by John Barry, it was, you know, boring and not at all as advertised. But at least it's a library copy.

[Fishface]

I'm sorry to report that there was less about the case in Barry's book than there was in the Reader's Digest. It doesn't even explain how the would-be killer came to the senator's attention, which was something I really wanted to know.

I mean, WTF could he have been thinking? "He tried to kill a stranger with a sledgehammer before slicing her up with a knife? He's never really taken responsibility for what he did? He seems like a likely enough lad; let's spring him from prison and give him a job in my office."