Alone With the Devil : Famous Cases of a Courtroom Psychiatrist by Ronald MarkmanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read a lot of true crime, and have for years. It is not often any more that I come across one that truly impresses me. This one really did for the author's insight and open revelation of his struggle with the difficulties from a psychiatric system that does not communicate with a judicial system resulting in the dangerous out on the street, or the insane receiving incarceration instead of treatment. Not all the cases are famous, but they are all delivered with insight. Perhaps from taking efficient patient history notes, the author can in a compact few pages run down a perpetrator's entire life from childhood to criminal act. The connection to the Tate-LaBianca murders is what brought me to this book. I am surprise at his casual acceptance of fact that Manson was at the scene of the LaBianca murders and tied up the adult vicitims. He interviewed Leslie Van Houten (and, later Polanski). Oh, the horror of some of the cases here - like the Vampire of Sacremento. The book ends with the story of Marvin Gay, Sr. slaying Marvin Gaye. Fascinating as I didn' t know Sr. suffered from a benign brain tumor during the killing.
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