Reads like bad fiction.
Customer Rating: 
I just finished reading this mod podge of a true crime book and I only have one question. Are the prosecutors and cops really that dumb there? I was completely shocked at the total lack of competence everyone involved exhibited except for the judge Benjamen. Terrence Williams wins the dunce award for this one. He says, "We had a good case against them." Every single page I turned, I kept waiting to read SOMETHING that would tie this foursome to the crime and I never read one shred of anything that even hinted they might have been involved. His good case is bologna. We have 4 guys that head to a bar on the night of the murder. One gets out of the car (I'll get to him in a minute) and goes home. The other three stop at a ATM, which apparently forgetting to mention such an insignificant thing was clearly an oversight since none of the men were asked to give a detailed blow-by-blow of every minute the previous night. However, when one mentions it, the cops decide they're all guilty because they didn't mention it? Piddily. Then we have a handful of people who saw these three men at the bar for hours and they're not called as witnesses? During the same time frame Lois is murdered, these men are seen in a bar and they're discounted as important? That was their solid alibi. But totally unimportant to the cops. Why? Because the cops wanted to pin this murder on them no matter what. There were wet shoes at their house? So what. It means nothing. There was no physical evidence linking them. No motive. No nothing byt an acquaintance between the men and the victim. They couldn't find the man she'd been seen with only a short time before she was murdred so the cops just toss him aside. The elusive cab driver lends credence to their guilt? I'd have been elusive too. He was probably afraid he'd be indicted along with them. But everyone had the same story, even the cab driver. Now William, I'm hesitant to say he's not guilty, although I think he probably is. My only two problems with him were 1) he is unaccounted for at the time of her death and 2) He kept referring to her as Lois Livingston which lead me to believe he knew her better than he said. Aside from that Vernon Malone says he is 100% convinced of his guilt based on the evidence collected. Again I ask, What Evidence???? A sun blister on his nose? That ended up being there the day before she was murdered. It seemed that anything that could have been done to discount their guilt was purposely not done. They took a camera from the house and don't bother to develop the film? They zeroed in of these men right away and it was wrong. Jo McMillen is the one who gave Luigi's name to police at the beginning of the book and then when asked to testify, says he hasn't been in the picture for so long it's not possible he did it. How does Johnston tie Michael to the crim scene? His shoes were wet? Big deal. However, I have read the previous reviewer's take on the whole thing and when I read it, I thought, Wow. Possibly the author should have talked to a few more people on this island instead of just the accused and the cops. I had gathered on my own that Lois didn't have many friends because she was a bit of a loner. But was there evidence that we never heard about? Were these guys really only there for 20 minutes the night she was killed or hours like the author lead us to believe? At any rate, the book was tedious and boring and would have been better written by someone like Ann Rule. The author kept repeating herself over and over and the book didn't follow much of a timeline. I love the Caribbean. However, I think I'll steer clear of Tortola. Not because I'm afraid I'll be murdered there but because I could be arrested for one. These guys were there on vacation and it ended up biting them in a big way. I do find it hard to believe that these three guys killed her. She had managed to run about 75 yards from her killer before he recaptured her. I find it hard to believe she could have gotten away from three guys like the evidence showed.
The Wealthy Tell Their Story
Customer Rating: I live on the island. I knew Lois very well. She was a major troublemaker and had no friends. This is a sad thing to say, but true. She wasn't beautiful but somewhat overweight and very, very plain (this is the only pic of her, heavily retouched, she would ever give out) and told a lot of lies about what she did - a graphic designer, a tambourine-player in a New Age travelling gypsy troupe, a casting director for a Miami tv company, a student. You name it, she said it. When we heard the news, everyone's first thought was, 'Lois has gone too far this time'. Her ex-boyfriend was a very disturbed and violent character and was never interviewed at length by the police.
These guys, who were accused were sitting in the police station waiting to be interviewed when a witness came in. One of them said, 'Hey man, just tell them we were in Quito's for two hours and we'll be out of here'. My friend said that they had only been there for 20 minutes. That they had come in all dishevelled and instead of going to the bar and getting drinks and chatting together, they immediately dispersed, talked to a load of people and left very fast.
These men are wealthy beyond anything you can imagine. The parents have made huge and major contributions to political campaigns. My friend is one of the lawyers who got one of them off. He said its not about innocence of guilt, but who walks through the door with the check first. He said, its not about the evidence, but the case the other side is making, that is the angle I explore it from.
Are they innocent, are they guilty? Who knows, except them. But one thing is certain, its not like it says in the book
