I registered this book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14155021

Better than most true-crime books.

I have been curious about Amanda Knox since I first heard of her arrest. Like many others, I initially thought "maybe she is guilty". Then the television series Guilt came out. So that made me wonder what really went on. I hunted online and found this book was recommended as the most thorough.

And it is. It is a bit repetitious, but probably necessarily so. But let's start at the beginning.

Amanda Knox lived with three roommates in Perugia, Italy, in 2007. Amanda is American, her roommate Meredith Kercher was British, and the other two women were Italian. They had been living together for two months when Meredith was murdered in their apartment. It was a holiday weekend so Meredith spent the night alone and was found the next day by Amanda, her boyfriend, and others.

Within a few days the prosecutor had settled on Amanda and her boyfriend as the likely perps. He developed a theory involving sex and violence and a third person. His theory was leaked, as almost everything was in this investigation over the next years. The press picked it up and ran with it, worldwide.

This book explores the lives of the participants, the days before and after the murder as well as the night itself, and the Italian legal system. It is clear that the author has a bias in favor of Amanda, but the evidence does speak for itself. I found it engaging and interesting and it satisfied my need to know the story. Except that it was published in 2010 and further events, including Amanda's release on appeal, had not yet happened.

I found the description of the legal system and the way that trials are run especially interesting. I think such a system is only going to work when all persons involved are careful to stick to facts, and that is unlikely to happen. ( )

Amanda Knox left Washington for the small Umbrian university town of Perugia to complete a year of studying abroad and to brush up on her Italian language skills. Many students take advantage of opportunities to study abroad, but for Amanda her year abroad turned into a legal nightmare. Coming home one morning she discovers the body of her murdered roommate, Meredith Kercher. After months of half-hearted investigation, language barriers and poor forensics she finds herself and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito sentenced to prison for 26 and 25 years, respectively.

This story has captured headlines around the world and also captured the imagination of a friend of mine. In an attempt to be able to carry on an intelligent conversation I picked up this book to familiarize myself with what happened. Admittedly, if you enter “Amanda Knox Trial” as a Google search this information is readily available, but I found that Ms. Dempsey put it together in an engaging, chronological manner, without offering any personal suppositions.
( )

OMG. What a terrible book. I am very disappointed. First of all I did not know anything about this case when i started reading. At first I liked the book, the writing style was fine but then i started to notice the author was constanty telling us that one girl in the book was innocent. If there is something I hate it is a writer who is too biased. Of course many true crime writers have feelings when they write a book, but this author, constantly she was finding excuses for Amanda Knox, so much so that it annoyed me so much i could not keep reading. So now I still do not know what happened. grrrrr ( )

A powerful and moving true story of a senseless crime and the tragic aftermath. The brutal stabbing of British student Meredith Kercher, quickly followed by the arrest and conviction of her American roommate Amanda Knox--who may or may or not be a killer. Candace Dempsey takes the reader on a journey that is both fascinating and heartbreaking as she makes a clear and concise common-sense examination of the truth behind the sensationalist headlines. Whether you have followed the tragedy from the beginning or are hearing the story for the first time, this book will help you... ( )