Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Judgment Ridge : The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders by Dick Lehr, Mitchell Zuckoff ISBN: 0-06-000844-X Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 16 September, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (15 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The True Story of a Brutal Crime and Its Aftermath
Comment: The Zantop's, Half and Susanne were a much loved couple from Dartmouth Collge a small community in New Hampshire, who were brutally murdered. This book tells their story and that of the two young men who committed this crime. I have ambivalent feelings about this book- it is very well written and the authors have given much detail about the lives of all involved, but this murder took place in my community, and the wounds are still raw. Dick Lehr and Mitchell Zuckoff, are Boston Globe columnists and followed this case day by day. They interviewed many of the people involved in the lives of the Zantops, Robert Tulloch and Jum Parker. They have been able to give an account of the shock and grief both communities felt in the aftermath.
Half and Susanne Zantop came to Dartmouth College from Germany. They wanted to open their world to their two young daughters. In the midst of living their lives, they touched many in the Dartmouth and Hanover community. Half was considered one of the best educators in his Geology department and at Dartmouth. Susanne was a much loved professor of the German department. Both were in their mid fifties and looking at early retirement. They were a very active couple and had lived their lives to the fullest. They had two daughters who were just starting their adult lives.
James Tulloch was an eighteen year old from a small community in Vermont. His life is shared in bits and pieces, and we are able to see that something is terribly wrong in this young man but a murderer? James Parker is his younger friend. They have a bond and have the feeling of "us against the world". They were adventurers and wanted to go to Austrailia and live the life they deserved. In their fantasies they would glean the monies needed by killing their victims and accumulating the money needed to flee. The book tells the story of their attempts to rob and plunder, and the mistakes they made. No one in their community really knew these young men or could have foretold the paths they were establishing.
One cool grey day in January of 2001, Robert and James headed towards Hanover, NH, a town of well-to-do people. A town that neither boy liked or visited often. On a previous day they had searched the town for likely victims. The first home they visited was empty, they moved to the next home and Half Zantop answered. The young men posed as Vershire School studnets interested in the environement and asked Half to participate in a survey. As a professor of Geology, Half was involved in keeping the enviornment clean and invited the young men into his home. At some point during the survey, Half remarked that the young men were not well prepared. This infuriated Robert and he lunged at Half and slit his throat- Susanne hearing the commotion ran into the room and Robert yelled to James to kill her. James hesitated a moment and then slit Susanne's throat. The boys had bought knives over the internet to use for this crime. When they were sure the Zantops were dead, they took Half's wallet and left.
A friend of the Zantops came to their home in early evening to have dinenr with them- found the front door unlocked and walked in. She came to the study and found the grisly scene- she left hurriedly and drove to the neighbors where she screamed for help. The neighbors called 911 and went with her to the Zantops home.
The ensuing half of the book describes the investigation and the
people involved ,and how the many clues left at the scene helped the local police and State Police to find these young men. They were questioned at their homes. In the dead of night the boys left and fled to Indiana where they were picked up. The flight and the local authorities and their stories are told in detail. the boys were brought back to New Hampshire and charged with murder. After delibertion, James Parke became a State's witness ande gave up his best friend, Robert to save his life. He was charged with being an accomplice to murder and given 25 years to life. Robert Tulloch decided a trial was not in his best interest and pleaded guilty. He received a life sentence with no chance of parole. Both young men are at the NH State prison. James Parker is a model prisoner. Robert Tulloch is considered a risk and a troublemaker.
Judgment Ridge is a small ridge near Chelsea, Vermont, the boys hometown. It is a fitting title for this book. The judgment shown by these boys is hard to fathom. The lives destroyed are too numerous to count. This is an account of a gruesome crime and its aftermath. How could these young man kill innocent people? Robert Tulloch is probably a psycopath with no remorse and his partner, James Parker was brought willing into a situation where he did not think of the consequences- he was a follower. Both communites are left to ponder what went wrong and how could this happen. This book attempts to answer these questions and does an admirable job. I am left with an uneasy feeling in my gut- the memories of the Zantops and their remarkable lives will stay with me. As will the memories of these young men and the tragedies they wrought. prisrob
Rating: 5
Summary: A compelling story.
Comment: This is the best true crime book I have ever read. It tells the compelling but horrifying story of the murder of Half and Suzanne Zantop, two Dartmouth College professors, by two teenagers from the rural town of Chelsea, Vermont. Contrary to a previous reviewer, I did not find the book too detailed. There is a lot of detail, but this is necessary for the authors to tell the story properly. The details about the killers, Jim Parker and Robert Tulloch, and their lives in Chelsea before the killing are necessary to the understanding of these two. Neither were the "loner / loser" type that one thinks of in connectionn with teenagers who kill. Both had good friends in Chelsae, took part in extra-curricular activities in school and were intelligent. Granted, Tulloch's parents are a little strange, but not so strange as to explain his behavior. It is exactly in all the detail the authors provide that we see the transformation of these two reasonably normal acting kids into killers. This is a great strength of the book. In the end it is clear that Tulloch was a psychopath who manipulated Parker, a "follower" into going along with his criminal activities. The authors use of detail allows the reader to watch as Tulloch gets more and more out of control. Nor do I think the authors show any sympathy for either killer. They simply describe the relationship between them as it was. And, as it was, Parker certainly comes off the more sympathetic of the two. Another strength of the book is that it is happily free of the psychobabble sometimes found in true crime books.
The authors are also able to paint a very poignant picture of the Zantops. These were kind, wonderful people. In their acknowledgments section, the authors say "Getting to know the Zantops postumously made us wish we had known them in life." I can't imagine anyone reading this book not feeling the same way.
Another reason I found the book so compelling is a personal one: Hanover, NH, the home of Dartmouth College, is my home town. I was born and raised there and my dad was a Dartmouth professor. So I know the town and the area very well. In fact, when I was in high school, I loved going over into Vermont and driving along the unpaved back roads just to see beauty of the forest. I never knew the Zantops but many of the names of other Dartmouth faculty and administrators are familiar. And on their way along East Wheelock Street in Hanover to the Zantop's house the day of the killing, Tulloch and Parker passed within 100 or so yards of my own home in Hanover.
Rating: 3
Summary: The shocking story of Dartmouth crime, less than well told
Comment: There have been some great works of true crime, but Judgment Ridge doesn't reach the highest rung. Maybe it's the face that two different men had a hand in this book, but it suffers from an absence of unity of vision, not only in its confusing back and forth time structure but, as other have noticed, the book has no overarching theme. I attribute some of this muddiness to the authors' otherwise admirable attempt to show a degree of empathy for the two teen killers, by describing, at great length, every detail of their boring rural lives and how badly they wanted to be different than their peers, to distinguish themselves at something, even if it be murder of the most horrifying kind. And yet at the other end of the scale, the victims are not all that interestingly portrayed. We are continually told that they were wonderful folks, but the authors lack the skill to bring out the loss to the world at their deaths, their individuality as people. Is it because of their immigrant status (upon which so much stress is laid), that somehow they are "less than Americans" and therefore can remain ciphers? That would be an unfair assumption and yet it lingers in the reader's mind long after the book has been put down. In brief, this is a frightening but un-illuminatiing book by two veteran writers.
 |
Title: Heart Full of Lies: A True Story of Desire and Death by Ann Rule ISBN: 0743202988 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 14 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
 |
Title: The Dartmouth Murders (St. Martin's True Crime Library) by Eric Francis ISBN: 0312982313 Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime Classics Pub. Date: 01 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
 |
Title: Dead and Buried: A Shocking Account of Rape, Torture, and Murder on the California Coast by Corey Mitchell ISBN: 0786015179 Publisher: Pinnacle Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
 |
Title: Deadly American Beauty: A True Story of Passion, Adultery, and Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library) by John Glatt ISBN: 0312984197 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 02 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
 |
Title: Fatal Error by Mark Morris, Paul Janczewski ISBN: 0786015241 Publisher: Pinnacle Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
