2024 the best man candy review

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(as of Dec 20, 2024 13:52:08 UTC - Details)

A full account of the most heinous crime of the century in which nearly 30 young boys were sexually tortured to death.

Reviewer: Texian
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Accurate recounting of the events as we the public were informed of an awful time in US history
Review: The book is very well laid out in that you will get a sense of what life was like in the 70's in Houston. Then you'll be introduced to the victims from the standpoint of the families as they began to look for missing sons month after month and in many cases, year after year. Finally, about mid-way through the book, you'll come to the grisly end to the tale but this is where the story unfolds. Again, I really enjoyed the way that the book was presented and I walked away with a sense of sadness, just like we did when these things happened or at least when we found out about it during the summer of '73.One of the best things about this book is the fact that it was written during the months after the end of the murder spree and has apparently been out there for years and years. The accuracy of the information and the slang used in the writing is spot on. The author did an outstanding job of assembling his information and presenting it in a way that not only keeps your interest but leaves you with a sense that you just have to tell someone about it if they've never heard of the events before.I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in true crime. The details lack the grotesque descriptions that could have been added (not necessary), yet include enough information to ensure you that the minds of the individuals who took part in the murders were truly not what we call normal.Well done, well done indeed.

Reviewer: Debra J Shockley
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: One of the worst cases in history
Review: I can't understand why this case didn't get more exposure. Perhaps at the time it did but that was when I was still a toddler. I remember my mother speaking of the worst case ever being about a man in Texas. This was the case she was speaking of. This is the only book that I have access to about these horrific murders. I heard victim Rhonda Williams is coming out with a book. I hope her book will serve as some type of memorial for those boys. This book was missing pictures. I hope her book has pictures and more stories of how the boys lived. They deserve to be remembered and not just for how they died.I believe there is so much more to this story than what we have been told. I know Wayne Henley shared a lot of information regarding the murders in the beginning but I feel he has so much more to tell. Perhaps he has been holding back. I believe from what I have read about Henley that he does seem to have some remorse about what he did. With that said, I still do not believe he should ever be set free from prison. David Brooks was one that I found entirely disturbing when I read this book. I believe that he is a true psychopath with absolutely no remorse for his part in these murders. He was 18 years old when he told investigators that some of the boys were no good and deserved what they got. True evil is what he is. Brooks tried to play himself off as just a mere observer of such atrocities. I do not believe his stories. Were both Henley and Brooks involved in a sexual relationship with Corll? I know that Brooks took money from Corll so that Corll could give HIM oral sex. It sounds to me like Brooks was most likely gay and in denial about his sexuality. Perhaps Henley is the same way. We may never know.Another aspect that I found utterly disturbing is the neglect that Henley and Brooks received from their families. How could families allow their sons to go live with a thirty year old man? Both had fathers who were not part of their lives. Brooks father shows up in the picture when his son is trouble for being an accomplice in almost 30 murders. Where were you Dad when David needed you? How could god fearing mothers neglect their sons and let them quit school and go live off an older man? When Dean bought David a corvette how come is mother didn't question this? This story is unbelievable but true. How could David and Wayne bring in their friends from childhood to Dean and know that they were going to be raped, tortured and murdered? For this reason, I believe both should never get out of prison. I realize they were young but I knew better than that at the age of fifteen. They obviously did not. I know that Dean is portrayed as the mastermind of the murders (if that's what you want to call it) but we will never know if that is entirely true because he can't tell us any different. He's dead! I wonder if they were ALL into the rape, torture and murder. It's easy to put on the blame on Dean because he's not talking. Again, we will never know.Let's talk about the disgraceful police department in Houston. How could they have missed Dean??? How could they not see the connection between Corll, Henley, Brooks and the victims? How many of the missing boys were last seen talking to men in a white van? How about David Hilligeist's mother telling authorities about her suspicions of Dean? What about the games with the handcuffs that parents of the victims told the cops? Did they just not care about these boys? It breaks my heart when the parents went to the police about their sons being missing and they would dismiss them and tell them that their son was a runaway. Did anybody in the police department lose their job over completely neglecting this obvious case? Probably not. How about the information that came forth in 1975 about a so-called child-pornagraphy case involving some of the victims. From what I read, authorities found pictures of some of the victims. Why was this dismissed? Dean has told Henley and Brooks that he was involved in child smuggling and that the boys would become prostitutes. Henley confessed that Dean told him to get him boys and that they would be forced into prostitution. Henley didn't care that childhood friends would be forced to be prostitutes? Then he found out that Dean was murdering the boys and did nothing!!!Lastly, to this day bodies are still being identified thanks to the botched job of the authorities in this case. Wayne told them that there were more bodies and they stoppped searching. How could they stop searching? To this day I cannot believe that they stopped looking for these boys bodies. Many of the bodies were misidentified. Just recently the body that they thought was Mark Scott turned out to be Anthony Baulch. Henley had told them in 1973 that Scott's body was elsewhere. Did they listen? No. This case is such a tragedy. Here it is 2011 and families are just finding out that there missing sons or brothers are just being discovered. Because they stopped searching for more bodies, we will never know how many innocent boys were murdered. Henley told them there were more bodies and they didn't listen to him. I just don't understand this. This is one of the worst cases in history for these reasons. I pray that God has given or will give strength to the family members that are still here on earth. I know that the sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, children, wives of these unfortunate young men still miss them very much to this day. I hope that they know I will never forget these boys.

Reviewer: Shanna McQueen
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The NOT so Good Ole Days
Review: Dean Corll... a John Wayne Gacy before there was a John Wayne Gacy. Corll was a homosexual loner who had no friends other than the many male children who clammored around him for handouts of free candy and a chance to shoot a few games of pool and listen to the stereo at Corll's apartment. When young boys began disappearing at an alarming rate from the poor and lower middle class section of Houston known as The Heights, the police were, at best, indifferent. Many of the boys who disappeared had histories that argued against impulsivity and running away, but this did not appear to concern local authorities.Corll brainwashed, abused, and bribed two teenaged boys, David Brooks and Wayne Henley, for a period of 3 years... promising money and material goods each time they procured other teenage boys for his amusement and murderous fantasies. The deaths of 27 boys would have gone long undiscovered had Corll not been shot in the head by Henley, who only then contacted the police and told of the horrors he had witnessed. (Thank God for modern day Amber Alerts! Given that many of the missing boys were held hostage and tortured for 2-3 days before being murdered, the Ambert Alert system that is now an integral part of child abduction cases could have saved the life of at least one child and may have spared Houston a 3 year reign of continuing terror.)While the story itself is well researched and well written, I did experience some disappointments. As other readers have mentioned, there are no photographs. (Although there IS an excellent photograph of Jack Olsen on the back cover.) Photographs of even some of the missing and murdered boys, and a photograph of the now infamous "boat shed," where 18 bodies were unearthed, would have added considerable interest.I was born in Texas and have lived in various parts of Texas almost my entire adult life, including very near Houston. I can say that the "language" used by the author, purportedly to add interest and realism to the many conversations and comments in the book was nothing short of outrageous. (For example, "I was rill skeered!") True, many people who reside in Texas do have accents, but I have NEVER lived anywhere or known anyone who spoke like this. Not only did this inclusion of the cultural "language" force me to re-read and decipher words and entire sentences, it added nothing to the book... except perhaps the impression that all Texans are uneducated, ignorant, and one shallow step from the banjo-playing hillbillies who terrorized a white water rafting crew in "Deliverance."While the book suggests that David Brooks and Wayne Henley were incarcerated for their participation in procuring other victims for Corll and their assistance in burying some of the bodies, the book DOES NOT reference a trial or applied sentences for the boys. How does a True Crime book written by an experienced True Crime author not include such basic information? Does anyone know what happened to these two boys?I struggled with whether to rate this book a 3 Star Book or a 4 Star Book. While the story was certainly interesting and, as the parent of 3 young children, terrifying on a primal level, there were obvious problems that detracted from the reading experience. I do not regret reading THE MAN WITH CANDY, but there are better True Crime books to explore.

Reviewer: Natalie
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Received in great condition and on time.

Reviewer: April Lady
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This book was brilliant, it told the story from the victims, their families, the neighbourhood and the perpetrators.It was a well written book and the words flowed easily. I read it in two days. I have read something on this case before but not to this extent. I really liked the book. My one problem was there were no photos of the boys before they died. The boys on the front are top left Homer Garcia, bottom left David Hiligiest and bottom right is Malley Winkle.

Reviewer: Stuart
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This ‘man’ was a monster and in some ways, even more cruel and depraved than John Wayne Gacy who has gained more fame with his crimes than Corll down the years. What these poor young men who fell victim to this monster must have endured is just heartbreaking. Absolutely chilling

Reviewer: Derek Stocker
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Crazy, such a sad story and made even more upsetting as everyone loved the killer up to and until the end. Amazing account.

Reviewer: MAZ
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I have been trying for a very long time to get a book with an account of the Dean Corll murders. I love Jack Olsen's way of writing. I read the book in a day - could not put it down.