"True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa" by Michael Finkel

What’s one man’s demise is another’s redemption…or is it?

Michael Finkel wrote this book in an effort to alter the popular opinion that he is a reporter who falsified articles. He wrote with one objective in mind - to emerge as a talented author and honest human being. But was he able to do so? It’s up to the readers to decide.

What’s the book about? As it turned out, a serial murderer used Mr. Finkel’s identity to hide himself from the law. Luckily, the FBI did their job and caught the man. And when Mr. Finkel found out that his identity has been compromised for nearly a month, he saw an opportunity to use the story a stepping stone toward redemption, toward purification of his own public character.

The book is written well, but having read it, I wouldn’t recommend it. For one thing, it does little to reveal something new about the character of the murderer. It simply affirms his deceitful nature. And I could care less about Finkel and Longo’s correspondence. At times it read like a falls gospel – an account of lies between two insincere men – the dishonest journalist and the two-faced murderer – what a pair.

If anyone is interested in the story, the Internet is a perfect source for Longo’s biography.

- by Simon Cleveland