Scream at the Sky
Five Texas Murders and One Man's Crusade for Justice
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- 10,99 €
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- 10,99 €
Publisher Description
Carlton Stowers, the two-time Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestselling master of true crime, is back. Scream at the Sky is his masterful chronicle of one man's murderous career, and another man's sworn promise to deliver justice and closure to the people of Texas.
Wichita Falls, Texas, was home to a hundred thousand people in the last months of 1984. That winter was harsh, as the normally arid Texas plains gave way to ominous dark clouds that delivered freezing sleet and rain. But a much darker force was looming, and soon the quiet town was besieged by a faceless evil--and its young women were dying because of it.
In the next seventeen months five women were found brutally beaten and murdered, their young lives cut short and their bodies left haphazardly where they fell. In the years that followed, grieving families fruitlessly sought answers. A haunted district attorney chased every lead only to meet one dead end after another. And the killer's identity remained unknown to the ravaged townspeople.
Then, fourteen years after the killing started, an investigator who had been assigned the cold case brought to it a renewed dedication, and came upon a chance discovery. Searching through the yellowed case files, he caught a minor detail that suggested one more suspect. Faryion Wardrip was an unhappily married family man who drowned his anger in substance abuse and violent fantasies. But for five unfortunate families, the drugs sometimes took over and the fantasies became realities.
Investigator John Little followed his instincts and tirelessly ruled out every possibility until he was left with but one conclusion: Faryion Wardrip was the serial killer who had eluded his office for so long. How he tracked down Wardrip and used the legal system to beat the killer at his own game of deception is a remarkable story of justice served.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rural Texas endures a long-unsolved serial killing spree, in this grim suspenser by Edgar Award winner Stowers (Open Secrets; etc.). The narrative begins in late 1984, when a young nurse is found raped and murdered in Wichita Falls; soon a second, equally brutal murder stokes the city's fears. One indictment ends in mistrial when a third murder occurs; eventually, there are five victims. Faryion Wardrip, a local eccentric with drug and money troubles, and an acquaintance of the third victim, readily confesses to her murder. Paroled after serving 11 years of his 35-year sentence for that one murder, Wardrip, purportedly a changed man, becomes active in a local church and remarries. In a classic instance of "murder will out," however, a hungry young district attorney's investigator named John Little begins working the long-unsolved murders in December 1999 and soon gleans a crucial clue from old reports that might tie Wardrip to the other murders. The book becomes increasingly suspenseful as Little quietly builds his case against the sanctimonious Wardrip, whose composure crumbles when he's finally confronted on his old misdeeds. Stowers demonstrates sensitivity toward the many survivors of Wardrip's crimes, yet at heart this is a gory, effective meditation on the evil sometimes committed by "ordinary" men and the great efforts necessary for justice. 8 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW.
