Quick premise if you are unaware about what it covers: Jeffrey MacDonald, a Princeton educated, Green Beret doctor is accused of killing his wife and two young daughters. Although the murders occurred in 1970, he was not put on trail and found guilty until 1979. Why? Well, that's what much of the book covers. Actually, the book goes back well before 1970, tracing MacDonald's early life, through the murders, and much afterwards. What's fascinating is that McGinniss became quite close for a number of years to MacDonald while working on the book (which led to some of the controversies noted earlier). McGinniss does an amazing job of weaving the varying timelines throughout the novel. So, while you are moving forward from the murders through the various evidence gatherings and trial, he also is going back in time to reveal more and more about MacDonald's life and history. In fact, the first quarter of the book vacillates between a love story between MacDonald and his wife (at least from MacDonald's vantage point) and a gritty crime story.
So, why did the book earn an elusive 5 star rating? Because it's undeniably fascinating and addicting! While close to a 1,000 pages, I flew through this book in only a few weeks (aided by lots of free time during Spring Break). I really struggled to put it down. As much as many have questioned and derided McGinniss' work, I found his writing simple, yet exhilarating. His way of slowly raising small issues, detail by detail, and then letting it grow until it overtakes your thoughts is simply amazing! While I have read my share of true crime novels before, this was the most awesome in scope, story and mystery. And that truly is what this book is all about - mystery! Did he do it? Could he have done it? If so, how? If so, why? If not, why is the evidence and stories (yes, stories, they all change often) so confounding?
In fact, that was another remarkable piece about the book - how much I still wanted to read and learn about after finishing. While this book came out in the early 1980s, McGinniss wrote two epilogues, the last in 1989 to directly address other staying that he tricked MacDonald and got too close to him. Since, then, of course, there has been more "evidence" and statements brought about. This includes a 2012 book offering a different viewpoint about what really happened.
In the end, I'm left a bit like I am with the JFK assassination (an area of deep immersement of mine for a few years); while I think I know what happened, there is about 15% doubt in my head. And this 15% doubt is really tough for me. I want so much to know what happened on that night. Who is lying and why? But, alas, like many great crime mysteries that will likely never be solved, and, instead, I'll have to continue thinking back to the vivid experience of reading Fatal Vision and continuing to guess at what might of happened to the MacDonald family that evening.
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