What do You think about Everything She Ever Wanted (1993)?
Ann Rule always shares very interesting, and disturbing, stories. And this one was no different. It is about a husband who is tried for murdering his parents, and a wife who seems to be the one who did it and who is imprisoned for other crimes and attempted murders. The really sad part is how this woman's parents raised her (as a spoiled brat) and supported her in her lies and selfishness: truly shameful. Too bad they can't be tried for the crimes too.In any case, I enjoyed the read, but was stuck several times as Ms. Rule seemed to repeat herself about information and events over and over again. It got a bit tedious. She also seemed to include lots of minutiae that didn't appear to be relevant, while not covering the things that were later going to be relevant in enough detail, so I found myself going back a few times to see if I had missed something somewhere.
—Garrett
This is a twisted tale of a woman whose southern belle exterior masked a narcissistic and ruthless criminal. The crimes committed by Patricia Taylor née Radcliffe were shocking enough, but the blind devotion of a family that fed her egocentric drive to get whatever she wanted was even more fascinating. Pat was a woman who would go to any lengths to obtain the lavish lifestyle she felt she deserved. People, especially men, were simply a means to an end and the end was usually pretty heinous. In her ceaseless drive to obtain everything that she felt defined her existence, Pat left death, destruction and broken lives in her wake. It is a portrait of the most extreme example of Borderline Personality Disorder and the impact such a person on the lives of everyone she touched. Once again, family dysfunction was at the forefront and Rule did a great job of inciting the reader to think about what caused a person born into such a loving family to become so sociopathic.A good read and I recommend this!
—Connie Hodges
I finished this Everything She Ever Wanted: A True Story of Obsessive Love, Murder, and Betrayal and Dead by Sunset: Perfect Husband, Perfect Killer? the other day. I am going to have to go back and buy some more Ann Rule novels since I ended up once again being fascinated by her True Crime story.This novel starts with a marriage. Taking place in Atlanta in 1974 we have Pat Taylor marrying her new husband Tom Allanson and thrilled that she will finally start to belong to the elite Atlanta society life she craves. When Tom buying Pat a plantation so that they could have their own Tara she feels like everything in her life is finally going her way. However, things quickly change when Tom finds himself out of work and blackballed from getting new work due to his father Walter disapproving of Pat. With some very strange occurrences everything reaches a fever pitch and two people are left dead.Ms. Rule seems to have a certain formula in her novels (which I like) that she usually starts off with the murders and "suspects" and then we work our way backwards from their childhoods, upbringings, and back to the present day of the murders. She follows that same formula here and also includes some pictures of Pat, Tom, and others who are depicted in this novel. I honestly don't have a problem with it since it does work. Though at times a bit of the backstory does drag on a bit I thought it was a very minor complaint and not enough to deduct a star since the entire novel does keep you reading well into the night.I would definitely recommend to True Crime readers.
—O
