Helpful Score: 2
A typically Bugliosi account (=riveting and detail-laden) of the murder trials of two "hippies" who were on a deserted island near Hawaii with an older couple previously unknown to them. The couple disappeared and the hippies sailed into Hawaii in 1974 on the older couple's very nice boat. No one knows exactly what happened to the missing couple; the hippies claim they drowned in the lagoon on the island, but six years after her disappearance, bones were found washed up on the shore of the lagoon, with evidence of foul play.
Bugliosi believes his client (the female "hippie") is innocent...but she has lied numerous times under oath, and the available facts of the case are bizarre and unclear.
An interesting read, especially for those who like legal process (any Law&Order fans out there?).
Bugliosi believes his client (the female "hippie") is innocent...but she has lied numerous times under oath, and the available facts of the case are bizarre and unclear.
An interesting read, especially for those who like legal process (any Law&Order fans out there?).
Helpful Score: 1
Hard cover.
A brutal crime on an eerily beautiful Pacific island; an incomparable legal mind grappling with the nuances of the law and the fatal quirks of human nature; a courtroom drama whose outcome is in doubt down to the last rap of the gavel....
A brutal crime on an eerily beautiful Pacific island; an incomparable legal mind grappling with the nuances of the law and the fatal quirks of human nature; a courtroom drama whose outcome is in doubt down to the last rap of the gavel....
Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book. A very interesting tale about fellow American sport sailors meeting in a distant port; a crime occurs, and it takes years to unravel it all. Nobody writes this king of complex tale any better than Bugliosi.
Helpful Score: 1
The sea surrendered the grim evidence, and a beautiful newlywed found it washed up on a tiny atoll: an odd aluminum container and something glittering in the sand-a gold tooth ensconced in a scorched human skull. 7 years earlier, 2 couples separately set sail in search of a peaceful life: a wealthy yachtsman and his wife, an ex-con and his sexy girlfriend. Their destinies converged on a South Pacific island hundreds of miles from civilation. A savage murder left 2 of them there forever. A chilling crime. A baffling mystery. An explosive courtroom drama. A finale almost as stunning as the crime itself. THIS IS A NON-FICTION BOOK
two couples sail seperatly from Hawaii to Palmyra Island, an Island that is deserted. two are a middle aged couple and the other two hippies wanted by the law. Unknown to each other before they meet at this Island, where both couples were under the assumption that they would be alone . The middle aged couple has a nice yacht equipped with every neccessity needed for a year at sea. The hippie couples boat will probably not make it back to Hawaii. Others have sailed to the Island through out the summer & knew the hostility between the couples. So, they are very surprised when the hippies sailed back to Hawaii on the older couples' nice yacht. A true story of survival on a deserted Island. Two couples are on the Island and the hippie couple return, but no sign , albeit a skull has ever been found of the older couples. Can Bugliosi make a murder case in the 1960's with only a skull? Very intense true story.
This is an absolutely great book. It is so well written and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It is about a couple who decide to live on their boat and take off for some of the islands, where they meet another couple who they become friends with. And from there it gets better and better. If you like true murder mysteries then this is the book for you.
This is the true story of two couples who meet on a deserted South Pacifiic island "paradise" which quickly turns unfortunate, for one couple. It's a mystery and a crime of murder. Part of the book is courtroom setting.
If you saw the movie, you must read the book. True crime at it best plus lots of interesting characters and real life pictures. This is by the author of Helter Skelter.
Beginning is very intersting, but 3/4 of book is court records.
True crime. Two seagoing couples, one upper class and the other hippy, meet on a very strange and inhospitable island, and one couple comes up missing and years later is found dead. Most interesting case.
This kind of story really makes one wonder about fate. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. For no apparent reason other than crummy luck. The victims in this story still haunt me. A good read, laden with meticulously recorded details of the trial and spiced with photos .
Started off very good and interesting. But when the book was all about the trials it was pretty boring. I ended up skimming a lot of the book.
I know this is supposed to be one of those great true crime novels of all time, but I couldn't get into the trial details-and I didn't really agree with the outcome of the book-in fact, w/o telling many details, it made me mad.
i spent 35 years as a trial lawyer. i've read novels about murder mysteries; i've seen movies about murder mysteries; i've seen television shows about murder mysteries. i have never read or seen any book, movie or television show about a murder mystery better than vincent bugliosi's real-life story "and the sea will tell."
its the story of two couples who happened to meet on an uninhabited atoll a thousand miles away from *anything*, in the middle of the pacific ocean. one couple was a wealthy duo from san diego, who were on the first leg of an around-the-world voyage on their beautiful, custom-made, well-equipped, well-provisioned, first-class ketch. the other couple was a multi-convicted felon who was fleeing the law with his latest girlfriend, who were piloting a broken-down, leaky sloop, with no equipment, three dogs, and few provisions. a few months after they met on the island, the con and his girlfriend sailed into hawaii with the high-class boat ... which had been repainted and renamed ... and the wealthy couple had disappeared.
the con and the girl were prosecuted and convicted of stealing the boat. but there werent any bodies - or any other evidence - so a murder case just wasnt possible.
six years later, a couple from south africa arrived at the island. as the woman was running along the beach one day, she saw that an old container had washed up along the shore and had broken open. as she got closer, she saw a skull ...
and the sea will tell is the story of the (presumed) events, and how bugliosi took the case of the girl, planned a defense to the charge of murder, and tried the case.
highly recommended!!!
its the story of two couples who happened to meet on an uninhabited atoll a thousand miles away from *anything*, in the middle of the pacific ocean. one couple was a wealthy duo from san diego, who were on the first leg of an around-the-world voyage on their beautiful, custom-made, well-equipped, well-provisioned, first-class ketch. the other couple was a multi-convicted felon who was fleeing the law with his latest girlfriend, who were piloting a broken-down, leaky sloop, with no equipment, three dogs, and few provisions. a few months after they met on the island, the con and his girlfriend sailed into hawaii with the high-class boat ... which had been repainted and renamed ... and the wealthy couple had disappeared.
the con and the girl were prosecuted and convicted of stealing the boat. but there werent any bodies - or any other evidence - so a murder case just wasnt possible.
six years later, a couple from south africa arrived at the island. as the woman was running along the beach one day, she saw that an old container had washed up along the shore and had broken open. as she got closer, she saw a skull ...
and the sea will tell is the story of the (presumed) events, and how bugliosi took the case of the girl, planned a defense to the charge of murder, and tried the case.
highly recommended!!!
Two couples--one wealthy and married, the other an ex-con and his hippie girlfriend-- separately set sail for a remote South Pacific island, each hoping to play "Adam and Eve" in paradise. Instead of getting away from it all, they take it with them-- their pasts and prejudices, and the petty battles over status and material goods that arise from their different social classes. Only two people out of the original four live through the experience. In 1974, wealthy Californians Mac and Muff Graham sailed to Palmyra Island, 1000 miles south of Hawaii, in their boat the Sea Wind . Buck Walker and Jennifer Jenkins arrived soon after on the same atoll, fleeing drug charges in Hawaii. Several months later, Walker and Jenkins returned to Hawaii in the Sea Wind , claiming that the Grahams were presumed dead when the dinghy in which they had gone fishing was washed ashore unmanned. However, in 1980, vacationers on Palmyra found bones soon identified as those of Muff Graham, who was determined to have been shot. Walker and Jenkins were charged with murder: in separate San Francisco trials, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and she was acquitted.
The first part of the book (the narrative of the events in the island) is an exciting read. Once it gets to the legal "thriller" part, it loses steam as the author (in my opinion) is way too detailed--to the detriment of the flow of the book. It's a shame because the entire plot of the book definitely has the potential to be an excellent read
