Steve Jackson is the New York Times bestselling author of SMOOTH TALKER, NO STONE UNTURNED and BOGEYMAN. He has appeared on numerous television crime shows including 20/20, 48 Hours, Unsolved Mysteries, Investigation Discovery and Forensic Files. An award-winning journalist for nearly twenty-five years, he is based in Colorado.
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This is a well researched story of a murder and the people involved. It tells how crack cocaine and prostitution brought down a once good cop and involved her in the trial of Robert Riggans. A good read but the court trial was a bit repetitive .
After reading Jackson's stunning "Monster," I was eager to read more true crime from this author. This book is just as good as "Monster," but the main charact
After reading his stunning "Monster," I was eager to read more true crime by this author. "Rough Trade" does not disappoint. It's a gripping story of a crime that didn't make national headlines but, as Jackson found, revealed its own elements of a great story. Above all, the book is a testament to the power of human courage. The "redemption" in the subtitle refers to Joanne Cordova, a witness who defied public humiliation and death to see that justice was done. You won't forget this moving and well-told story.
This is a strange book, in that I'm not sure why it was written. There is nothing exceptional about this murder case, and it is not a who-done-it, because the killer is caught within hours of the murder and there is little doubt from the beginning that he "done" it. Moreover, the last 1/3 of the book is little more than verbatim court testimony from the trial - mildly interesting, but it gets tedious and really adds nothing to the story. The book is filled with typos and editing errors, which is also puzzling.
I love true crime and totally enjoyed this one, especially since so much of the history of the perpetrator was included. This helps.me understand what, too often, goes into the creation of a killer. It seems that so many of them are severely abused as children and how the years of abuse effect their lives as they grow up. I loved how sympathetic the author was to the plight of the former policewoman. The characters were great, too bad it was true!
This taut and well-told crime take does a fine job of getting into the heads of the principal players. JoJo Cordova is a perfect representation of a good person subjected to a dangerous drug addiction can go from being a working police officer to a working prostitute desperate for her next hit of crack. Jackson writes with clarity and precision, and never strays into schmaltzy emotion when describing the horrors of these "rough trade" lifestyles. He writes with compassion but by no means does he glorify or excuse the criminality here. He offers understanding. And in the world of true crime, what better goal can a book have?