Angel Face: The True Story of Student Killer Amanda Knox

by Barbie Latza Nadeau

Book Overview

Despite all the airtime devoted to Amanda Knox, it's still hard to reconcile the fresh-faced honor student from Seattle with the sexually rapacious killer convicted of the November 2007 murder of her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0984295135
• ISBN13: 9780984295135
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Beast Books
• Length: 205 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.8" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 16 to 11 years
• Grade Range: Grades 11 to 6

Customer Reviews

Copy and Paste

Do not waste your money! This book spews what the police said with obvious errors and a lack of verification.

Absolute pathetic account of this case. The writer never mentions Mignini with his sex cult ritual crime theories, Giobbi putting Amanda's picture up on a wall next to Mafia dons before she was charged with anything, CSI Stefanoni with her repeated perjury, suppression, and misrepresentation of evidence, CSI Rinaldi repeatedly trying to turn Guede prints into Sollecito, and even Knox prints, the Daily Mail scandal rag, Daily Mail readers, guilt advocate Andrea Vogt on the BBC payroll claiming to be unbiased, Napoleoni being whisked away from the Perugia police for her custody battle abuse of power, the self-proclaimed "Messiah Jesus Christ" Man from Atlan (he comes from the planet Atlan and is also known as Ergon the astrologer) who edited the guilt wiki which was quoted by lazy main stream reporters who didn't bother checking their sources, John Follain rewording one of Amanda's class assignments that was marginally about rape to make it about rape..and this writer's nonsense forensics plus sexual innuendo. The word hypocrisy comes to mind. Amanda is simply not the first innocent to get nailed by interrogation tactics. And she isn't the last. It happens every day. The time line between the murder and the initial arrests, from the wrong assumption of staged break-in, to junk profiling, to being badgered with the same questions over and over each day with an unaccredited interpreter, growing sleep deprivation, softening up for the middle-of-the-night kill with extra detectives brought in from Rome to ensure it. Twelve detectives taking turns screaming at a 20 year old is torture. This book is laughable trash just was the case against Raf and Amanda.

Readable and fascinating

The book is quite short (I read it in a couple of hours), but manages to convey very vividly the working of the media in Perugia during the year-long trial of Meredith's killers. I didn't feel as if it was meant as a detailed examination of all the evidence (of which there was a mountain, despite what Amanda Knox's family's PR company would have you believe) and timelines, although it does of course go into some detail (with honesty about the shortcomings of some of the forensic processes). Barbie Nadeau (who attended the trial every day and speaks fluent Italian, unlike most commentators on the case) writes well and the depiction of the trial, Knox and Sollecito's demenaors in court, the "politics of access" as she calls the attempts to spin the story by the Knox family, are fascinating. She also has some interesting theories about what actually happened that night, that I don't necessarily share but she is open that they are just hypotheses. As always, my sympathies to the Kerchers for the loss of their beautiful daughter, taken from them for no reason other than drug-addled kicks. Sickening.

A Fine Read

There will be better books written on the Knox case. I wanted to give this a four star rating, but since there are so many reviewers who have plainly not read the book and yet unleash their bile and give a one star rating, I feel I must redress the balance, since I HAVE read the book, and it is well-written and informative. The US media have continually fed the Knox Party Line to the American people - that there was "no evidence" against Knox and the trial was a "travesty". This books proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that those assertions are untrue, that there is a considerable weight of evidence against Knox, that the trial was fair (Knox had a million-dollar defense, don't forget) and that the verdict was entirely reasonable. This is the story the US media should have given us, and yet did not. Italy is a fine, fair, decent, civilized country. The do not deserve to be traduced on such little basis. Nadeau demonstrates this conclusively. This book pays respectful tribute to the victim in this case. Ms Nadeau investigated the case from the start. She speaks Italian and English and attended court and - unlike Knox's parents and most of their supporters - she UNDERSTOOD what was said in court. The One star "worst book I ever read" etc etc reviewers are plainly in a state of rage. That alone should tell you two things. Firstly, that they are possibly more closely connected to the Knox family than they admit, and secondly, that this book is a worthwhile read. Amanda Knox is portrayed fully in this book. Neither the simplistic "She-Devil" of tabloid imagination, or the "angel" her family like to claim, she was a thrill-junkie who, through a combination of circumstances, stabbed another young woman in the neck and left her to bleed to death. Given a different set of circumstances, she may not have done so. This crime is a tragedy for everyone involved, but Knox is portrayed as someone who is not entirely unsympathetic. If her noisome supporters started to be a little more honest about the evidence against her, the rest of us might start sympathizing with her a little more. She is a murderer. She needs to do her time. I bear her no ill-will, and neither does Barbie Nardeau. Knox's lying fans, on the other hand, continue to shame themselves, and dishonor Meredith.

Insightful & you can't beat the source - Nadeau is bilingual, attended the trial in person & wri

During the trial of Amanda Knox and her knife-collecting "boyfriend" of 6 days (Raffaele Sollecito), there were only 2 BILINGUAL reporters in the courtroom covering the proceedings for American readers: 1) Barbie Nadeau (of Newseek); & 2) Andrea Vogt (of the Seattle Post Intelligencer). The REST of the American media (including CBS News & CNN), however, appears to have been content to rely on 'talking-points' issued directly from Amanda's 'million-dollar' Seattle PR firm, without ONCE bothering to challenge its claims, or send a BILINGUAL reporter to Perugia, Italy to cover the proceedings first-hand. It comes as no surprise then, that Barbie Nadeau's book is the FIRST 'fair & balanced' accounting of what really went on during the trial, and behind the scenes. She is the FIRST journalist to 'call out' the PR team hired by Amanda's parents to manipulate media coverage in the USA. I think many Americans will be surprised by this book - not only in terms of the quantity & quality of the evidence inculpating Amanda, but in terms of the degree to which US audiences were "kept in the dark" about this evidence. I couldn't put this book down.

By Far the Best Book So Far about this Murder

Having read 2 other recent books, and practically every article and Forum about the case, I make the claim about this being the best with all due respect and sincerity. As the only author and reporter who was physically present for all of the 11 month trial, as well as long periods before and after, and who speaks fluent Italian, Ms Nadeau has scripted a very complete, objective, compelling compilation of the facts about this horrific murder, and done so in a manner that makes for great reading. Most of the other terribly biased and embarrassingly shallow coverage by major US media and slanted,censured Forums is reportedly due to tight restrictions placed on which Knox Family members and friends are allowed to be interviewed by media reporters, as well as a relentless, all encompassing monitoring and intervention by the high powered Seattle Public Relations Firm hired and paid for by the Knox Family (and solicited contributors). Without being distorted by these detrimental restrictions, and without relying on Free Lance local low talent stand ins,and interpreters, but on her personal presence, the end result; "Angel Face" was a pleasure to behold. Finally,with absolutely no reservations, I highly recommend this book to all who have followed the case as well as to all readers who appreciate fact based, thrilling and accurate crime reporting. Just as an addendum, the above Public Relations effort and a handful of very verbose Knox supporters in my humble opinion have unashamedly and undoubtedly destroyed a lot of the objectivity in some reviews and many comments here, as well as the accompanying ratings.

A Different Side to the Story

Wow, I couldn't believe this story. Even though I knew the sad outcome for all families involved, it was still a suspenseful and heartbreaking read. An incredible scoop, well written, and a lesson to parents of students heading overseas to study.