Blood Echoes

by Thomas H. Cook

Book Overview

Two-time Edgar Award nominee Cook presents the horrifying and tragic story of the most notorious mass murder ever committed in Georgia, when the three Isaacs brothers and a friend killed an innocent family and then led police on a six-state chase before being caught and convicted. "A frightening close-up of sociopathic personalities at their most deadly".--Vincent Bugliosi, author of Helter Skelter.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451403495
• ISBN13: 9780451403490
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Onyx Books
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Response to the Critical Review

I am an RN and Carl Junior Isaacs was one of my patients while he was in the Grovetown State Medical Prison in GA in 2001. If you want to know more about Junior's childhood-read the book "Brothers in Blood" by Clark Howard. This book will give you more insight to the how & why he did what he did. He chose to be on death row for a reason.

This was a devastating tragedy!

Donalsonville, Georgia is a small town on the border between Alabama and Georgia. I read the first book, Brothers in Blood, by Clark Howard who I believe gave a better and detailed account of the men involved in this most heinous crime imaginable but that book was written in 1983. Carl Isaacs had 20 more years to go on death then. He was the longest running death row inmate. This book was published 10 years later in 1993 and adds more detail to his escapes from prison. Carl Issacs and his half-brothers, Wayne Coleman and Billy Isaacs who testified against them at trial and earned a 20 year sentence. I was glad to see Billy testify again according to this book 15 years later after the courts decided that their original venue which was in Seminole County was too prejudiced. After all, the Aldays were lifetime citizens, farmers, and beloved residents too. Their retrial had Billy testify all over again and he didn't have too. Of all the four men involved, Billy was the youngest at 16. While he was no angel himself, he did do the right thing. Of course, the author also shows great deal more empathy to the Alday family whose tragic losses remind me of Holocaust survivors who have learned that their families were murdered. Of course, Mary's death was the most brutal since she was raped as well. The other Alday men were shot to death in execution style. The fourth man was involved was a black man named George Dungees, Wayne Coleman's prison boyfriend. Carl was executed in 2003 after 30 years. Wayne and George are serving life. Billy was released in in the 1990s and lives in Florida. I think the Howard book detailed the brothers' background and childhood. This is what happens to kids like Billy, Carl, and Wayne when they are treated more like disposable garbage like their mother who had about a dozen children. They were cared for by the state of Maryland which should be sued because they were no better than their home life in Baltimore. These boys pretty much fended on their own without any actual support. I mean the fact that Carl Isaacs chose to remain with a child molester/pedophile by his choice if that tells you that society hasn't failed them. I do take into consideration about the Aldays massacre which was cruel, brutal, merciless, and cold at best but I also can't forget the fact that these four men were also human beings who was discarded from the beginning of their lives by family, society, and the state.

More than just information for a term paper

My mother grew up with Mary Campbell Alday, and I had memories of her telling me about this horrendous murder when I was growing up, and about the pain and agony that she must have felt before she died. This book was not written to exploit the family or to help someone receive an excellent grade on a term paper. It was to tell the story of a horrible crime. The Alday's were real people with real family members. How would you feel if someone wanted to see gory details and photos of your slain family or friends? That is why I am rating this book with a 5 stars. I think you should re-evaluate your career choice Renee, if you want to see gore become a murderer...

A person who cares about the family not a term paper....

My mother grew up with Mary Campbell Alday, and I had memories of her telling me about this horrendous murder when I was growing up, and about the pain and agony that she must have felt before she died. This book was not written to exploit the family or to help someone receive an excellent grade on a term paper. It was to tell the story of a horrible crime. The Alday's were real people with real family members. How would you feel if someone wanted to see gory details and photos of your slain family or friends? That is why I am rating this book with 5 stars. I think you should re-evaluate your career choice Renee, if you want to see gore become a murderer...

Where Reason Has Despaired

On May 14, 1973, six members of the Alday family were brutally slaughtered by a roving gang of brigands who were on the run from the law. For their family and friends, however, that was only the beginning of their ordeal.The surviving Aldays lost their farm. With that, they lost their livelihood. They lost their privacy. They lost their innocence. Most significantly, they lost their faith in justice.They gained the attention of unfeeling authors and film-makers whose only intention was to exploit this horror in order to make a quick buck and a name for themselves. These "people" made it possible for the smug, sociopathic Carl Isaacs to spew even viler invective upon this shattered family. But Isaacs and his cohorts assailed the Aldays only once (and I use the word "once" VERY lightly indeed). The inexcuseable judicial machinations of the American legal system has victimised this family repeatedly for the past 28 years.You will shed many tears while reading this moving and disturbing dramatic work. Tears of sorrow for the lost lives of the Aldays and their remaining loved ones, tears of anguish that this kind of atrocity can occur, and tears of frustration and rage over the continuing persecution that the Aldays have endured.The inscription on Mary Aldays tombstone reads; "Love can hope, where reason would despair." In this case, reason is more than despairing. In this case, reason is inconsoleable.