The Stalking of Kristin: A Father Investigates the Murder of His Daughter

by George Lardner

Book Overview

"This is Kristin's story. I'd give anything not to have written it." Kristin Lardner's father won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of Washington Post articles about this promising young art student who... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451407318
• ISBN13: 9780451407313
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Onyx Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

"We left Kristin in a coffin by her grave..."

THE STALKING OF KRISTIN is journalist George Lardner Jr.'s Pulitzer Prize winning expose of the murder of his 21 year old art student daughter at the hands of Michael Cartier, a lifelong offender, aged 22, who had a rap sheet three pages long and a history of extremely violent domestic abuse. Kristin and "Castleneck" Cartier first met in January 1992; they dated only a few short weeks before Cartier physically attacked her. In April, Kristin was granted a restraining order. In May, she was dead. Lardner is unsparing in his denunciation of the criminal justice system, a system which allowed Cartier to roam free despite his repetitious record of violence. At the time of the murder, Cartier was wanted for a parole violation; the law knew where he was, but did nothing to enforce its own strictures. Nothing in Kristin's upper-middle-class background indicated that her life would end at Cartier's hand. She was an educated feminist from a socially stable, financially secure background. Like many artists, she was attracted to the extreme: hence the relationship with Cartier, which was both brief and violent. Like most people of her background, she believed the law would protect her; tragically, she was wrong. Cartier was a troubled human being, who, despite numerous chances, either could not or would not conform his behavior. Shortly after killing Kristin he killed himself. The System is an overburdened behemoth, content to creak along, and showing almost no regard for the offenders it processes or their victims. This is particularly true with women. Kristin's death led to desperately-needed changes in Massachusetts law which made it harder for violators like Cartier to escape justice by the mere expedient of crossing the street into another jurisdiction. The reader has to wonder whether the fact that Kristin was a single white female with a journalist father impacted Massachusetts' decision to reform its' laws. The answer seems to be a loud yes. Still, necessary changes were made, too late for Kristin, and too late for many. Whether they have had an impact since then is an open question. THE STALKING OF KRISTIN is a tragic tale of the failure of our culture to protect its most valuable assets---its children.

Chilling and profoundly sad!

With heart-rending honesty, Lardner recounts the tragedy that turned his picture-perfect life into a horrendous nightmare. Lardner's daughter, an art student in Boston, was murdered by a disgruntled boyfriend who first stalked her and then shot her dead. The beginning of the book is great. The dad speaks with candor about his love for and his frustrations with his daughter from the time she was a young girl through her college years. She grew up in Chevy Chase, a suburb of Washington, D.C., a setting very familiar to me. The author had me laughing out loud and crying real tears before I was barely into the book at all yet. He reported on the details of his daughter's tragic death as well as the sad state of affairs in the United States which allows hardened criminals back on the streets to quickly become repeat offenders. Lardner recalls the story of murderer Michael Cartier's youth and the criminal record he accumulated during his short but turbulent life.This is not a book for everyone due to it intense subject matter, but it was nonetheless quite engrossing to me. Good writing. Incredibly sad story. The story Lardner presents of Cartier, is quite frightening. It demonstrates the lengths to which a criminal's right's are protected by the United States criminal justice system versus the appalling lack of consideration given to a victim's right to safety and freedom from fear. What made the book all the more creepy was that, during the few weeks it took me to finish the book, a murder under similar circumstances occurred in a suburb of Washington, D.C. The March, 2000, Washington Post article which ran the news story ("Md. Man Gets Life Term in Girlfriend's Slaying" by Ruben Casteneda) ended by saying of the killer's girlfriend "A month before the shooting, she filed assault and kidnapping charges against him after he allegedly abducted her at knifepoint, but the arrest warrant was never served." Some things never change.

excellent

How a Father really got the job don

A must read for every single woman

This was one of the best true crime stories that I have ever read. It was very difficult to read b/c the whole time I was reading it I had to keep reminding myself that Kristen's father was the author. How frightening yet therapeutic it must have been for him and I can only imagine. An incredible examination of the criminal justice system and the injustices commited against women!

Truth in Justice

As a local police expert on stalking and stalking issues, such as domestic violence, I was extremely gratified to read George Lardner's book. As I read on, I found myself believing Kristen was my daughter, my girlfriend, or my best friend. I was as devastated as George was when she was killed, and as horrified as he to learn of how little victims are protected in the "real" world. You must read this book and recommend it or pass it on to your friends. Over 30% of women in America, and over 20% of men, will find themselves stalked at some time in their lives. It is good to know that you really must fend for yourself, and not rely on the police or the Courts to protect you. George Lardner's book should be a requirement for any poly-sci, criminal justice major, and for first-year law students. It is packed with statistics about how the system fails victims, and how society is endangered by our failure to imprison vilent criminal offenders.