|
In His Sights: A True Story of Love and Obsession | 
 enlarge | Authors: Kate Brennan, None
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.41
You Save: $12.54 (50%)
New (42) Used (16) Collectible (1) from $8.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 89152
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 279
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 0061451606
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1555092
EAN: 9780061451607
ASIN: 0061451606
Publication Date: August 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new Book, ALL days Low Price !
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
What if the man you'd loved for years vows, when you leave him, to destroy you? What if he transforms into a ruthless tormentor, stealing your freedom, undermining your sanity, and threatening your safety? This is not a fictional scenario. It is Kate Brennan's life. Kate is a well-respected writer and scholar, a highly independent woman with simple tastes and a complicated romantic past that leave her perfectly content with singlehood. So when she meets Paul—a wealthy, charismatic businessman with a great deal of free time—she's wary of getting involved. Eventually, though, his polished charm and relentless wooing win her over. Things move quickly, and it is only after the two have moved in together that Kate discovers the serial infidelity, the unbalanced psyche, and the sordid secrets lurking under the Mr. Right facade. Kate lets Paul into her life with trepidation, and when she ends the relationship, she finds she can't get him out of it. With limitless resources, he dedicates himself to stalking her: he tracks her movements, arranges for people to break into her home, interferes with her work, and even relocates to her new neighborhood. His harassment lasts for more than a decade and, as Paul is still at large, it continues to turn Kate's life upside down today. This visceral memoir not only lays bare the mind of a stalker, but also shows how a smart, successful woman can fall prey to a warped and powerful man who has the money and connections to keep her under his watchful eye. Both frightening and insightful, In His Sights is a gripping tale of one woman's descent into the dark side of love and how she has fought—and still struggles—to free herself.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 This is a MUST READ January 1, 2009
I started reading this book late this afternoon and couldn't put it down until I finished it. The writing is exquisite, masterful and gripping. The editing is brilliant. The story horrifies, grieves and enrages me. Thank you, Kate, for the courage and the sweat, blood, and tears it must have taken to write it. Everyone who reads it is better off for having done so. It is a learning opportunity the likes of which I've never read, and I am a voracious reader. Please, everybody out there who believes in God and the power of prayer, pray for Kate Brennan to be delivered completely out of this horrifically frightening and evil situation. God loves to do the impossible for his children, and this qualifies as impossible. The downtown Sex Crimes Unit, all of whom have acted extremely professionally, knowledgably, and competently on Kate's behalf over the years, say that even if Paul is ever caught, convicted, and sentenced, that with his unlimited source of finances, he could continue to hire out the stalking, and perhaps even more dangerously with new access to a criminal population. This battle belongs to the Lord. Let's all pray for Kate every day until we hear or read in the media that Paul, in whatever way God chooses, is no longer able to stalk her.
The Creative Nonfiction Cloak December 21, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
My curiosity about this book was aroused after I heard Kate Brennan being interviewed on NPR. Listening to Brennan describe her ongoing harrassment at the hands of a wealthy psychopath, I felt that I needed to read her book and let it serve one of the purposes she intended: learn about warning signs from potential stalkers and kill the fires of obsession before they even start.
"In His Sights" has a storyline that races along at lightspeed. Brennan meets and moves in with a wealthy sex addict named Paul whose closet skeletons include murdered relatives and an addiction to sex and child pornography. When she leaves him, he begins a campaign of terror that includes having her watched by shady strangers, breaking into her home, and following her from one temporary refuge to another. It's violent love and obsession at its most extreme, which makes for a nonstop read. I finished the book in a single weekend.
But therein lies the problem. It's formulaic in a way that real life usually is not. I understand the use of pseudonyms and the deliberate altering of some events, as the consequences would be too great if Brennan did not employ these protective measures. But I don't feel as if I'm reading about a real person's struggle to reclaim her life. Perhaps that's because I've never been harrassed by anyone who had enough money to buy my worst nightmares.
Is it all fact? Or is 'In His Sights' marbled with fictional events in order to keep the reader riveted? Only the author knows for sure. But I'm giving this book four stars because it's well written and there are powerful passages in which Kate Brennan acknowledges the emotional flaws that drew her to someone like Paul. If one of her readers recognizes themselves in her self-assessment and uses those insights to change for the better, then 'In His Sights' will have served a greater purpose than titillation and entertainment.
 A Great Fast Read, But Not All-Together Believable November 10, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book in just a couple of sittings. It is well written, and definitely a page-turner. However, like another reviewer, I found much of it unbelievable.
I believe that the author's stalker ex-boyfriend was mentally disturbed, and probably did stalk her. However, in this day of sophisticated computer technology, if the stalker really was responsible for having the victim's phone turned off; re-routing her mail; finding out things about her electronically, etc., at some point law enforcement could have found out about it. Also, supposedly, the stalker never directly followed her, but always had surrogates. So, in over ten years, not one person the stalker attempted to hire ever refused and turned him in, or warned her? If he was paying vast sums of money to numerous surrogates to do his stalking for him, there would be a money trail or paper trail somewhere.
The book makes it seem as if this stalker is all-omniscent and all-powerful, and managed to effectively stalk the author all while successfully finishing medical school and marrying some else. That is hard to believe.
Of course, since the book was written under a pen name, we will never know if the story was fabricated or at least exaggerated. Given what author James Frey went through, doesn't this author and the publisher have some responsibility to the reading public to make certain the facts were checked? Additionally, since no charges were pressed against his person, law enforcement must have been less certain of his involvement than it appears in the book.
I enjoyed the book for what it was, a suspensful story. I just do not buy the story hook, line and sinker. If you can enjoy the good writing for what it is, I would still recommend it.
 far fetched tale October 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The author insults the intelligence of the reader by creating a villian that seems to be a composite of characters from movies and fiction. She claims to be stalked by a man who has unlimited financial resources as well as connections with everyone from Ma Bell to the Safety Commissioner. The author imagines he pays off police to overlook serious crimes like child rape and yet she also finds detectives to help her who are far too good to be true. The villian is suspected of patricide for money (although he is already rich), infidelity, child pornography, attempted kidnapping and bribing the police. However, he still has it together enough to roller blade at age 40+, get into medical school (without ever doing pre-med it seems), and deploy an army of reliable criminals to harrass her. There is also no evidence that for the first 40 years of his life he ever stalked anyone. We are supposed to believe he pays the mortgages of other old girl friends routinely. The publisher should be ashamed to have put their name on this book without demanding some proof, even a police blotter. The author suspects he conspired to arrange the kidnapping of her sister's kids. When has any criminal ever kidnapped TWO children at the same time for ransom? The author claims to have seen the alleged stalker in a bookstore. She dodges out the side door to avoid him. Which bookstore has a side exit? Would this not be an invitation to shoplifters? The author relates missing a funeral and than advises us the deceased came to visit her! She tells us after the break up with the villian she burned his belongings in a bonfire in the woods! Is this how an educated middle aged woman handles life? We are also expected to believe the man attended medical school without moving away which is unusual. When he graduates it never occurs to her he would probably relocate for an internship. I gave the book two stars because it was readable, for no other reason than to wonder why the publishers were so gullible.
Good but not great October 17, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book after I listened to an interview of the author on NPR. I was so fascinated I ordered the title immediately. The book, unfortunately, tells me little more than what I heard in the interview and in fact is relatively dry and flat. It is an incredible (true) tale, to be sure, and a definite page turner; but the writer's voice oftentimes sounds pedantic, unemotional, and aloof. Perhaps this is who the writer always was or who she turned into as a result of what happened to her; perhaps she needs that remove in order to preserve her sanity or show her stalker that he has not taken over her life. Regardless, what sounded like a dramatic "only in the movies" story on NPR, rang a little hollow on the page. "Brennan" has amazing insights, resolve, and composure- no way I would have survived what she has- but in the end I would have loved to have gotten a bit more into the stalker's head and into Brennan's own heart.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
