Predator - Softcover

Olsen, Jack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440211921 ISBN 13: 9780440211921

Publisher: Island Books, 1992

Synopsis

An account of the life and crimes of psychopath Mac Smith describes how Seattle police, eager to make an arrest in the murders of the city's women, arrested the wrong man for Smith's crimes. Reprint. LJ.

About this title

Review:

With careful reporting that sticks close to the facts, Jack Olsen tells stories that seem straight out of crime fiction, and yet are all the more compelling for being true. This book focuses on three men--a criminal who preyed on women, a carefree partygoer who was wrongly convicted of the predator's crimes, and a reporter for the Seattle Times who won a Pulitzer Prize for tracking down the truth. It's supposed to be a rare event in the U.S. judicial system that someone this innocent gets screwed this badly. Even if it only happened to one person every decade, it would still be a horrible thing. And the smiling rapist, described as having a sweet "Jesus-like" countenance, knowingly allowed that to happen. Olsen not only delivers a real page-turner, but he ties up all the loose ends before the book's memorable and satisfying finale.

From Library Journal:

Olsen, author of "Doc": The Rape of the Town of Lovell ( LJ 5/15/89) and other gripping crime accounts, once again chronicles the career of a sex criminal, here the pseudonymous "Mac Smith." He describes in painstaking detail Smith's childhood, which created a human beast who sought domineering women to love and who stalked submissive ones to rape. In tracing Smith's adult life and crimes, Olsen also tells the tragic story of Steve Titus, a Seattle man who was wrongly accused of Smith's attacks and whose life was shattered by the injustice he suffered. The stories of these two men--one a hardened fiend who coldly figured out the odds against being caught and knew exactly how to work the criminal justice system, the other an innocent man caught up in a whirlwind of false accusation--intertwine in a fascinating, wrenching story. Very highly recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/90; for another account of the Steve Titus case, see that in Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham's Witness for the Defense , LJ 3/15/91.--Ed.
- Sally G. Waters, Stetson Law Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Island Books
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0440211921
• ISBN 13: 9780440211921
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 448