An Invisible Man

by Stephanie A. Stanley

Book Overview

In the summer of 2002, a serial killer prowled the streets of Baton Rouge, preying on the city's best and brightest women. The authorities had a profile of their suspect. They were wrong. This is the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425208877
• ISBN13: 9780425208878
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 6.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

An incredibly true tale

This book is the story of Derrick Todd Lee, a black serial killer. Stephanie Stanley, the author, got the idea to write this book from a source on this story. It was a good idea, as the other press on this story did not tell the background of Derrick Todd Lee. Mr. Lee was well known to the Louisiana police and had a long history of run ins with the law. Ms. Stanley is a superb writer. I hope that I will be able to read more by her. This is a tale of errors by the police and by the FBI. It is very difficult to read. It also saddens me, that due to errors in identifying Derrick (he was thought to be white, not black in the FBI profile, the police tended to look at the boyfriends of victims rather than the possiblity of a serial killer being loose) he was allowed to kill for longer than he should have been. At least the mistakes were not as bad as in the Coral Watts case (read "Evil eyes" by Corey Mitchell) and the Green River Killer case.

One of the most frightening books I have ever read

This is one of the best true crime books I have ever read. I am originally from Louisiana and currently live in Jackson, MS, the home of Murray Pace, so I have followed this case from the beginning. Ms. Sanders does an outstanding job of making one feel the outrage of the victim's families, and the failure of the legal and judicial system of La. - this man should never have been on the streets. Also, when the author writes about the victims and their families, she is very respectful and empathetic. I made the mistake of reading this book while my husband was out of town, and I was petrified. I believe every woman should read this book, in order to see how easy it was for this evil man to kill these smart, careful, and responsible women.

dont answer the door

If you like true crime novels, you will really enjoy this one! After reading this, you won't answer your door again! This is about a serial rapist/killer who manages to elude capture by slipping through the cracks numerous times. You wonder how someone this obvious could get by for so long with stalking and murdering women in areas with very little crime. The killer becomes more and more frenzied and eventully is caught, but at the expense of many lives. Very good read!

The names that matter

Stephanie's writing style is engaging and assessible reflecting her reporter's roots. She has told the story of the horror and darkness which enveloped so many of us in those awful years with clarity and compassion. Even though I've spent much time trying to learn about Derrick Lee, I still learned many things about him from this book. Stephanie's book also reminded me that criminal profiling is only an "educated" guess of dubious worth and unexpected potential for harm; that the justice system is a system and all the parts need to work for justice to be anything but serendipitious; and - above all - that Derrick Lee should never, ever have been outside a prison when my child died. P.S. Gina Wilson Green, Geralyn Barr DeSoto, Charlotte Murray Pace, Pam Kinamore, Trenisha Dene Colomb, Carrie Lynn Yoder, and Randi Meubreuer - these are the names you won't remember, but they're the names that matter.

What a page turner

This book is a good read. It is a gripping tale that had my stomach in knots more than once.It is clear from the start that this is a well researched book and that Stanley's investigative skills leave nothing to be desired.From her description of a simple phone call in the first paragraph I was hooked and read this book in only a few days.So for any-one who is a fan of the crime novel, or any of you folks in southern Louisiana who lived through these terrible times this is a book for you. BRAVO!