Karla: A Pact with the Devil

by Stephen Williams

Book Overview

Karla picks up where Williams's first book on the case, Invisible Darkness, left her, painting her nails in her cell in solitary confinement in the gothic tower of Kingston's Prison for Women. After... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0770429629
• ISBN13: 9780770429621
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Seal Books
• Length: 544 Pages
• Weight: 0.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Finally a real good look at the homolka deal fiasco

I grew up near St Catharines and I am about the same age as Karla. My father was a teacher at the same High School Karla attended. I was there for the whole green ribbon task force force. I remember the hunt for the yellow camero (there never was any yellow car involved) and other hysteria that went on during the search for the two girls. What I like about this book is it shines a light the people that really made the karla deal happen, the Niagara Regional Police and the Crown Attorny's office. As I read the book I was nodding constantly. It seemed so much like the police force I grew up around. Bumbling key stone cops that were too arrogant to think things through. The Canadian media have spent a lot of time covering Karla getting out recently. Other than this book I have yet to see any in depth coverage of how the Police gave her the deal to begin with. There is also a lot on Karla's experience in jail. It's a scary look at just how dysfunctional the Canadian justice and jail system is.

Really fascinating

I don't know how to say that, but this is an incredible story. Stephen Williams describes not only the criminals and the victims, but look also at the lack of integrity of the legal system, the terrible reaction of the victims' relatives and the unscrupulous behavior of the some people regarding this particuliar case. Paul and Karla won't pay enough for what they did. Their crimes are beyond telling, but Mr. Williams not only try to report everything in a acute way, but succeed in making the murders speak for themself. This is not the first book on Homolka and Bernardo, but it's certainly one (if not THE ONE)of the best. All those books make them famous, but not in an enviable way. This one tells every aspects of theirs crimes and punishment: we won't forget that. We have to remember. In the victims' memory.

Amazing !

This book is incredible ! Not like non-fiction at all. I can't believe that this is a real person. Who could do things like that. She would be believable as an X-files character. The book is well writen, great language for that kind of publication. As soon as I finished it, I began to read it again. Books like that are important to open our eyes on the kind of justice we have. Is it possible that she will be free eventually? This is scary.

Larger than fiction

Karla: Pact with the Devil is a great book. A real thriller. Williams is no less important in the literary landscape than Norman Mailer. Reality is depicted with an accent of despair that would ashamed the likes of the great mystery novels' writers of 20th century. It is an absurdity that Karla Homolka will be free in a couple of years. The book is clear about that: the system of justice have a serious problem. Stephen Williams is definitly a great writer. It's easy to forget that the story is based on reality. But we can't forget that.

The best on Karla, the Williams' best

On the many books on the Bernardo-Homolka case, this one is the more complete and the more accurate. For someone who don't know anything about the murders, I think it's the best way to learn everything on that strange case, where the justice had fail to impress me on a very big scale. I would'nt be very proud to be a police officer involved with that prosecution. My only hope: with this, we'll learn our lessons and try to make good justice. Good for the people, not for the criminals.