Love's Blood the Shocking True Story of a: Teenager Who Would Do Anything for the Older Man She Loved--Even Kill Her Whole Family

by Clark Howard

Book Overview

A portrait of a teenage girl convicted in the brutal slayings of her father, mother, and brother looks at the causes and aftermath of the crime. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517584948
• ISBN13: 9780517584941
• Release Date: March 1993
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

LOVE IS MANY A SPLENDORED THING...

This is a well written, well researched book that explores the murder of a family by a teenage girl and her thirty something, married lover. The murder especially shocks the conscience, because it is the teenage girl's own family that is murdered. Her father, mother, and thirteen year old kid brother would be shot, bludgeoned, and stabbed in their own home, leaving a grisly, blood splattered crime scene. The books takes one into the mind of pretty and sexy Patricia Columbo who was fifteen when she first met Frank DeLuca, a thirty something married pharmacist with a predilection for very, and I mean very, kinky sex. From that moment of their first meeting, Patricia Columbo would embark on a road from which there would be no turning back. He would be Patricia's svengali, and she would be his for the asking, no matter what he asked. Her parents strongly disapproved of their daughter's relationship with DeLuca, and they made their dissatisfaction with the relationship known in no uncertain terms.The book explore the relationships and events that led up to these sensational murders. It also chronicles a series of interviews with Patricia Columbo, years after the crimes were committed, about what actually happened. The book benefits from this first person recollection, as it makes for a three dimensional overview of the lamentable events of one night nearly twenty seven years ago. Moreover, the author offers a critical analysis of those events and raises a few questions in the process.This book is not for the squeamish or the prudish, as it is quite graphic in its telling. It will, however, be greatly enjoyed by those who like the true crime genre, as the book is first rate.

A tragic tale of a life gone wrong

I read a lot of true crime books, and I bought this book thinking I would read just another true story of a murderess and her wrath. I started reading the book convinced of Patricia Columbo's guilt, but by the time I finished it, Clark Howard left me completely baffled with nagging questions. Did she do it? The book held my attention from start to finish -- the sexual abuse she suffered as a young girl, her disastrous relationship with the much older Frank DeLuca, the tragic murders of her family, and her life in prison up to the time the book was written. This is the first time I have actually felt, as another reader noted, a twinge of sorrow for someone convicted of a crime of this nature. The seriousness of the crimes were not lost on me, but I can't help but thinking where would she be if she had not met Frank DeLuca.

True crime at it's finest!!

Clark Howard has put together a masterpiece! He carefully paints a portrait of sex, drugs, brainwashing and love gone bad. How daddy's little girl became their ultimate nightmare. From the sexual abuse Patty suffered from the hands of her Uncle Gus, to dating a much married and quintuple father, Frank DeLuca who introduced her to drugs and various forms of sex too old for her 15 year old mind to understand. {Howard interjects his own thoughts in between on how this case became his obsession, but never chooses sides.} We, the readers, even hear Patty's own words as she reflects back on life before the crimes were committed. I was horrifed and intruiged in the same breath.

Awesome tale of love gone wrong!

Great book,great author,spellbinding tale of sex/ lust/love/murder!The sad story of a beautiful teenage girl munipulated to murder her family;But wait a minute,was she a murderess?Being from Illinois,as a young man ,I followed this shocking case from its beginning,now believe there is a shadow of a doubt.Patty Columbo in essence for the first time, telling of her side of the tale,sheds new light on this gruesome tragedy of love gone wrong!

Well researched & well written... Makes you wonder!

I truly enjoyed this book. I was pretty much convinced of Patricia Columbo's guilt until the very end -- now I'm not sure what to believe. But this much I know... it was one of the better true crime books I've read, and I've read hundreds!