100 MOST INFAMOUS CRIMINALS

Despite the author lacking a word processor that includes spell check, 100 Most Infamous Criminals by Jo Durden-Smith is a disturbingly fascinating read.

The obvious lack of editing is frustrating in Jo Durden-Smith's fifth book. 100 Most Infamous Criminals is a nonfiction book that gives readers a brief glimpse at various criminals and their equally varied crimes.

Spanning from early 15th century criminology to the present, Smith's book includes many whose exploits have been blown to mythical proportions. Jesse James, Bonnie and Clyde, William Palmer, Ivan the Terrible, and Lizzie Borden are common names with murky pasts. 100 Most Infamous Criminals, however, is frighteningly educational as well. Recounting the Countess Elizabeth Bathory's life brings to light the chilling details of an oddly deranged countess who ensnared local women to be used as sexual or ritual sacrifice in order to maintain her youth. According to Durden-Smith, this woman would provide "one of the models for Bram Stoker's Dracula." Smith does not merely give an account of the events. Instead he attempts to provide a reason for the horrible crimes. In addition to a record of that which made them infamous, Smith includes a brief history of the criminal's past.

For the worst of crimes, some sort of abuse or madness gives the reader a sort of grim satisfaction. At least they had a reason. It is the cases where there simply is no answer that lingers on in the reader's mind. Acknowledging random violence removes the net of safety, Smith cuts the net in two.

Readers walk away feeling shaken and bewildered. An odd morbid curiosity is required to sit and read 100 Most Infamous Criminals as other novels are read. Still, the book is oddly irresistible.

Between the shock of the crime and the excuse of the culprit lies the story of one person gone horribly wrong and at least one victim caught in their downward spiral. Smith's major weakness seems to be the lack of an editor. Multiple errors in spelling and grammar become daunting. It appears at times that the author didn't even bother to type the book in a word processor where a simple spell check would have greatly improved the overall quality of the read. Words are left out, a few pages later words are repeated. A secondary weakness is less obvious. The book's setup is choppy.

Alternating from the past to the near present is good in one sense- It keeps the reader from being bored by the stories of days gone by- but again it interrupts the flow of the book. There are also accounts of criminals who do not seem to belong. At times reading the book is much like watching a segment of Sesame Street's "One of these things is not like the others."

While there is no denying the mafia has wreaked some havoc, family feuds and diner hits don't seem to compare to the murdering of prostitutes to sell as butchered meat.

Regardless of the flaws, the novel is a read worth venturing into. The subject is fascinating enough to keep a reader's attention, but the accounts are short enough to give keep weak stomachs satisfactorily still.

Not the part of history taught in school, 100 Most Infamous Criminals does a decent job informing and indulging curiosity.