Crime occurs constantly and produces varying levels of revulsion, dismay, amusement, or "glad it wasn't me." This collection offers up an array of all of these, plus a little bit of "Huh, I didn't know about that." For example, Peter Richmond's "Big Shot" tells the story of NBA All-Star Jayson Williams-and how limo driver Gus Christofi came to end up shot to death on Jayson's bedroom floor. Richmond paints a picture of Williams that basketball fans might find disagreeable, but he does it with such skill, the reader is left wondering why none of this was discussed on ESPN's SportsCenter. (Williams currently faces a 55-year sentence if convicted of aggravated manslaughter and other charges related to the early-morning 2002 Valentine's Day shooting.)
Marie Brenner's "The Enron Wars" digs deep into the company's family and reveals misogyny, squirrelly cover-ups, decades of smokescreens, and webs of conspiracies. Brenner talks to women from inside the company, who discovered inconsistencies early on and met wall after wall of duplicity and camouflage. These women were smart, driven, dedicated, and successful, and they knew something was wrong but couldn't get answers. It's a great story because it's told from an insider/outsider perspective.
In "The Terrible Boy" Tom Junod takes look at the case of troubled 15-year-old Jonathan Miller, a sophomore who agreed to a fight when his 13-year-old neighbor, Josh Belluardo, challenged him on a school bus. Jonathan sucker punched the larger and more athletic Josh in the back of the head as the two crossed a lawn after leaving the school bus. The fateful punch caused a tiny tear in an artery. Josh went down-and stayed down. Two days later, when Josh's parents took him off life support, the charge against Jonathan Miller changed from aggravated assault to felony murder. And Miller became another poster child for the anti-bullying movement. Junod's treatment of this story is intriguing. It's not just another kid-kills-kid tale. Junod explores bullying, what it is, what is isn't, and his own experience as a bully. He talks intelligently about why Miller wasn't a bully, despite a history of school suspensions and problems in the classroom.
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