Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

amazing

Customer Rating:

I got this book almost as soon as it came out & i couldn't put it down it was apsolutly amazing, i believe that if you know anything about this man to begin with then get it it's truely amazing. From how much he remembers from childhood to just seeing who he really is & how aparent it is just how misunderstood he always has been. I actually think even if some one doesn't know him before reading this it's a good read & worth looking into. I can honestly say one of the best books i've ever read!

Amazing read	Customer Rating:
I loved this book, it has every emotion possible linked with it, it shows you a completely different side to anything else written about Damien and the case. I can't wait for part 2.

Convince me. Tell me everything.

Customer Rating:

What Margaret Cho has to do with this situation, I will never know. She wrote the introduction. I thought at first that this was intended to be some kind of comic writing. Instead, it's the autobiography of Damien Echols, a young man in a small town in Arkansas currently on death row (along with his friend Jason and other friend Jessie serving a life sentance) for murdering three small boys. Cho's hook along with her comedy has always been to defend those who are different or odd, those who feel less alone. I can admire that, but I am just amazed that she would preach the word for this man, who she admits she doesn't know and who she said committed the murder. That aside, this was an excellent look inside the monster, the beast, the horror, the evil that is Damien. Damien grew up poor white trash in Arkansas, having little advantages, little money, little hope for the future. He turned into a heavy metal poser, wearing all black and getting into magic because it was the cool thing to do for all of those who consider themselves outsiders. Like a lot of kids, we all dabble in the dark arts. It annoys people, makes our parents angry, gives us attention. Most of it is just a show. Not for Damien. In his mind, he was Satan's vessel. He became the subject of a witchhunt after the children were killed because he was different. Granted, he was visably different. But enough witnesses have come forward saying that he did and said things that an innocent person would not. Satan made him do it? No, Damien made Damien do it. Look at that face on the cover of the book. That's not an innocent, sensative, vulnerable child's face. That is the face of a killer, a killer who knows how cute he looks and how he can fool us. And, Damien became a father while behind bars. He has gotten to physically hold his baby son, he could not be there for his birth, nor will he see him grown up. Instead he has been changed by fatherhood. While he cannot be with his child, experiencing the miracle of life rather than the pain of death he wanted to inflict on not just these three boys but others around him. He is up there with Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Ed Gein, and all the other truly twisted people who have murdered. I'll bet some of their friends and family said "He was different". Different doesn't make someone a murderer. Evil makes one a murderer.

Free the West Memphis Three!	Customer Rating:
I am a firm believer of the West Memphis Threes' innocence from the beginning. I believe Damien and his friends were targeted because they were the "different" kids in town. I hope to hear that they are freed from prison someday and can go on with their lives. They have missed out on too much already! May the DNA evidence prove their innocence!

Articulate	Customer Rating:
A thin book, no surprise from someone who has spent most of his life on death row. Damien Echols is an articulate, intelligent, and an ordinary young man. We are a poorer society because of the circumstances of this book. If we tolerate this then our children could be next. Read it and weep. Please, will the society I believe I live in let you walk free.