Twisted Triangle tells the compelling true story of Margo Bennett, a married FBI agent whose jealous, vengeful husband, Gene Bennett, a former undercover FBI agent, kidnapped and attempted to murder her after she had a secret love affair with best-selling crime novelist Patricia Cornwell.This series of bizarre events caused a sensation when it made national news a decade ago, but the whole incredible story has never before been told. Only now have Margo Bennett, her friends, and family granted access to personal interviews, previously sealed court records, diaries, letters and other formerly confidential material.
The book details the crazy dynamics of Margo and Gene Bennett's marriage and family, the rise and fall of FBI careers, and Margo's clandestine lesbian affair with celebrity author Patricia Cornwell. Stranger than fiction, this story describes the makings of Gene's complex plan, his insanity defense, and the trial that ultimately vindicated Margo and sent Gene to prison, where he remains today.
-
In the preface Caitlin Rother clearly describes what made her write this particular book. Not only did her agent ask her to write about this special case, she also was intrigued:
"Two FBI agents involved in a love triangle with a best-selling crime novelist who wrote about FBI agents and the serial killers they profiled. And then to find out that Cornwell's affair was with the female agent - now that was intriguing." (page ix, quoted from the book)
And she is right. Her reasons to write the book are the reasons that made me pick this book as soon as I stumbled about it. Having read all Cornwell novels myself I never heard about this particular period of Cornwell's life and I was, very much intrigued what her involvement might have been.
The book is put together from most sensitive documents like f. e. letters, diaries, psych. evaluations, novels with personal inscriptions by P. C. and official documents.
Most of the dialogue and events are reconstructed or approximated by Margo Bennett's memory, crosschecked with the people involved. P. C. and Gene Bennett declined to participate in this book.
John Hess, co-author and former FBI agent, Quantico instructor and close friend of Margo Bennett provided his documentation taken from hours of intensive talk with Margo.
I could not decline that I am feeling repulsed by certain thing mentioned in this book. Certainly Patricia Cornwell's involvement was a main 'ingredient' but shouldn't have been used as some sort of 'linchpin'. P. C.'s involvement didn't have much to do with what Gene Bennett did to his family. The short encounters between her and Margo Bennett were more a tool for him he wanted to use in a later divorce.
I found it extremely disturbing that Margo Bennett used privately exchanged things of P. C.'s life to get some juice into the story. Known in public or not, they didn't do much to the main 'plot' except that it took some of the credibility.
It also seems to me, that Margo Bennett in her descriptions left the feeling of P. C. being of a cold nature when in the end what happened furthermore between those two made perfectly sense and happens every day to normal people.
Out of place seemed her constant referring to P.C. as 'Patsy'. Considering the circumstances and years that went by the use of 'Patsy' seems a bit non-distant and intimate.
While the 'relationship' between the crime novelist and Margo is pretty much detailed (can you imagine) it also feels single sided because it was only told by one part of the story. In fact the whole book feels like told from one person (which it is) which gives it a funny taste.
It certainly isn't to dismiss that what happened to this family is terrible and difficult to comprehend and I deeply feel for Margo and her both daughters. It just seems that the author wasn't the right one to write about this story.
She left P. C. in a strange light and Margo in a pretty good one, never mentioning what she did wrong or what she could have done to change the course of actions during years of an abusive relationship between her, her children and Gene Bennett.
Informative links:
P. C. speaks up about being gay, Margo Bennett (beginning page 2, bottom) and the book. The Advocate, June 17, 2008
Rother on Twisted Triangle. crimejunkies.com, July 07, 2008
Rating:
Visit Caitlin Rother.
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Jossey-Bass (April 18, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0787995851
ISBN-13: 978-0787995850
No comments:
Post a Comment