True Crime

The astonishing story of one man's recovery in the face of traumatic loss--and a powerful meditation on the resilience of the soul

On July 23, 2007, Dr. William Petit suffered an unimaginable horror: Armed strangers broke into his suburban Connecticut home in the middle of the night, bludgeoned him nearly to death, tortured and killed his wife and two daughters, and set their house on fire. He miraculously survived, and yet living through those horrific hours was only the beginning of his ordeal. Broken and defeated, Bill was forced to confront a question of ultimate consequence: How does a person find the strength to start over and live again after confronting the darkest of nightmares?

In The Rising, acclaimed journalist Ryan D'Agostino takes us into Bill Petit's world, using unprecedented access to Bill and his family and friends to craft a startling, inspiring portrait of human strength and endurance. To understand what produces a man capable of surviving the worst, D'Agostino digs deep into Bill's all-American upbringing, and in the process tells a remarkable story of not just a man's life, but of a community's power to shape that life through its embrace of loyalty and self-sacrifice as its most important values. Following Bill through the hardest days--through the desperate times in the aftermath of the attack and the harrowing trials of the two men responsible for it--The Rising offers hope that we can find a way back to ourselves, even when all seems lost.

Today, Bill Petit has remarried. He and his wife have a baby boy. The very existence of this new family defies rational expectation, and yet it confirms our persistent, if often unspoken, belief that we are greater than what befalls us, and that if we know where to look for strength in trying times, we will always find it. Bill's story, told as never before in The Rising, is by turns compelling and uplifting, an affirmation of the inexhaustible power of the human spirit.

The Case That Shocked The World

In 1991, an 11-year-old-girl was abducted in broad daylight. Eighteen years later, a policewoman at UC Berkeley confronted a deranged man accompanied by two young girls. During questioning the next day, the girls' mother blurted: "I am Jaycee Lee Dugard." Her companion was identified as Phillip Craig Garrido--a convicted drug user, rapist and sexual predator. An astonishing story was about to unfold. . .

The Evil That Never Should Have Happened. . .

Now, award-winning author Robert Scott brings to light previously unrevealed information about Garrido's criminal past and manipulation of the legal system. With police and psychologist testimony, this book shows how Garrido managed to get out of a 50-year prison sentence--to shatter the innocence of Jaycee Lee Dugard forever. . .

Includes 16 pages of photos

Never Trust a Chained Captive.
That was one of the rules David Parker Ray posted on the isolated property where he and his girlfriend Cynthia Hendy lived near New Mexico's Elephant Butte Lake. They called their windowless trailer The Toybox. Over the years they lured countless young women into its chamber of unspeakable pain and horror--and filmed every moment.
A Satanist, Ray was the center of a web of sadism, sex slavery, and murder. Authorities suspect he murdered more than 60 women. In October 2011, a flood of tips led to a renewed search for the remains of more possible victims. This updated edition reveals all the details, plus the inside story on the controversial movie based on these unforgettable events.
"An eye-opening journey into the world of criminal sexual sadism." --Jim Yontz, Deputy District Attorney, Albuquerque, New Mexico
16 pages of haunting photos
"Darkly fascinating. . .a shocker from beginning to end." --Gregg Olsen, "New York Times" bestselling author

A breathtaking new true crime book from the bestselling author of The Stranger Beside Me, detailing the case of a young Oregon woman who made national headlines in 1983 when she was found guilty of murdering her three young children.