Thursday 23 June 2011

TRUE CRIME AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Madeleine - Kate McCann

Release Date: 12/05/11

SYNOPSIS:

‘The decision to publish this book has been very difficult, and taken with heavy hearts … My reason for writing it is simple: to give an account of the truth … Writing this memoir has entailed recording some very personal, intimate and emotional aspects of our lives. Sharing these with strangers does not come easily to me, but if I hadn’t done so I would not have felt the book gave as full a picture as it is possible for me to give. As with every action we have taken over the last four years, it ultimately boils down to whether what we are doing could help us to find Madeleine. When the answer to that question is yes, or even possibly, our family can cope with anything …

What follows is an intensely personal account, and I make no apology for that …

Nothing is more important to us than finding our little girl.’

Kate McCann, May 2011

‘It is a sad fact that not a single police force anywhere is proactively looking for Madeleine (as is the case for many other missing children). I am sure this book will re-energize the search for our daughter and the public will get behind the Find Madeleine campaign once again. It is simply not acceptable that the authorities have given up on Madeleine – especially when no comprehensive review of the case has been undertaken. Our daughter, and whoever took her, are out there. We need your help to find them.’

Gerry McCann, May 2011


REVIEW:

This title has been a hard one to review due to the complex issues raised within and due to the media attention the world over. Whether you think Madeleine’s parents are guilty or not of the crime that has yet to be proven in a court of law, it’s their version of events that led up to as well as after the disappearance of their daughter.

What this title will do however is counteract the book released by Gonçalo Amaral (the Portuguese Police Chief who led the investigation) entitled Maddie. La verità della menzogna. First of all the main problem that I have with this book by Kate is that it didn’t do anything to change my POV to the case prior to reading this, in fact in places some of the issues raised did lead to more questions and whilst the title did put forward a chain of events that they believe happened it did leave me wondering exactly how carefully this book has been viewed by lawyers as there is no real emotion behind it, presenting more a staged front rather than an account from the heart.

Add to this randomisation to the title where one minute she’s on one thread and then switches into a huge piece of text about someone else, the book could end up an unfinished coffee table piece rather than a title to put their point of view forward. All in an interesting read but as I’ve said it’s a title I feel won’t influence people’s thoughts on the case in one direction or the other.

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