teddiec's Full Review: Patricia Springer - Body Hunter
Body Hunter, written by Patricia Springer details crimes of Faryion Wardrip, a Texas man who almost escaped his violent past. Almost..
Residents in the small North Texas community where Wardrip was well known as a hard-working family man, a deacon in the church, were shocked when he was arrested for the brutal murder of a Wichita Falls woman. The carefully constructed facade continued to unravel, revealing a past of sexual assault and the murder of at least 3 other women, some 15 years before.
Patricia Springer has been called, "The Texas Ann Rule", a high compliment of comparison to the renowned true crime author of The Stranger beside me, If you really loved me, and many more. Based on this, the only book I've read by Springer, there isn't much comparison at all. I found her style to be very different, with more emphasis placed on the perpetrator of the crimes than the victims, while the opposite is true for Rule. In addition, I found the presentation of events to be somewhat confusing and less effective than it could have been, as the book begins with a series of detailed recreations of the assaults, followed by the more insightful background information much later.
Another thing I disliked were the recreations of the crimes themselves, as often they were clearly detailed from the offender's "side". While it is generally acceptable to recreate certain events based on in depth research, eye witness accounts and court records-often details of the attacks were given that could only have come from the only living witness-Wardrip himself. Particularly disturbing are the inclusions of his "alleged" thoughts both during and after the crimes, sometimes implying his lack of awareness or enormous feelings of guilt and grief. I found this not only offensive, but curious because if Wardrip is to be believed he was out of his mind on drugs when the attacks occured. If this were true, his detailed accounts would hardly be reliable and the information regarding his feelings and state of mind seem no more than self serving statements given by a guy who got caught. Springer actually thanked this animal publically for his co-operation for the writing of this book with an entire paragraph.
While nothing excuses the horrific criminal actions like those of Wardrip, books often delve into the pasts of the perpetrators. Springer presents very little about Wardrip's life, other than what he gives her himself. Again, his accounts seem self serving, and what little he tells is neither particularly traumatic or necessarily true-as most of what he claims is disputed by other members of his family.
About the last 3rd of this book is given to the trial and penalty phase of the court proceedings, something I usually find interesting, but had to force myself to finish. There are no surprises or courtroom revelations here, just a rehash, through testimony, of events already well detailed earlier on.
I have but one more complaint about this book, and that is the photographs. It's common for books in this genre to include photos of victims as they were in life, pertinent areas and evidenciary items, law enforcement officials and court related photos-but many of the pictures included here are unnecessarily graphic and insensitive to the point of disrespect to the victims. Crime scene photos of the victims, both partially nude and decomposing are extremely graphic and I would liken these to the kind found in the most tawdry of True Detective magazines.
Readers should be aware that as with most books in this genre, the crimes detailed are not for the faint of heart. Fans of true crime with an interest in this particular case might find this book worth the read, as my own interest was due to the proximity of crimes to where I live, but otherwise would be better off reading something else-preferably written by the real Ann Rule.
To the people of Olney, Texas, 39-year-old Faryion Wardrip was an upright, respected citizen. Then, in January, 1999, investigators linked him to the ...More at Buy.com
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