Book Review: Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson
Published July 31, 2005
My patients want no more and no less from me than the customers who buy my books or the defense attorneys who retain me to humanize their clients. They want me to probe deeply enough and listen carefully enough to formulate stories they and others can resonate with, ones that feel authentic.~ Dr. Keith Ablow
In his new release, Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson, celebrity forensic psychiatrist and horror novelist, Keith Ablow, formulates one of his signature "stories" that serves to probe the thought processes of convicted double murderer, Scott Peterson. Unfortunately, Ablow's analysis is based on a false premise, along with specious assumptions, hearsay, unsubstantiated rumors presumed to be fact, and Ablow's creative fantasies.
In order to "humanize" Scott Peterson, to portray his motives and desires in a way to make them "resonate" with his readers, Ablow has to dehumanize Laci Peterson. Throughout his brief and repetitive analysis, Ablow depicts Laci as shallow, superficial, out of touch with her feelings, in denial of her alleged painful childhood, devoid of nurturing skills, with no psychic connection to a man with whom she lived for eight years, and as a perfectionist whose chief ambition in life was to "make things pretty."
As a glaring contrast, Ablow unveils Amber Frey as a goddess of healing and restorative love. Even her name denotes mythical energy. He resurrects the wholly debunked "love spin" by asserting that Amber was "the one [Peterson] had to have, had to keep. The one he convinced himself he was willing to kill for." (p. 169.)
If this theory, obviously purloined from the pages of a Harlequin Romance, were not enough to cast doubt on Ablow's conclusions, the foundation of his theory on Scott Peterson's subconscious belief that "birth equals death" should give you pause.
Scott Peterson must have learned early on that being anything but the perfect child would not be tolerated by his parents. I believe he was in a perpetual state of unconscious panic that his mother (who had given away two other children and who had considered giving away her third) would abandon him and that his father would do nothing to save him. (p. 45.)
As a kind of sub-plot to this hypothesis, Ablow imposes psychological damage and attachment disorder to Peterson because he was separated from his mother for a few days after birth and kept in an incubator.
Ablow's primary premise that Peterson was "psychologically murdered," "spiritually suffocated," and "castrated" by his parents ignores a few important facts. First, Scott did not know about his mother's first two babies, or that she contemplated giving up John (if that's even true) until he was an adult, just a few months before he married Laci. How could Peterson's pathology be rooted in a fear of abandonment when he never experienced this form of abandonment and was not even aware of his mother's actions prior to his birth?
- Book Review: Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson
- Published: July 31, 2005
- Type: Review
- Section: Books
- Filed Under: Books: Crime, Books: Nonfiction
- Writer: Loretta Dillon
- Loretta Dillon's BC Writer page
- Loretta Dillon's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Albow's book is nothing more than an atrocity. While I believe in free speech fervently, this kind of trash is something else altogether. Laci's family has suffered enough, and I think it best for the whole world to forget Scott Peterson ever existed. That is, until the day they fry him.
"... surely not to the Peterson apologists who believe Scott is innocent and no more a sociopath than the Maytag repair man ..."
I am not an apologist for Scott Peterson nor do I 'believe' he is not guilty. I read the prosecution's case in which they, and not the defence, proved overwhelmingly that he was totally innocent of any involvement in this crime. Ablow's book is like the man himself, and he, not Scott Peterson, is a perfect example of a narcissist both in appearance and ideas. So far all of the books produced on and about this crime have been motivated purely by the profit motive and this book seems not to be any different.
I might buy this book now that Ms. Dillon has thrashed it for here to kingdom come. Perhaps she doesn't like the competition to her book. Besides she has never met a man who doesn't possess some form of narcissism so I guess Dr.Albow fits in that description also.
Of course the book's critique would be Loretta who actually gives herself great reviews on her pathetic excuse for an E-book. I have never met a woman that trashed so many people trying to climb to the second wrung of a ladder. Narcissistic, seems to fit the Misfit, that spends more time bashing others and self-promoting that every man and woman is considered competition and is fair game for the Egotistical so-called writer.
Excellent review! Had I mistakenly bought the book before reading this, I would have burned it.
Thanks so much for the great review. I read one of Ablow's books -- "murder suicide". It was too loaded with Christian references, and it was misogynistic. Never again. I was curious about his non-fiction, but it looks like more of the same tripe. Thanks for saving me the time and money with your very analytical and detailed review.
Steph
I've read the critique after I read the book and, sincerely, I think that although the review scores some points about vagueness and superficiality on some of Ablow's assumptions, it is not fair with some brilliant remarksd in the book about Scott Peterson's motivations. For me the book is worth reading.
I think any book involving Scott Peterson is interesting. I will be buying this book for sure. It was a tragedy what happened and I would like to know as much as I can
I like how he connects Scott Peterson's past to his previous life, I do think that his childhood, even if not remembered has an affect on him after he was told of what had happened.
The only thing I did not like is how the author have an anti-Laci kinda thing. I don't think he has the right to judge her, since he does not personally now her.
Having read the book, I can report that the doctor's style is heavy-handed and repetitive ("birth equals death" ad nauseum...) as he pads what would be a booklet into a book. And his allusions tend toward the melodramatic -- really, sound-bites passing for insight, evidence of television savvy.
But I don't question his fundamental premise that Peterson is a psychopath, trained by parents unable to mirror (see) him for who he really was. Their acceptance of him was conditional on his play-acting the "perfect child." To not be abandoned, the traumatized boy abnegated his genuine personality, feelings and all, to became a human doll.
Peterson is nothing but a shell, unconvincingly mimicking emotions he is doomed to never experience. Instead, admiration for his image is his pain-killing fix, the only way he can feel his existence, and Amber offered fresh supply after married life with Laci had gone flat. In that, the book offers a valuable warning about "perfect" men who can't love. If only Laci had recognized the signs.
I read the book yesterday. I'm not quite sure why Ms. Dillion would attack this book with such ferocity, as most of what the author said makes perfect sense.
Like everyone else, I simply couldn't understand why a guy who apparently had so much going for him: he was good looking, had a beautiful wife, generous parents, good relationship with his in-laws, a decent paying job, would purposely give all that up and murder his wife and unborn son. Dr. Ablow's theory makes alot of sense.
Jackie Peterson was abandonned emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually by her mother, her father was murdered when she was 2 and she lived a life of hell in the orphanage. The only way she could cope was to shut her emotions off and pretend her life was something else. Like so many abandonned women, she becomes promiscuous, gets pregnant 3 times out of wedlock and apparently had few maternal instincts. She manages to marry Lee, and he's an emotional wreck, just like her.
What a surprise that they raised a son who turned out to be a sociopath.
However, I feel that Dr. Ablow's description of Laci is one-dimentional and probably not accurate (by all accounts, she was a very loving, bubbly person). There is nothing to suggest that her sole ambition in life was "to make everything pretty." That would have made her as shallow as Scott and she certainly would never have opted to have a child.
After reading the book, it's easier to understand now why Scott did what he did. It certainly doesn't excuse him, but what it does is show us that if we do not nurture and raise our children in a warm, balanced and loving environment, we shouldn't be too surprised when they grow up and become sociopaths, drug dealers, rapists, bank robbers or pedophiles. There's too many emotionally unstable people out there having children that they are not emotionally equipped to raise and the result is society as we see it today.
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I would have maybe bought this book, or in the least, rented it from the libary, until I read this review. It doesn't sound like the book even has any great insights into Scott Peterson's sociopathic nature. And the victim bashing of Laci would probably make me literally ill. Thanks for the heads-up on this one!