Book Review: For Laci

Traditionally, true crime books are written in retrospect often years after a trial. With the advent of the Internet, however, numerous crime forums, message boards, and Web logs created the opportunity to follow a criminal case live from the earliest news reports through the verdict and aftermath.

One subject that consistently appealed to a large, diverse and dedicated audience was the Laci Peterson murder case. Mainstream media following the trial failed to see the spiritual, cultural, and metaphorical significance of the case. They didn’t appreciate Laci’s influence or the lessons to be learned in Peterson’s modus operandi. Those of us who were fortunate to see beyond painted plywood sets of Peterson’s defense and could distill the truth from superficial syllogism were rewarded when the jury, the only people who really mattered, shared the vision. As time goes by, and bad books on the case come and go, we can hope that thoughtful viewers, misled and misinformed throughout the trial, will learn the truth behind the Hollywood hype.

In Sharon Rocha’s book, For Laci, eager followers of the Peterson case finally witnessed, first-hand, the private and extraordinary experiences of Laci Peterson’s mother and family while her husband Scott continued to baffle a nation. Sharon’s account, describing her overwhelming disillusionment, rage, disbelief, confusion, and ultimately the courage to be Laci’s voice, aptly summarized the divergent emotions and prejudices many of us applied to this story. Her thorough testimonial validated our bold assumptions about so many things, such as Laci’s personality, how she would have reacted to her husband’s affair, the peculiar Peterson family dynamics, and Scott’s bizarre affect from the early days of the investigation to the moment of his final sentencing.

We embraced Laci as a figurative sister, daughter, mother, and ourselves betrayed by love; she was a woman in whom we could vicariously invest our aspirations of fulfillment and domestic perfection. Why else would she attract such an enormous following for over two years? Most spousal murder cases are merely a tragically familiar blip on the crime radar; Laci’s case captured the attention of millions. In Sharon’s book, Laci proved to be exactly as we imagined her.

Article Author: Loretta Dillon

LORETTA DILLON is a blogger, author and playwright. She began her writing career publishing a neighborhood newspaper and handwritten and illustrated books as a child in a Cleveland suburb. Because her strongest literary influences were MAD magazine …

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