CRIME OF PASSION

by Leo Janos ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 31, 1983

A why-it-happened account of a double killing, with a clear murderer-as-victim slant that will generate strong pro/con reactions. In September 1969, Geoffrey King, 17 and zonked on acid, stabbed to death his mother and grandmother at their Palos Verdes home, then stabbed himself in the chest 13 times--and miraculously survived. Convicted of voluntary manslaughter but acquitted by reason of insanity, Geoffrey spent only three years in mental institutions before being set free, at age 21, to put his life back together. Janos ignores the question of whether justice was done and focuses instead on the first 17 years of Geoffrey's life, in an attempt to show that, as Geoffrey himself put it: ""I've been pushed into this crazy corner since the day I was born."" Dad was a hard-driving, cold, upwardly-mobile, image-conscious executive who never wanted a son and had psychiatric problems of his own. Mom was a bright young woman who, after years of domination by King, turned into an obese, apathetic drunk. Young Geoffrey grew up alone and lonely, first in rural Kansas, then in ""nouveau fiche baronial"" splendor in the Hollywood Hills--an unathletic child who read Vogue and Architectural Digest, liked to dress up in his mother's clothes, and was teased by other kids for walking and talking like a girl. By his early teens, Geoffrey was a borderline alcoholic himself, as well as an occasional transvestite whose idea of a good time was stealing his mother's clothes and car for a night on the town. From there, it all went further downhill: clashes with dad over Geoffrey's increasingly gay lifestyle; almost total family disintegration when dad lost his job; Geoffrey's suicide attempt over a failed homosexual affair; Geoffrey's first (temporary) institutionalization at age 15; dad's death; drug experimentation; and the fateful night. At the time, Geoffrey had just lost his job at actor Laurence Harvey's antique shop, and life with mom seemed pretty desperate: ""How disgusting she seemed after a day with the beautiful people. . . . I know I should feel ashamed for thinking that way, and I was, just a little."" Free for the past ten years and now turned 30, Geoffrey (says Janos) has ""begun to resemble the rest of us,"" but is still ""uniquely Geoffrey, by turns a delightful, warmhearted companion and an outspoken pain in the ass."" Was he cured by his hospital term after the killings? Or was there anything to be cured of? Depending on one's views on the killer-as-victim issue, either a careful, sympathetic story, or a distasteful one.

Pub Date: May 31, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1983

Categories: NONFICTION