Joe Sharkey's DEATH SENTENCE is an account of the life of John Emil List who, in a case that was well known in the 70s, killed his mother, his wife, and their 3 children. The research in this book is outstanding, and Sharkey clearly put a great deal of time and effort into it. Therefore we learn about List's upbringing, as well as that of his wife Helen, in depth; with the end result that we understand their psychology; what made them the people they became.
List was an only child in a family with two elderly parents and was raised in an insular German Lutheran community in Michigan where frugality and adherence to both parental, societal, and Divine authority was the law. His father had little to do with him, while his mother was overprotective. List grew up to be a compulsive, rigid, repressed man who feared and resented the social changes taking place in the 70s.
He was competent at his jobs, usually working as an accountant, but, after a period where he would be considered a competent employee, he was invariably fired - the reason being that while he was good at following procedure, he was unable to improvise, to be flexible. The Lists moved to New Jersey in the early 70s and promptly bought a mansion they could not remotely afford. Right around this time List was again getting fired, this time from a bank, and his final downhill spiral began. He was earning virtually no money and though he was diligent about applying for work, he found nothing. Ashamed of his failure, he began leaving the house, wearing his ever-present suit and tie (in which he was known to mow the lawn), with his briefcase, going to the commuter train station, and just sitting there all day, before returning home in the evening. Finally, in November 1971, List, a passively unpleasant and dogmatically religious man, broke and unable to pay his bills, carefully planned and carried out the murder of his family so they wouldn't be impoverished, he said, and to "ensure that they would enter heaven."
List, after leaving town well before - due to his meticulous planning -anyone knew about the deaths, migrated to Denver where using an alias he started a new life which eventually included marriage. Sharkey meticulously covers List's new life in Denver as well as his move to Richmond, where, 18 years after the murders, he was apprehended.
Sharkey has produced a true crime masterpiece. He has chosen a highly interesting case. The often boring police work and courtroom scenes are brief and serve as necessary parts of the story rather than, as is too often the case with lesser writers, tedious filler.
Sharkey's background research of the main players as well as his thoroughness in detailing the elements of the crime are admirable and as a result the book is an excellent read. Sharkey's writing is excellent and he does not feel the need to use signposts to tell us what to think nor does he use the irritating colloquial/dramatic style often used even by decent true-crime writers. Sharkey writes reportorially, simply and intelligently for intelligent adult readers.
Sharkey clearly cared about writing a good book and put in a lot of work to do so. DEATH SENTENCE is the successful product of that effort. I'd consider it a must for any devotee of intelligent true-crime.
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