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Fatal Journey is not, in my opinion, your typical "true crime" story. It does not seek to understand, usually in more detail than might be truly necessary, the "WHY", or even the "HOW", of what happened. The reader never does know exactly what happened to Carrie Love after she got into the 18-wheeler with her boss, Jesse Pratt. Fatal Journey is much more about what happened after the crime was committed. Jesse Pratt is, in spite of his appearance, a slick man. He lives on the edge of legality, slipping over the line more and more as time goes on. His business life is shady at best - he robs Peter to pay Paul. Jesse Pratt can be a very charming man, especially when a woman first gets to know him. The honeymoon never lasts. He physically and mentally abuses women, he tries (and sometimes succeeds) to have "his" women prostitute themselves for him, he is hated and feared by all of his family. He has, at least once before, kidnapped and raped a woman, Carrie Love is a bubbly, cheerleader-perky, young (20) woman who goes to work for Jesse after meeting him in a diner. She is one of the few women who will not even consider having sex with other men for Jesse, because she won't have sex with people she doesn't care about. Jesse is driving his truck to California, ostensibly to start a new business. Carrie has promised to call her boyfriend, to let him know when she is flying back from California. Carrie never makes the call. Her body is eventually found, buried under some gravel. Based on the text on the front cover of the book ("His twisted obsession took an innocent woman on a deadly detour"), I expected a great deal more exploration of Jesse Pratt's life and psyche. There is certainly enough of that to enable the reader to understand why Carrie Love was murdered. It is not, however, the focal point of the story. Fatal Journey is much more the story of what the police do, what the evidence technicians do, what forensic science brings to light in the process of trying to convice Jesse Pratt of the murder of Carrie Love. This is an interesting book to read, although I believe that the cover misleads the reader. It is not "An Unthinkable Crime"; it's a rape/murder with elements of extreme brutality. And someone obviously DID think of it. The "sixteen pages of shocking photos" mentioned on the back cover include only one photograph of Carrie's body, and that photo is of only a portion of one arm. Any of the other photos, if viewed outside of the context of this book, would be boring. The one true statement on the back cover refers to "A Cutting-Edge Investigation". The police are very thorough, and competant. This lasted through not one, but two trials. This would not seem to be a compelling read. Somehow, Jack Gieck conveys to the reader the intensity, the determination of the investigators that Jesse Pratt not get away with this crime. They succeeded; Jesse Pratt is still on Death Row. Jack Gieck succeeds in keeping this reader interested in what is, in the long run (and unfortunately), not an exceedingly unusual crime or a very unusual criminal.
Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, April 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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