...as ‘ripped from the headlines’ as it gets … Combining in-depth, investigative reporting and fresh interviews, the authors effectively tabloid-proof this shocking, celebrity-driven story by lining up the facts and labeling rumors. And while the matter-of-fact narrative’s Dragnet vibe might drone on at times, and too many of the short chapters ending with cliffhangers feel like a cable-TV series in the making, Patterson fans will be delighted. True to his 375-million-books-sold-worldwide, page-turning style, this disturbing true-crime thriller is another fast and captivating Patterson read.
It’s a quick read, competently done, and it does not fundamentally change our thinking about Hernandez as a gifted athlete who fell in with bad people, and then — when he got money and fame — came to think of himself as untouchable by the law … In the end, the authors say that the Hernandez case is still a mystery — why did a wealthy, successful athlete throw it all away by killing his friend?
Had the authors pitched an outline of this story to publishers, it would have been rejected as too fanciful even as a work of fiction … All-American Murder is not a deep drill. Instead they skim lightly in their reporting of Hernandez’s life from high school and college football star to his brief NFL career and to his trials and suicide. But this is not meant to be a criticism of the book … Patterson and his team provide a detailed chronological account of Hernandez’s violent life.
