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House of Evil: The Indiana Torture Slaying (St. Martin's True Crime Library) | 
 enlarge | Author: John Dean
Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
Buy New: $3.52
You Save: $3.47 (50%)
New (17) Used (5) from $3.52
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 7751
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 4.2 x 1
ISBN: 0312946996
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.15230977252
EAN: 9780312946999
ASIN: 0312946996
Publication Date: July 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New Book! Delivered direct from our US warehouse in 3-6 days (Expedited) or 10-14 days (Standard). Expedited shipping recommended for speedy delivery. Over 1 million satisfied customers.
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Product Description
In the heart of Indianapolis in the mid 1960’s, through a twist of fate and fortune, a pretty young girl came to live with a thirty-seven-year-old mother and her seven children. What began as a temporary childcare arrangement between Sylvia Likens’s parents and Gertrude Baniszewski turned into a crime that would haunt cops, prosecutors, and a community for decades to come… When police found Sylvia’s emaciated body, with a chilling message carved into her flesh, they knew that she had suffered tremendously before her death. Soon they would learn how many others—including some of Baniszewski’s own children—participated in Sylvia’s murder, and just how much torture had been inflicted in one HOUSE OF EVIL
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Just ok book September 7, 2008
I watched the movie that was on Showtime or whatever and was instantly interested in reading the book because I wanted to learn more about this poor girls life and what lead up to her death. I was disappointed in this book. There isn't enough detail about exactly what happened to her and half the book is the courtroom which bored me to tears.
 Page Turner September 3, 2008
I read this book in two days. I hadn't even heard of this crime until I bought this book. The author explains why it was reprinted in the preface. It was well written and well structured. Great read. I'd highly recommend it to all you true crime readers. It's one of those crimes that will haunt you for a long time.
 Same story with minor amendments September 2, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I once owned the reprint of this book, but was so disturbed by what I read that I very scarcely read it and eventually gave it to someone who needed it for research this past spring. Last month I decided to give it another chance and bought this new paperback version. For those who have not heard this story, let me tell you something: This tale of the sadistic side of human nature is just as horrific the second or third or tenth time around as it is the first. To this day, my head spins and my stomach churns as I think of the unspeakable horror that sixteen-year-old Sylvia Likens endured at the hands of her monsterous caretaker, her equally heartless children, and their demented friends. This is a story that in four years time has NEVER left my memory and probably never will. If you do decide to read about this, prepare to be shocked as this story is told with a terrifying realism that should only exist in our nightmares.
As for the differences between this publication and the original, this book is in fact the same book, except that: 1. This book is a traditional paperback book as opposed to the copy with the original red vellum cover (hence, the steep price tag for the latter); 2. There is an added foreword as well as an updated afterword; and 3. The photos have been moved to the very middle of the book as opposed to the random placement in the original, including two or three never-before-seen pictures. There are also some very minor amendments such as the name of the song that Sylvia sang at night and the change in spelling of her older sister's name ('Dianna' as opposed to 'Diana'). Since this is more or less the same publication, and neither better nor worse than the first copy, I'll give it the same rating as I did originally: 4 stars.
house of evil August 29, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read this in 1967 and I wanted to read again. I give 5 star rating
The True Story behind American Crime! August 11, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I didn't have the channel in viewing "American Crime" starring Catherine Keener as Gertrude, the divorced mother of seven, in Indianapolis who earned extra income by allowing crippled Jenny and her sister Sylvia Liken live with them in their home. Unfortunately, Sylvia died only months after her arrival. This book is in tradition of true crime books in recent years. While John Deans covered the story, he does not leave out any of the horrendous details regarding Sylvia's murder or the abuse at the hands of Gertrude and her children who she encouraged and egged on to destroy Sylvia. They treated Sylvia with no mercy and brutalized her in ways that I can't describe here. The book is a page turner but I felt that we could have known more about Gertrude's psychology as the other children who were involved in tormenting, denigrating, abusing this poor girl for no other reason than their own sadistic pleasures. You wonder why Jenny was so traumatized and horrified to speak up as were the other children in the house. Sylvia was whipped, beaten, burned, and treated like garbage than a human being. She was also starved of food and water in the end. The case reminds me of a recent murder case regarding a young girl who was believed to be the root of all evil and succumbed to the same fate as Sylvia Likens. The book was an easy read and a page turner while at the same time that we could have had more in-depth coverage regarding Gertrude's background.
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