Cruel Sacrifice

I think she is a wonderful author-having read almost all of her work and disliking only one of her books.
She went into so much detail of Melinda life because hers was the most disturbing of the girls. If you understand psychology, then you will understand that a persons childhood and family is generally directly related to their personality and may define her future. She showed us that Melinda was deeply disturbed and although nobody can really explain why or how, by understanding where she came from we can get a better view.
These were TEENAGE girls at the time of this brutual tourture/murder. It is hard to understand why an adult would commit such a crime, but almost impossible to imagine how and why a child would do it. These girls got everything they deserved. I am glad they were punished by deathe, but instead forced to live had the rest of their childhoods and adult years taken away from them.
All in all, it was a very good book.

This book delves into the minds of the seriously disturbed teenage girl. I liked how Jones explained the torment Loveless and Tackett went through in their homes, especially Loveless. It was definitely clear how she became this way. It was horrible, absolutely horrible what they did to Shanda. But when I hear people telling Melinda to "Rot in Hell" I am completely shocked. What also angers me is how Shanda's parents put a lot of the blame on "the girl who persuaded her to enter a lesbian relationship". They have every right to be angry at the girls who killed their daughter, but absolutely no right to blame it on the fact that some of the girls are lesbians. I found myself feeling great compassion for the girls who committed the murder as well as Shanda who was the victim. And I fully believe that all the girls got what they deserved. The four murderers will serve their sentences. And each of them feels pain every single day. This book was an amazing look into the psyche of the greatly disturbed teenage girl.

Once more Jones manages to write a bad book about a very intruiging real-life murder case. I bought this book because I was interested in the Shanda Sharer murder. Having never read anything by Jones, I had high hopes (especially after I heard her being interviewed on NPR for her newest book "Red Zone").
What a disappointment. The best way I can compare my reading experience of this book is with watching a particularly bad Lifetime movie.
Jones simply lists anything she has managed to dig up about this case. It's really more of a collage of leads, rumors and courtroom snippets than a formally organized book. Who is this author's editor???? There is absolutely no clear line here.
The four teens who were involved in the murder of a 12-year old girl come across as mere stereotypes. Jones manages to absolutely NOT bring any of them to life. I am just as puzzled about these kids and their reasons for killing a little girl as I was when I read the back of the book.
I still don't understand what really went on the night Shanda was murdered, let alone why this murder occurred. I have no idea how the police built their case (that section was particularly convoluted). I don't know anything about the four girls' state of mind after the crime and their participation in their defense strategy. I have more questions after reading this book than I had before I picked it up.
Oh, there is one more thing that really bothered me. Jones includes pictures of key players in the book. Why did she not include pictures of these kids that would show the reader what they actually looked like day to day? Jones goes to greast lengths of describing the teens physically. Yet, the pictures she chose to include are mug shots only... With the excpetion of one girl (for whom Jones includes several different pictures), the three other teens are forever doomed to merely be remembered as deer caught in the headlight in their mug shots. And of Shanda, the victim, the reader is treated to one blurry picture of the pretty young girl (but plenty of inconsequential autopsy pictures). Lastly, Jones keeps telling us about this lesbian triangle between the victim, one of the guilty teens and this other girl Amanda (not directly involved in the crime). WHY IS THERE NO PICTURE OF AMANDA???
I just don't understand Jones' choices and I truly dislike her convoluted writing style.

I must admit that the book is an accurate account of Shanda Sharer's kidnapping and murder, and the events leading up to it. It's extremely sensational though -- did Ms. Jones REALLY have to include Shanda's autopsy photos? Of course, the whole lesbian love triangle thing was made for sensation. And at least it's entertaining. I read it in one sitting. I recommend Michael Quinlan's book if you're looking for an account of the murder but want less violence and sex.

I must admit that the book is an accurate account of Shanda Sharer's kidnapping and murder, and the events leading up to it. It's extremely sensational though -- did Ms. Jones REALLY have to include Shanda's autopsy photos? Of course, the whole lesbian love triangle thing was made for sensation. And at least it's entertaining. I read it in one sitting. I recommend Michael Quinlan's book if you're looking for an account of the murder but want less violence and sex.

When i first started to read Cruel Sacrifice i couldn't put it down. The things the Loveless family had to endure, it would make anyone cry. The torture the little girls were put through by their own father were horrible, and Aphrodite Jones has written the book so well that you could almost feel the breath of the drunk man on your neck. She really takes you into the book itself with her and shows you all the details of the incident. I would recomend this book to anyone of the age of thirteen and older, and I would read it again. This book is very powerful with the way you think. After i read half of the book i started to really appreciate my family a little more and really think, this happens everyday. It is a great book.

It was a pretty interesting book--lets you explore why they did it (though there's no excuse for it). My main problem with it is that Jones seems to be hinting that Christianity breeds criminals--she goes into the religious pasts, so to speak, of Loveless and Tackett. Jones needs to realize that Pentecostalism is not the same as fundamentalism; I'm a Christian fundamentalist, and I wouldn't set foot in Graceland or Lighthouse on the Hill, because Pentecostalism is just nuts, and if your church wants to "exorcise" you for being in disagreement, there's a serious problem! (They would have exorcised the Bereans.)

I must say that Aphrodite Jones did an amazing job covering this horrid story. Shanda Sharer was a 12yr. old girl who had been kidnapped and bludgeoned to death by four teenage girls. Some parts of this book are very graphic and at times I felt sick to my stomach. What happened to Shanda Sharer should not have happened, but hopefully, every parent who reads this novel will pay attention to the "warning signs" their children exhibit. Had the parents of these four girls payed attention, this sensless tragedy could have been avoided.

In a book about true crime, the worst kind: murder, where all of the main characters are under the age of 17, it makes you wonder exactly where this world is headed in the days so different from which our ancestors, and possibly even our parents, knew. Aphrodite Jones, a best-selling author, tries her best to take you foward in a world where things are too cruel for anyone to comprehend or even understand. This tabloid-like detailed book on how so-called friendships came to be, how and why the murder happened, and what happened to the girls once they were caught is a great read and is hard to put away unless you've turned every single page.

A small Indiana town was shaken and stirred when four young girls, Melinda Loveless, Mary (known as "Laurie") Tackett, Hope Rippey and Toni Lawrence took the life of an innocent 12-year-old Shanda Sharer all in the name of some sort of "puppy love." Sharer, who had only been a resident of her new town for less than six months, never had a clue that she was the target of death when she began her new life at her new school. Three of the murderers whom she did not even know or had ever seen before until the day she was taken from this world. Sharer had taken up a friendship with a young girl named Amanda Heavrin, Loveless's girlfriend at the time, and Loveless grew very jealous and hateful towards Sharer. Loveless feared that the two had more than just a friendship, which they eventually did. Loveless made a vow to have Sharer killed if Sharer didn't leave Heavrin alone, and in the end Sharer paid the ultimate price: her very young life.

With actual letters written between Sharer, Heavrin and Loveless, Aphrodite Jones takes you into the minds of the murderers & the innocent, and even their pasts, to try to and understand and break into little pieces what could spark something so evil, something so worse than just being young and "out of touch."

Typed exactly as written, two of the many letters from Heavrin to Sharer read this:

Shanda,
Hey honey. Yes, I do love you but I just feel like Melinda has me in a trance and I don't know how to get out of it and I'm scared. If I try to get out something bad will happen and I'm scared to death.

Love,
Amanda

Shanda,
I don't think I would ever tell Melinda that we're going out. She would probably kill you. Yes, I love you a lot, Shanda my honey.

Love ya,
Amanda

Reading about Loveless's past could either give you reason for her actions or spawn off lame excuses, but either way it makes an interesting twist for the case. Tackett's past does the same. Both girls are the "main characters" when it comes to Sharer's death. Hope Rippey and Toni Lawrence seemed to just be along for the ride, often making you wonder whether or not they wanted to be there when the murder took place, or if they realized that this was the real deal and wanted to make excuses to escape punishment. Lawrence often recalls wanting to save Sharer from death after Sharer pleaded to her just hours before her life was taken, but she feared Loveless and did nothing. Later Lawrence would explain this to Sharer's mother, but was denied any pity from the Sharer family.

The photographs of all five girls, including photos of Sharer's autopsy, are haunting and real and definitely add more to the story's text. Mug shots, where two of the murderers are smiling once they were caught, really make this book cold and heartbreaking.

In the end, five people lost their lives, whether taken away from the world or taken away from their families. Every "character" in this book paid a price. A sacrifice.

This book is excellent. I also have another book that deals with this same case--"Little Lost Angel" by Michael Quinlan. I found both books very hard to put down! I would love for anyone with any info. about this very interesting case to e-mail me, please. I saw Aphrodie Jones on the Montel Williams show, along with a few newsclips, but other than that I have not been able to find much factual info. a/b this case (such as magazine pictures,etc.). Please help me if you know anything about this case.

I FOUND THIS BOOK VERY DISTURBING ESPECIALLY THE AGES OF ALL THE GIRLS. I LIKED THE IDEA OF THE AUTHOR TELLING THE LIFE STORIES OF EACH OF THE GIRLS. IF YOU REALLY LIKE TRUE CRIME BOOKS, THIS ONE IS FOR YOU.

MISS JONES, Did an excellent job of documenting this tragic story And she gives a keen insight into the lives of the killers as well as the victim.This book is a must read for the true aphrodite jones fan.

I was slightly disappointed with this book. Supposed to be about the murder of Shanda Sharer, and it almost seemed a biography of Melinda Loveless. It was almost as if Aphrodite was trying to rectify Melinda's actions by proving her home life wasn't too great. I would suggest reading Little Lost Angel, because it tells a more rounded story of how the murder was premeditated and happened. It also wasn't just about Melinda, but about everyone that was involved..

There was too much repetition of the crimes. First, as they did it. Then the confessions of each of the girls. Finally, what was said at the hearings & trials. Towards the end, I found myself skimming through the book looking for new facts & not just rehashes of previous chapters.

This is a perfect example of a true crime book… I am not interested in the horrific crime itself for its own sake, but that it goes into the life of all the background characters psychologies that were involved!

I believe I have read every Ann Rule book she has ever written for this very reason.

Sadly, Ann is no longer with us, but perhaps Aphrodite Jones will carry on her tradition!!