The Embrace: A True Vampire Story

On November 25, 1996, in Eustis, Fla., Ruth and Richard Wendorf were found bludgeoned to death in their home, with their youngest daughter, Heather, 15, missing. Jones (Cruel Sacrifice, etc.) portrays Heather as a lonely girl whose desire to transcend her ""mundane,"" privileged life brought her under the influence of a charismatic monster who introduced her to an underground world of teenagers dressing in black, practicing ritual bloodletting and dreaming of traveling to Paris and New Orleans. Was Heather part of a gruesome execution planned by self-described vampires or a brainwashed victim seduced by pack leader Rod Ferrell? Jones makes a case for the latter, minimizing Heather's involvement in the murders (""She was without an ego""). While Jones claims to have used ""proven sources of journalistic research,"" she does admit to altering ""certain details"" and taking ""certain storytelling liberties."" Jones seems to think Ferrell was just born mean, and she turns him into a larger-than-life character, calling him ""the embodiment of insanity."" Her entire account suffers from psychological na vet , as she appears to believe whatever Heather--who stands to inherit half a million dollars from her parents' death--tells her and dismisses those who contradict the girl, including Heather's own sister. Jones provides a good overview of the facts surrounding the murder and her prose glows with a voyeuristic intensity, but she comes off as so wholly biased in favor of Heather, ""the victim,"" that her presentation lacks full credibility. (June) FYI: Jones's All She Wanted is soon to be filmed with Drew Barrymore.