Rampage: America's Largest Family Murder

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In late December 1987 Ronald Geen Simmons, a part-time cashier at a Mini-Mart in rural Arkansas, killed 14 members of his family, including his wife, his daughter and her child, to whom he was both father and grandfather. He then drove into nearby Russellville to settle other scores, killing two more people and wounding four. Simmons was convicted and executed in 1990. As a child, he had been to elim dangling modifier a loner, and this trait was reinforced by his family's multiple moves, which denied him longstanding friendships. He had a somewhat successful career in the military and served in Vietnam, although not in combat. He was a stern taskmaster to his children; he had a long-term incestuous relationship with his eldest daughter before she married, in his view jilting him. His wife was preparing to divorce him. And so, a failure in all his human relationships, theorizes Moore ( Conspiracy of One ), he struck back at those he blamed most. Since Simmons, as presented here, was not a complex man, this story is only mildly interesting. Further, the book is padded with all the autopsy reports, which add nothing but bulk. Photos not seen by PW. 30,000 first printing; $15,000 ad/promo. (May)