Liars and Saints

Like most of the country, I'm horrified by the Gabby Petito story. And I keep thinking of a book, "No Visible Bruises," from a few years ago. Here is how I understand the Petito traffic stop. A guy--Brian Laundrie--is driving around with his girlfriend. He goes three times the speed limit and hits the curb. At this point, he is pulled over. The police ask for facts. Both Brian (calm) and Gabby (very distraught) seem to agree that Gabby was striking Brian at some point. Also, Brian grabbed Gabby by the jaw, in anger. Brian says, "Gabby is crazy. She is just crazy." Gabby says, "I just get OCD sometimes, and I apologized, I said I'm so sorry. I have this blog, and he says I'll never go anywhere with it....I was apologizing because I was cleaning up in the back of the vehicle....I was cleaning up too much...." The police take both stories at face value, conclude that Gabby is the primary aggressor, require Gabby to state that she never intended ha...

For a long time, I tried to write about "No Visible Bruises," which had really shaken me -- and I struggled. The subject matter--the deaths of several women at the hands of their partners--is obviously really hard to talk about. Also, it's not earth-shaking to say--about an already-praised book--that "this is a really great book." Having noted that, I think I can point out a few things: *Rachel Louise Snyder is really skilled with small, chilling moments. A man murders his wife. He leaves behind several hours of family footage. The survivors claim they can't find anything odd in this footage. Snyder watches. At one point, the wife is in her underwear, and she asks not to be filmed. "Please stop," she says. "Please stop." The husband keeps filming. Eventually, the wife stops making her request. Why did this bother me? Snyder asks. Wasn't this just some bit of tomfoolery? Then Snyder has an epiphany:  She asked him to stop, ...