Exhaustive! I actually chose to read this book because of another, The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm. I wanted to "see" the relationship between MacDonald and McGinniss myself, to make my own judgements. I concluded that while Malcolm has some very interesting insights, her characterization of McGinniss and MacDonald were shaped by very limited sources, mostly letters between her and MacDonald.
McGinniss obviously started his relationship with MacDonald at MacDonald's request and evidence indicates that MacDonald agreed to let the author draw his own conclusions. Moreover, while reading I swayed back and forth on whether MacDonald was guilty of the murder of his wife and daughters. When he spoke for himself, he was engaging, charming, and the fact that so many people befriended and defended him after the accusations and trials speaks powerfully. Yet, now and then he'd say something really odd, misrepresent himself, exaggerate the facts, and I would question whether or not MacDonald was capable of the truth.
Of course, the evidence is all circumstantial, and clearly a man who had been woken at 3:30 in the morning under attack and then being shocked by the murder of his family would probably not recall exactly what happened. And, in those circumstances, that man would probably respond the way MacDonald did when questioned, "I don't know." But, left unresolved are the myriad of discrepancies that occur between what he did remember and the evidence, and that's where I continue to wonder.
McGinniss did an excellent job of trying to cover a variety of view points and an almost insurmountable amount of documentation. And, while I see that the book does lead one to the conclusion that MacDonald did murder his family, part of me wonders, still.
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