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Everything She Ever Wanted (1993)

Everything She Ever Wanted (1993)

Book Info

Author
Genre
Rating
3.96 of 5 Votes: 5
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ISBN
067169071X (ISBN13: 9780671690717)
Language
English
Publisher
pocket books

About book Everything She Ever Wanted (1993)

This is my third full length Ann Rule book and once again it involves parents manipulating, abusing and even killing, or attempting to kill their children. The story revolves around Pat Radcliffe Taylor Allanson and her many crimes. Raised as a spoiled rotten child who never heard the word no, Pat was used to getting her own way and she would easily resort to murder to get it. The story begins with the seemingly fairy tale marriage of Pat Taylor and Tom Allanson in a Gone with the Wind style wedding. Pat is determined to live her life like Scarlett O'Hara surrounded by wealth, and servants in a beautiful plantation home. She sees the obstacle as being Tom's parents who are involved in an ugly feud with their son. When her in laws are first ambushed in their car and shortly after found murdered in the basement of their house, the story really begins to take off. Tom is accused of the murder and goes to trial. He is sent to prison and Pat continues to manipulate both him and those around her to try and gain the fortune she believes is coming to her. She leaves a trail of victims behind her, from Tom's grandparents, to her own aunt and daughter, to elderly people in her care. Through it all her own parents, especially her mother remain steadfast in their support to the point where they banish, shun and even torment those who have turned against the family and reported Pat's behaviour. Although I found it slow at the start, by the time Tom goes to trial things began to pick up. A wonderfully written profile of a sick anti social sociopathic person who only cares about herself and will stop at nothing to get her own way, and the victims she left in her wake.

"Everything She Ever Wanted" by Ann Rule is the true story of Patricia Vann Radcliffe Taylor Allanson, a Georgia woman who envisioned herself as a modern day Scarlett O'Hara and systematically tore anyone and everyone down who stood in her way of that fantasy. Ms. Rule does an excellent job of researching Pat's childhood as a spoiled and selfish little girl who was coddled constantly by her family, who aged to become a spoiled and self-centered adult who never really truly grew up. Reading about her childhood and the complete lack of boundaries she had, while her family continually fawned over her and found no wrong with absolutely anything she did, had me angered and annoyed. Could fate have been changed if her parents had put their foot down with her? We will never know. Pat's brother ended up a suicide; her mother and father in law murdered; her husband's grandparents poisoned; an elderly employer poisoned; even her own daughter was poisoned. During it all Pat hid behind her frail, helpless female exterior, conveniently fainting when confronted with anything unpleasant, and keeping the mask of her sociopathic character hidden, with absolutely no remorse or concern for the havoc and path of destruction she left behind. This story was so fascinating, so unbelievable that it had to be true. Definitely one of Ms. Rule's very best works. Highly recommended

Do You like book Everything She Ever Wanted (1993)?

Ann Rule always shares very interesting, and disturbing, stories. And this one was no different. It is about a husband who is tried for murdering his parents, and a wife who seems to be the one who did it and who is imprisoned for other crimes and attempted murders. The really sad part is how this woman's parents raised her (as a spoiled brat) and supported her in her lies and selfishness: truly shameful. Too bad they can't be tried for the crimes too.In any case, I enjoyed the read, but was stuck several times as Ms. Rule seemed to repeat herself about information and events over and over again. It got a bit tedious. She also seemed to include lots of minutiae that didn't appear to be relevant, while not covering the things that were later going to be relevant in enough detail, so I found myself going back a few times to see if I had missed something somewhere.
—Garrett

This is a twisted tale of a woman whose southern belle exterior masked a narcissistic and ruthless criminal. The crimes committed by Patricia Taylor née Radcliffe were shocking enough, but the blind devotion of a family that fed her egocentric drive to get whatever she wanted was even more fascinating. Pat was a woman who would go to any lengths to obtain the lavish lifestyle she felt she deserved. People, especially men, were simply a means to an end and the end was usually pretty heinous. In her ceaseless drive to obtain everything that she felt defined her existence, Pat left death, destruction and broken lives in her wake. It is a portrait of the most extreme example of Borderline Personality Disorder and the impact such a person on the lives of everyone she touched. Once again, family dysfunction was at the forefront and Rule did a great job of inciting the reader to think about what caused a person born into such a loving family to become so sociopathic.A good read and I recommend this!
—Connie Hodges

I finished this Everything She Ever Wanted: A True Story of Obsessive Love, Murder, and Betrayal and Dead by Sunset: Perfect Husband, Perfect Killer? the other day. I am going to have to go back and buy some more Ann Rule novels since I ended up once again being fascinated by her True Crime story.This novel starts with a marriage. Taking place in Atlanta in 1974 we have Pat Taylor marrying her new husband Tom Allanson and thrilled that she will finally start to belong to the elite Atlanta society life she craves. When Tom buying Pat a plantation so that they could have their own Tara she feels like everything in her life is finally going her way. However, things quickly change when Tom finds himself out of work and blackballed from getting new work due to his father Walter disapproving of Pat. With some very strange occurrences everything reaches a fever pitch and two people are left dead.Ms. Rule seems to have a certain formula in her novels (which I like) that she usually starts off with the murders and "suspects" and then we work our way backwards from their childhoods, upbringings, and back to the present day of the murders. She follows that same formula here and also includes some pictures of Pat, Tom, and others who are depicted in this novel. I honestly don't have a problem with it since it does work. Though at times a bit of the backstory does drag on a bit I thought it was a very minor complaint and not enough to deduct a star since the entire novel does keep you reading well into the night.I would definitely recommend to True Crime readers.
—O

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