Small Sacrifices: The Shocking True Crime Case of Diane Downs

This is the second book by Anne Rule that I have read and I have found them both to be equally enthralling. Of course, the stories themselves are true but Anne writes them so well that they feel like fiction.

"Small Sacrifices" was written over twenty years ago and it remains one of the greatest true crime stories of all time. Ann Rule is a first class writer. She is so well known for her true crime books that it's easy to forget that her writing- her writing style- is very fine indeed, full of elegant descriptions of the Pacific northwest that she knows so well, remarkable insights of the players on her stage and heavily flavored with almost unbearable suspense. The research required to pen "Small Sacrifices," which took three years to write, was staggering. The book is just as topical today as it was when it was written, and the tragic saga of one woman's unspeakable crime will forever tear at the reader's heartstrings.Diane Downs shot all three of her children in the car and then dawdled along on the way to the hospital, giving the children time to die. Her little girl Cheryl died at almost once, "death so close behind her it could whisper in her ear" while Christie and Danny were heroically saved by the medical personnel at the hospital emergency ward, but both children were severely handicapped. Christie was so traumatized she sustained a stroke even though she was only 8 years old. She hovered "as tentatively as a butterfly's wings" at death's door before the team of frantically working doctors brought her back from the abyss. Little Danny at only three years old was shot in the spine and will be paralyzed for life from the waist down, but the heroic efforts of the doctors saved his life.Diane concocted a story of a bushy haired man who suddenly appeared in the street ahead of her car and demanded the car, then shot all three children, a tale that did not convince the police assigned to her case. Diane shot herself in the arm after shooting Cheryl, seven, Christie, eight, and Danny, three, at point blank range. Of course the invented story made no sense at all. Why would a gunman shoot three small children and not kill Diane who could identify him?Diane wanted to get rid of the children because her married boyfriend Lew didn't want kids. The children, of course, are the "small sacrifices". A year after the shooting Diane was finally indicted and brought to trial. As always, Rule is a hands-on writer and she sat perhaps two feet from Diane during much of the trial. She can describe how Diane at one point along with the people in the courtroom was listening to "Hungry Like a Wolf" the song that had been playing in her car when Diane shot her children. Diane sat there at the side of her lawyer, merrily snapping her fingers and juggling her leg in time to the music, apparently oblivious she was on trial for murder.While her little girl, Christie, who barely survived being shot in the chest twice, was on the witness stand the courtroom was eerily silent, hushed, almost frozen with horror. The little girl had one paralyzed arm and her speech was halting but she named her own mother as the shooter and the killer of her little sister. Up there on the witness stand she struggled with her emotions and practically everyone in the courtroom except Diane was in tears. Rule described Diane's strange yellow or green eyes and her inappropriate laughter. There is something extremely discordant about Diane Downs.Rule delves deeply into the psyche of Diane Downs. Diane had lamented over her unhappy childhood and abuse by her father. But most children who are abused do not become killers. Diane is thought to have three serious personality disorders: narcissism, histrionic disorder and she's a sociopath. Like her soul mate Ted Bundy, she is always on stage and the center of that stage. She cares absolutely nothing about anybody, and her obsession with Lew, the married man she shot her children for, is just that: an obsession. Diane believes that people exist to serve her without her giving anything in return. She is and was an empty shell devoid of sympathy, empathy and love. The only love she is capable of is for herself and she has no conscience. Like all sociopaths, she's an accomplished liar. An empty shell.Ann Rule keeps you reading her page -turner, gasping at the horror and you may even shed a tear or two over those children, wounded so long ago by their own mother. The evil in Diane is balanced by the good of people involved in the case: the doctors who struggled to save the childrens' lives, the detectives who labored on the case, the Slaven family who cared for the children during the trial, and especially the prosecuting attorney, Fred Hugi, who adopted Christie and Danny after Diane was convicted and sent to jail, brought them up with love and sent them to college. (Christie is now married and has a baby boy of her own. Danny, although in a wheelchair, is a cheerful, successful computer whiz).Diane, Rule emphasizes, is not insane because a psychosis (insanity) can be treated by therapy and medication and can be reversed. There is hope for an insane person, but the sociopath will never change. He bears the mark of Cain which will brand him for life. You could almost say that the tattoo of a rose Diane has on her shoulder is the mark of Cain.

It’s a great read. Ann Rule wrote some great books. If you like true crime this is a good one. Diane Downs is scary. Hard to believe it happened so long ago. You can still watch the mini series on you tube. The book itself was somewhat damaged. Not the delivery drivers fault. This app doesn’t have a way to give a mixed review. The delivery was fine. But the actual produced was damaged. Hard to tell how it happened. Oh well. I kept the book.

I have always enjoyed reading true crime and nonfiction books. This is my first Ann Rule and all I can say is wow. It was amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.

Ann Rule has done a tremendous job researching, interviewing and studying Downs. The story is harrowing, but not told in a gruesome prose.

I love this author and the amount of detail she incorporates into her book. It's hard to say that you love a book while the content was so raw and disturbing, but if you are interested in true crime, you'll love this book. It's hard to believe that people like Diane Downs exist, but they do, and Ann Rule did a great job in shedding light on a horrendous act

This read as a story. Full of intrigue and so hard to put down. You want to know the ending but also don’t want it to end. Totally riveting! One of the best true crime books I’ve ever read. I’m hooked now!

Ann Rule is not Tolstoy or Stephen King. Her books read like she just typed up her notes. But whenever I am having trouble finding a book I want to read I will let my mind coast and read one of her books. If you follow the news, you already know how it is going to end, so there is no "edge of your seat" feeling. This one is just plain creepy. I saw the movie, but I didn't remember that until towards the end of the book. Because Diane Downs was such a prolific talker, there is a lot of stuff available about her and so it makes this one interesting. If you picture Farah Fawcett as Diane Downs it really feels creepy. Ann Rule constantly describes Diane Downs as being extremely smart, but I didn't get that. She was stupid in so many ways in her life. She couldn't string two sentences together that made any sense in writing and she believed she could become a doctor, being too dumb to realize that was never going to happen. Those are a couple of examples. I think she thought she was smart and Ann Rule thought it would make the book more interesting if she wrote that she was smart. I think Ann Rule does this in her books. She creates sensationalism by depicting characters in ways that will make the book more interesting. I like a book that is more factual, even though it is probably boring.

Me encanta, lo voy empezando pero es un libro muy interesante para pasar el rato, es de bolsillo y trae la letra chiquitita

Excellent book. My husband and I both enjoyed the brilliant writing of Ann Rule and her impeccable skill in covering this story. Highly recommended.

Well written and interesting novel. Ann Rule writes brilliantly even when the story itself is heartbreaking. Ann has really investigated and gotten great information and facts as well as letting other people have a voice.

There isn’t anyone as diabolical as Diane Downs, and Ann Rule recounts this harrowing story in great detail. Not for the faint hearted. My thoughts are with Downs remaining children, I hope they are thriving.

Excellent book fast delivery