I have so many comments about this case and this book, I hardly know where to begin. I will start with the fact that this book is currently available on Kindle Unlimited, which pleased me very much. I saw this book at the local used bookstore, but they wanted $8 for it, and I could not make myself pay that for a used paperback, when the new price on Amazon is $5. I really prefer a physical book, but lack of shelf space is forcing me to go digital, so this worked out. I have read another book by this author, and it was tolerable. She is not my favorite true crime writer, but I was very interested in this case. I learned quite a lot about the case, and it was a wild story, which is why I gave it a three star. I am generally pretty reserved in my star ratings, and three is what I rate a fairly decent book that I enjoyed a great deal. I would have given it a four, but the writing style is not my most favorite.

THERE ARE SPOILERS BELOW

The book starts off going over the attack of Diane Whipple in 2001. Whipple was a college coach, who had gone out to get some groceries and was returning to her Pacific Heights apartment building. As she was going into her apartment, the neighbor's dogs attacked and mauled her. She wound up with at least 77 wounds all over her body, with the only places unharmed being the top of her scalp and the soles of her feet. Her clothes were torn off. I cannot imagine being mauled to death by any kind of animal. What a horrible experience and horrible death that was. While she survived long enough to make it to the hospital and undergo surgery, she eventually died an hour after leaving the operating theatre.

The dogs that attacked her were a breed called Presa Canarios. I have seen these dogs for sale in my area, but I have never seen one in person. As I typed this sentence, I went to check local listings, and there are several for sale. They have very expensive price tag, which may be one reason I have not seen any before. The breed is originally a Spanish breed, bred for herding and guarding livestock. Of course, with any large breed dog, they were often used in dog fighting. I find that completely reprehensible. I cannot stand dog fighting. All dogs have the potential to be aggressive, but to deliberately train them and mistreat them to make them aggressive toward people and other animals is sickening, really. The two dogs that attacked Diane Whipple, Bane and Hera, were huge dogs, who had bad manners, essentially no proper training, and who had certainly caused many problems before this incident.

Bane, (and his first female companion, Isis), were purchased by a man called Paul Schneider. Schneider was an inmate at Pelican Bay, when he got into contact with a woman he coerced into taking care of the dogs and breeding them to sell to buyers he arranged. He was a million percent trying to breed and sell fighting dogs. People really get themselves sucked into some bad schemes, and this particular scheme was one of them. He eventually convinced this woman to add two more female dogs, one of which was Hera, to the group. Eventually, she displeased him by asking for more money to care for the dogs, not raising them exactly how he said, not being able to control them, and complaining that they were killing her sheep and chickens, he sent his lawyers to get the dogs.

Robert Noel and Marjorie Knoller had custody of Bane and Hera at the time of the attack, and were neighbors with Diane Whipple. Several other residents had made comments about the dogs aggressive nature and their size. At the time of the incident, Bane weighed about 140 pounds, while Hera weighed about 100 pounds. Noel was not present during the attack, but was convicted of manslaughter, as there was sufficient evidence to show that he knew the dogs were aggressive and had the potential to kill. Knoller was convicted of manslaughter and second degree murder. It blows my mind that Schneider was able to get all of these people to go along with his schemes and deal with these dogs. Bane and Hera were euthanized by Animal Control.

The final comment that I want to make is about the dogs. I said before that all dogs have the potential to be aggressive. I have been around a lot of dogs in my life, and, with the exception of one, the most aggressive ones have been small breeds. People tend to fear large breed dogs because of their size, or cases like this one where someone was attacked. I am a strong believer that breeding and training play a large role in the way dogs respond to people and animals. Just because it is a big dog, or a "scary" breed, doesn't mean that every dog is like that. It is sad that someone had to die in such a horrific way because some miscreant wanted to raise dog fighting dogs.