Ann Rule Nails Domestic Violence
And Never Let Her Go by Ann Rule
Ann Rules scores again with her true crime book And Never Let Her Go — Thomas Capano: The Deadly Seducer. If you're familiar with true crime, then you know Ann Rule does rule in the genre. If you're not up on true crime and you want to grab a book about the depraved and final justice, then just look for Rule on the cover. A lot of the books in the genre are rip-and-write and not very well done. If Rule takes on a project, she does it right.
Never Let Her Go is about the 1996 murder of Anne Marie Fahey. She was the secretary to the governor of Delaware and was young and very pretty. This was, of course, a case that made the news across the globe.
What the heck happened to Anne Marie?
She had everything going for her. She had a decent job. She had loads of friends. She'd finally found the right man.
But, she had a secret.
Ann Marie had been sleeping with Tom Capano — a very wealthy attorney who had been a state prosecutor. This was a man with power. And, this was a man who was used to having his way. Though Anne Marie had decided to break it off and make her own life, it wasn't that simple. She was dealing with a man who was used to telling women what to do and no questions. He was not happy. No. He was furious. And, Anne Marie would pay the ultimate price. She would die.
Though the case was splashed across the nation in the media, Rule digs deeper as always and in the style of Truman Capote (the father of true crime) helps the reader see and understand how a man with a clean record could kill a woman with a bright future. And, Rule helps lay out the case from start to finish so that it's clear how a man was convicted of a crime on circumstantial evidence (which is a hard thing to do).
No punches are pulled here. Really, there was no reason to soft shoe it. The victim and anyone willing to go against Capano were ripped apart on the stand. Nothing was sacred in trying to get Capano off and that included his own daughters who Capano claimed to put above all (other than himself).
Anne Marie was certainly not a saint. She did have the affair going. But, that is not a sin punishable by death. She was lonely and Capano was the charismatic type who sucked in vulnerable women including a mistress of over a decade who thought that when Capano did leave his wife that it was to marry her. She was shocked to find that she was not the only mistress and then to find that her lover tried to point the finger at her. Capano would sell out anyone including family members and his long-term lover.
The portrait of Capano is classic as far as male abusers. Anyone ever involved in an unbalanced relationship will see all the signs here. No. He was not the boogie man in the alley. He was good looking and could be all flowers and gifts — when that suited his purposes. In the next breath, he could make a woman doubt herself and think that she had done something wrong — when she hadn't. It's not the monster under the bed that is the real danger. It's the monster in the bed who pretends to be your friend and is really not. Fortunately, most women sucked in by such predators do not pay with their lives. But, they do pay.
Anyone interested in true crime should like this well put together book chock full of details and written like a novel. Rule really can tell a story like she's on your back porch filling you in.
I'd also recommend And Never Let Her Go to any woman in a relationship where things just don't seem right. It's like holding up a mirror. Rule pieces together all the tricks that tie women to men like this. If your man is gaming you, you'll see many or all the signs here. If you've been in such a relationship, then you'll just nod and be glad that you got out.
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If you need help, then call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or TTY 1-800-787-3224. You can also call 911 or go to your magistrate and file a charge and go to the court house and get a restraining order.
