Behind The Words: A Logical and Satirical Guide to the Impossible Defense of Jodi Arias (Volume 1) Paperback – April 18, 2015

I received this book the other day, and immediately began reading it. I've not finished it yet, but even only halfway through I am really enjoying the author's snarky take on arias as (boring) defendant, relentless stalker, dubious historian, effortless prevaricator, and shameless "victim.' Having been in an abusive marriage, and raised in an incredibly maladaptive and emotionally abusive home, I can state my hard-won opinion that arias was NOT a childhood victim of physical abuse, and was NOT a battered woman. None of her stories ring true; they reek of an amateur attempt at story-telling, relayed to her audience without a vestige of emotion. Believe me, I can't talk about my experiences without choking up with feelings of rage, humiliation, and gratitude, even though it's been 28 years since I left and started over. And even though I was smart enough to know that years of therapy were needed to help me recover. Also, "domestic" abuse connotes co-habitation (as in "domicile"), but arias and Alexander never lived together! While arias could (and did) stalk him from another state, I'm unable to understand how Alexander could exert control over her or isolate her from friends and family, or even terrify her with his superior strength and depth of anger with the huge physical distance between them. The author of this book does a great job of using her BS Meter on arias and her defense team, and the result is hilarious, despite the grim subject matter and the stakes involved. I highly recommend this book.

If you watched Jodie "the liar" Arias testify, you saw what I saw: an arrogant, manipulator making it up as she went. She corrected the prosecutor's grammar, displayed utter contempt for the detective who arrested her and feigned amnesia that couldn't be explained medically. She took pleasure in torturing the Alexander family and it was beyond frustrating watching this bitch perform on the stand. Her behavior and her lies were so outrageous, it insulted one's intelligence BUT this book made me feel better. The author points all of this out while actually making me laugh at Arias' tactics. I laughed out loud several times. Thank you, Kim. Please cover the cross examination as soon as you can.

What happened to Travis Alexander is beyond despicable. She (I refuse to acknowledge her by name) tortured him to death and expected the jury, and the public, to believe her BS. Her "attorneys" appeared to be clueless about how to actually conduct a trial properly (I am a trial attorney), including the proper ways to conduct direct and cross examination. In any event, this book slows down the action of her direct examination to a snail's pace and makes you realize what a farce it really was, on both her part and nurmi's part. Portions were laugh-out-loud funny (no disrespect intended to the victim and family). I was laughing at them and not with them, so to speak.PLEASE PLEASE DO THE CROSS!!!

When the travesty that was the Travis Alexander murder trial played out, trial watchers like me alternately laughed and cried. It was tragic and inestimably sad. Yet the buffoonish defense provided a kind of macabre diversion. We watched this train wreck of American Justice in action, and in years of watching and reading about trials, many people have never seen such an incompetent, foul, lying bunch as this defendant and her third-rate lawyers. We cried when Juan Martinez presented his exhibits, yet when the defense attorneys spoke and their witnesses and their client took the stand, their antics were so outrageous and so incredible as to be laugh-out-loud in their sheer absurdity. Kim Anne Whittemore has not just the insight to see behind the defenses's many lies and deceptions, but to write about the trial in an entertaining way that emphasizes the ironies of the case and the many duplicities of the pathetic murderer and her defense. If one can write a funny book about a tragic murder case, this is the one. I don't say that to in any way diminish the tragedy of the Alexander family, whom all of us have come to love and admire. The author, indeed, serves as Travis' unspoken voice at times, had he been in that courtroom. For me, reading this book was like entering a decompression chamber after having been cooped up for months in an oppressive room with the unrepentant, cold-blooded murderer and her defense goons. The author articulates the kind of things that many trial watchers wanted to shout in derision as we watched, and she does so with wit, unstinting language, and utter respect for Mr. Alexander and the family. I think the book is unique and quite well-written, and even of the details of the trial aren't already familiar to the reader, this account of it brings it to life in an insightful and entertaining way. Waiting for Volumes 2 & 3.

I loved LOVED this book! Ms. Whittemore takes one for the team and breaks down the days that accused killer Jodi Arias was on the stand during direct examination by her attorney for the brutal murder of her exboyfriend Travis Alexander. Thank goodness for Whittemore's wicked sense of humor as this part of the trial moved as slow as watching paint dry. Whittemore really brings home how absolutely absurd JA's defense was and how low someone is willing to go to win a case or get away with murder. I read both volumes, enjoyed every word and am begging Whittemore to give us Arias Vs Juan! Congratulations and Bravo!!!