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Hell Ranch
When American pre-med student Mark Kilroy mysteriously vanished during a spring break night in Matamoros, Mexico, with his college pals, even those who feared the worst never suspected the staggering magnitude of the horror that claimed him.
221 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1920
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56 people want to read
About the author
Clifford L. Linedecker
54 books29 followersClifford L. Linedecker is a former daily newspaper journalist with eighteen years experience on the Philadelphia Inquirer, Rochester (N.Y.) Times-Union, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, and several other Indiana newspapers. He is an experienced investigative reporter who has covered police and the courts on each of the papers where he was employed. He is a former articles editor for National Features Syndicate in Chicago, and for "County Rambler" magazine. He is the author of numerous true crime titles, including The Man Who Killed Boys, Night Stalker, Killer Kids, Blood in the Sand, and Deadly White Female.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 10, 2020
I'm going to be honest...I quit with about 10 pages left of the Epilogue. I was ready to be done with this book. Despite being an extremely fascinating case, Linedecker has managed to pen a truly lifeless account of the events surrounding the cult. Worse yet, he fails to edit himself and preaches endlessly about the evils of the drug trade. To the extent that one has to wonder if that was the book he wanted to write in the first place and had no interest in "La Padrino" and his followers.
Oh, and he also uses a racial slur to describe some of the victims...so...yeah, there's that too.
Oh, and he also uses a racial slur to describe some of the victims...so...yeah, there's that too.
April 4, 2010
It was hell. And it was on a ranch.
August 7, 2023
This is the weakest of the three books about the murder of Mark Kilroy that I have read. The biggest strengths were the information about previous murder cults in Mexico and the follow-up information about the trials. The historical background was interesting, because it showed that the events in Matamoros had precedent and did not occur in a vacuum. The follow-up information was also interesting, as was the insight into the legal system in Mexico.
June 17, 2017
It's okay. It's a great true crime book however, it tends to drone on with information that find unneeded. It was still good and I would recommend it. For instance, my moms going to read it today.
May 14, 2023
Good read overall, however, the author throws in some of his own opinions near the end which are very indicative of the build a wall trump era.
February 6, 2016
Not my favorite. For one thing, Linedecker treats the practices of the Matamoros cult killers as typical of the religions they practice, and that ain't accurate. The whole book had a cheesy, exploitative feel and treated the American victims as the only reason anyone would want to discuss the many dreadful murders carried out by these drug-dealing cretins. Ultimately disrespectful to the victims and to a whole group of loosely-related minority religions, which he rates according to how "Satanic" they are, even though many of them do not acknowledge that deity at all.
July 13, 2015
Not going to write much of a synopsis for this nonsense of a book. Not one thing in the book is going to stay with me. The research is not there about the cult and the over the top who cares details is very annoying. This is s horrific crime that involves America and Mexico having to work together to solve the murder of a least fourteen lives,this book did not do any justice to telling the victims the story.
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July 30, 2010Yeah, this is boring.
December 20, 2015
Hell Ranch: The Nightmare Tale of Voodoo, Drugs and Death in Matamoros
by Clifford L. Linedecker
given by my older sister
by Clifford L. Linedecker
given by my older sister
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews