Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder [Mass Market Paperback]

Daughter Cheryl Lynn, born in 1976 was Diane's scapegoat. Photographs of the girl reveal a somber, unsmiling face and quotes attributed to Cheryl Lynn point out a very sad life with the demented Diane.

Diane was truly demented. She burned down the family trailer with the idea of raising insurance money. She wanted to start a surrogate mother clinic and has a daughter for a couple. (That lucky little girl need never have to worry about having contact with Diane)! Her lack of ability to bond with the newborn and being able to just let her be taken by others underscored her lack of ability to love or feel bonded to anybody.

Her son and daughters knew that all too well. In May of 1983, Diane shot the three children in her car. Cheryl Lynn died, Christie was partially paralyzed and son Daniel remains paralyzed from the waist down. Diane played "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran, a song that appeared to describe her accurately. When Diane and her children are rushed to the hospital, she claims a shaggy haired stranger (a classic cliche) shot them all, herself included. (Diane had a superficial arm wound).

Her behavior during and after the shootings is disgusting, to say the least. She has an affair. A daugther is born of this union and fortunately, the child was raised by a family who refused to have any contact with Diane who was on trial at the time of the baby's birth. Over the years, I have prayed for all of her surviving children and hoped that they would have good lives.

Diane sang, joked and laughed during her trial. That behavior brought back tones and echoes of the infamous 1970-1971 Charlie Manson trials when Manson's co-defendants sang, danced and drew pictures of Charlie during their trial. Diane was truly evil.

It is interesting to note that Diane's song of choice was the early 1980s Duran Duran hit, "Hungry Like the Wolf." Like a lone Alpha Wolf, Diane appears to hunt her prey, always choosing prey that cannot fight her off and ends up consuming her prey. Two children are paralyzed. One is dead. Diane remains "Hungry Like the Wolf."

Small Sacrifices is the story of a the shooting of three small children, and their very strange (, sick, twisted) mother (Diane Downs) who is accused of the crime. Ann Rule does a wonderful job detailing the events surrounding the shootings, and then tells us ALL about the mother - eg, I now know her nipples cracked and bled while breast feeding one of her kids - ugh!. This is all rather fascinating. BUT then the mother goes on trial and, for this reader, the book makes a turn for the worse. For many reasons (..no spoilers here) I found the trial to be a miscarriage of justice - or rather, it was simply an unfair trial. Worse, Ann Rule only details what the prosecution went through in preparing and executing the case. She doesn't mention anything about the defense, other than how the defense attorney is dressed. In the end I felt rather sorry for the mother, which I'm sure isn't what Ann Rule intented for her readers to feel - after all, Diane Downs is indeed a psychotic individual and, undoubtedly, a mother from hell.

Bottom line: Ann Rule is most effective when sticking to the facts on BOTH SIDES of a criminal trial. Unfortunately she fails with Small Sacrifices. Recommended to Ann Rule fans only.