Product Description

Journalist Peter Lalor covered the trial and wanted to know what made Knight go way over the borderline. In this unflinching account he uncovers the layers of her dysfunction, opening the door of 84 St Andrews Street and taking us into the lives of Knight's ex-partners, her family and the locals of Aberdeen, New South Wales. At the time of writing, Katherine Knight was the only woman serving a life sentence in Australia. She is never to be released.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #905818 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 324 pages

Sydney Morning Herald December 28 2002
He presents scenes in a vivid present tense, studded with fragment sentences ...
vivid ...lively vernacular style.

From the Author
Blood Stain is a book I present to the reader with some warnings. It is not for the faint hearted, it is graphic, gruesome and unflinching. The book attempts to portray the extraordinary nature of this crime but also to take the reader through the experiences of the police who investigated it.
Chapter Four recreates the scene as found by police.
Almost everybody who attended that crime scene came away psychologically scarred _ some of the police have never returned to work or full duties _ I had to paint an unflinching picture.
The book is written in a conversational Australian style, it tells Katherine Knight's story in the voices of her husbands, lovers, family and neighbours. These are mine and abattoir workers, people who live hard lives.
The language is rough.
Katherine lived a brutal life, she was abused and she became an abuser. The book tracks the sources of her dysfunction and documents its outcomes.
It amazed me in my research to sit with mine workers, tough Aussie blokes, and to have them break down and cry as they documented the domestic and psychological abuse they suffered at her hands.
More than one reader has said they have read it all in one sitting and the book does have a certain momentum.
I would like to think that it does more than appeal to reader's macabre sensibilities and attempts to understand how somebody can reach a state where they did what Katherine did.
To that end, it traces the causes of her personality disorder and its manifestations.
It's the sort of book I would not like my mother to read, but has proven very popular with many local readers.
It was awarded the Ned Kelly Crime Writers True Crime award 2003.

About the Author
Peter Lalor is a senior Australian journalist.
In recent years he has covered the Bali Bombings, the Tampa refugee crisis and many local crime stories.
He recently accepted a position as Sports Writer with The Australian newspaper.

Customer Reviews

Riveting Insight
Any book describing this event is bound to be disturbing and this book is no different. Unlike many true crime books that are content to focus on the horrendous crime itself, Lalor examines the life of Kathy Knight leading to this horrendous conclusion.

Lalor has a unique style that is almost conversational in style. It takes a bit of getting used to but it is extremely effective. The sense of isolation in the small rural communities in Australia is accurately conveyed. Whilst condemning the crime Lalor offers no excuses but simply explains what a damaged person Knight is.

I would recommend this book to fans of the true crime genre but not to those not acquainted with it. It deals with a profoundly disturbing event which some may find hard to read about in Lalor's style.

I read the Australian release of this book.