In this aptly titled book, John Walsh traces the steps that led him from being a grieving father to becoming a grieving father who hosts TV's America's Most Wanted, the Fox true-crime show that hunts down bad guys every week through a toll-free tip line. Walsh, however, seems ambivalent about the fame he's been granted. He presents a somewhat halting, uncertain narrative in this autobiography (cowritten with Susan Schindehette), and he makes it clear all the way through that his life is really only driven by one thing: the still-unsolved 1981 abduction and murder of his 6-year-old son, Adam.

Walsh's anger and frustration over a "bumbling" police investigation of his son's murder is evident throughout. According to Walsh, the Hollywood, Florida, Police Department should have arrested a drifter named Ottis Toole--a convicted serial killer who played sidekick for many years to the notorious killer Henry Lee Lucas. Walsh speculates that the police had "formed their own ideas" about who killed Adam and didn't want to believe Toole could have been responsible. But Walsh is convinced, and he presents a large amount of evidence to support his case. Unfortunately, it's too late: Ottis Toole died several years ago in prison.

This is not an easy book to read, and one imagines it wasn't an easy book for John Walsh to write, as he describes, with a staccato style reminiscent of Jack Webb, the probable sequence of events of Adam's disappearance as well as the manner of his death. The bulk of Tears of Rage concerns Adam's abduction and its aftermath and the impact the Walsh family has had since in helping to pass various victims' and children's rights legislation. --Tjames Madison


From Library Journal
When his son was kidnapped and murdered, Walsh, best known as the host of TV's America's Most Wanted, sought justice, only to be rebuffed by an infuriatingly cold legal system. Here is his account.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
John Walsh is the popular host of "America's Most Wanted," which has been responsible for the capture of nearly 450 fugitives. Walsh's path towards this position occurred as the result of a long and exhaustive search for his son, Adam's, murderer and his international crusade for ensuring the rights of missing and abused children. Walsh has lived this heartbreaking story and has suffered terrific loss. No one could relay this story more effectively than Walsh himself as he powerfully emphasizes the most frustrating challenges of this unbearable journey through grief and outrage. Strength, direction and loyalty to his beloved son are evident as Walsh dynamically details his uphill battle for justice and change. B.J.P. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Review
The Oakland Press (MI) Tears of Rage should be required reading for anyone who loves a child.


Book Description
The host of the America's Most Wanted, John Walsh tells for the first time the full story of the 1981 abduction and murder of his six-year-old son, Adam. This is the heartbreaking chronicle of John Walsh's transformation from grieving father to full-time activist -- and the infuriating conspiracy of events that have kept America's No. 1 crime-fighter from obtaining justice and closure for himself and his family. From the day Adam disappeared from a mall in Hollywood, Florida, John Walsh faced a local police department better equipped to track stolen cars than missing children -- and a criminal justice system that would work against him in unimaginable ways. Outraged but determined, he ultimately enlarged the search for Adam's killer into an exhaustive battle on behalf of all missing and abused children, beginning with his efforts to put missing children's faces on milk cartons. Today, John Walsh continues the fight for legislative change and public awareness, driven by his own personal tragedy. Tears of Rage is the story of a true American hero: a man who challenged the system in the name of his son.


Card catalog description
A collection of eight critical essays on Dreiser's novel, arranged in chronological order of their original publication.


Simon & Schuster
As the host of the immensely popular America's Most Wanted, John Walsh has been instrumental in the capture of nearly four hundred and fifty of this country's most dangeroues fugitives. However, few know the full story of the personal tragedy behind his public crusade: the 1981 abduction and murder of his six-year-old son, Adam. Here, for the first time, Walsh, his wife Revé, and their closest friends tell the wrenching tale of Adam's death -- and the infuriating conspiracy of events that have kept America's No. 1 crime fighter from obtaining justice and closure for himself and his family. "I've never really spoken about these things to anyone before, but I want to talk about Adam before he died. I want people to know just exactly how horrible it is to lose your child, how painful it is. But I also want to talk about how people can help you, and how you can help yourself. About how to come to terms with life when you think you're dying of a broken heart." -- John Walsh "I remember thinking, 'our son's been murdered, and now we've got to be the ones to do something about it' It was a sad thing for this country that the fight had to be led by two broken-down parents of a murdered child. But we had to, because no one else was going to do it." -- Revé Walsh


About the Author
John Walsh has hosted America's Most Wanted since its debut in 1988. he and Revé, his wife of twenty-five years, have fought for the passage of the federal Missing Children Act, the founding of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the enactment of hundreds of state and local laws. In 1990, John was named Man of the Year by the FBI. He is now working for ratification of a victim's rights amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which has received the official endorsement of President Clinton. The head of his own company, Straight Shooter Productions, he lives in Washington, D.C., with Revé and their children, Meghan, Callahan and Hayden.

ANNOTATION

"The America's Most Wanted" host recounts his son's kidnapping and murder.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

As the host of the immensely popular "America's Most Wanted", John Walsh has been instrumental in the capture of nearly four hundred and fifty of this country's most dangerous fugitives. However, few know the full story of the personal tragedy behind his public crusade: the 1981 abduction and murder of his six-year-old son, Adam. Here, for the first time, Walsh, his wife Reve, and their closest friends tell the wrenching tale of Adam's death - and the infuriating conspiracy of events that have kept America's No. 1 crime fighter from obtaining justice and closure for himself and his family. At the time of Adam's disappearance from a Hollywood, Florida, mall, there was no system for tracking kidnapped children. The FBI was reluctant to get involved, and local police had more information on stolen cars than on missing kids. Two weeks later, when Adam's remains were found in a drainage canal more than one hundred miles from home, John Walsh had already begun his nightmare journey into a criminal justice system that would work against him in ways he never could have imagined. This is the powerful story of Walsh's transformation from grieving father to full-time activist, and how he enlarged the search for Adam's killer into an exhaustive, sixteen-year battle on behalf of thousands of missing and abused children.

FROM THE CRITICS

Time

From its searing prologue through its frank re-creation of the lives undone by Adam's murder, Tears of Rage astonishes the reader.

Oakland Press

Tears of Rage should be required reading for anyone who loves a child.

Sun-Sentinel

Tears of Rage is a superb book, intellectually and emotionally challenging and compulsively readable....A riveting story...scrupulously documented.

Library Journal

When his son was kidnapped and murdered, Walsh, best known as the host of TV's "America's Most Wanted", sought justice, only to be rebuffed by an infuriatingly cold legal system. Here is his account.

AudioFile