From Publishers Weekly
Former Seattle police officer and crime author Rule (Small Sacrifices; Dead by Sunset, etc.) knows a good drama when she finds one: it involves love, betrayal, greed and violence. In the story of Liysa Northon, a woman who murdered her third husband, Chris Northon, in order to collect his insurance money, Rule has found a real-life soap opera. In the fall of 2000, Liysa convinced Chris to go on a camping trip with her and their small son in the remote forests of Oregon. But the idyllic vacation didn't last long; Liysa would later admit to ending her husband's life by shooting him in the head in an act of "self-defense." From where she sits today (in an Oregon state prison), she still professes to have shot Chris only in innocence and fear-emotions she said were caused by her years as a victim of domestic violence. But according to her husband's parents and other sources, Liysa is a manipulative sociopath who spent years crafting a public façade of abuse persuasive enough to justify the cold-blooded murder of her husband. Rule has done an impressive amount of research to reconstruct the history of Liysa's crime and the stories of the main people involved, interviewing dozens of police officers, investigators and private citizens across the country. And if the author's prose is somewhat flat, the fascinating and perplexing drama should be more than enough to keep most readers turning pages. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Lisa and Chris Northon go on a camping trip. Later that night, Lisa rushes to friends, telling them she shot Chris in self-defense after he beat and tried to drown her. She claims she shot him while running from him; however, Chris's body is found zipped in his sleeping bag, the bullet having hit him directly between the eyes. Oregon detectives suspect they're looking at homicide but have little evidence to prove it. While the abridgment eliminates most of the letters, journal entries, and graphic forensic details, Blair Brown's intelligent reading keeps the listener in thrall. Her clear, unemotional presentation of this grim story turns it into chilling drama. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Rule is the former Seattle cop whose next-phone neighbor on a suicide hot line was Ted Bundy; her wrenching account of how she slowly learned that the wonderful guy next to her was an accomplished serial killer became the best-selling Stranger beside Me (1980) and led Rule away from police work and into full-time true-crime writing. You can still see the cop in Rule: she interrogates witnesses, tracks down inconsistencies in stories, slogs through victims' letters and e-mails, analyzes forensic evidence, attends trials. The sheer weight of her investigative technique places her at the forefront of true-crime writers, some of whom substitute sensationalism for evidentiary rigor. In this, Rule's twenty-second book, she examines an Oregon murder in which both the murderer and the murdered were regarded as out-and-out victims by their relatives and friends. In the fall of 2000, an undersheriff's end-of-season check of a remote campground yields the discovery of an abandoned car and a sleeping bag with a shotgunned man inside. His wife, Liysa Northon, claims that she was long a victim of domestic abuse and shot him to protect her and their small child. Rule constructs an examination of character as well as evidence here, because the case hangs on the believability of the beautiful and charming widow. This time Rule's account is marred by too much background on tangential figures in the drama and by a narrative that lacks the tautness of many of her other books, but the case itself remains fascinating and strange. Not her best, but good enough to engage her many fans. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
The Washington Post A convincing portrait of a meticulous criminal mind.

Booklist Fascinating and strange....The case hangs on the believability of the beautiful and charming widow....The sheer weight of [Ann Rule's] investigative technique places her at the forefront of true-crime writers.

Publishers Weekly Rule knows a good drama when she finds one....A real-life soap opera....Fascinating, perplexing....Rule has done an impressive amount of research to reconstruct the history of Liysa's crimes....[It will] keep readers turning pages.


Review
Publishers Weekly Rule knows a good drama when she finds one....A real-life soap opera....Fascinating, perplexing....Rule has done an impressive amount of research to reconstruct the history of Liysa's crimes....[It will] keep readers turning pages.


Book Description
An idyllic Hawaiian wedding held the promise of a wonderful future for handsome, athletic Chris Northon, an airline pilot, a confirmed bachelor-turned-devoted family man; and Liysa, an acclaimed surf photographer, loving mother, and aspiring Hollywood screenwriter. But few, including Chris, had seen Liysa's other side -- her controlling behavior and dark moods, her insatiable hunger for money and property. And no one anticipated the fatal outcome of a family camping trip in an Oregon forest. Liysa soon revealed herself as a victim of domestic abuse that culminated at the campsite, where she shot Chris in self-defense. But crime scene evidence led detectives to wonder if Liysa was a killer, not a victim. Her controversial trial stunned all who thought they knew her. A lifetime of sociopathic manipulations and lies had been expertly hidden behind her fa‡ade of perfection -- as was her rage to destroy any obstacle to her ultimate happiness, even if it was the man she vowed to love forever.


Download Description
In perhaps the most profound character portrait she has ever drawn, America's bestselling true-crime writer, Ann Rule, asks, Can the female really be deadlier than the male? In Heart Full of Lies, she answers that question in one of her most intriguing tales ever--a riveting story of seduction, betrayal, and murder. Liysa and Chris Northon seemed the epitome of idyllic lovers when they married on a moonlit beach in Hawaii. Their friends admired the romantic couple: Chris--tall, athletic, handsome with a thatch of blond hair, a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines -- and Liysa -- attractive, charismatic, seductive, an acclaimed surf photographer, with a tanned, perfect body. Their son, Bjorn, looked just like his dad, and they were raising Liysa's son by a previous marriage. They had beautiful homes on the mainland and in Hawaii. But it wasn't long before Chris saw a side of Liysa that he hadn't glimpsed before. Nothing was quite enough for her -- she wanted more money, more property, and a future that included fame as a Hollywood screenwriter. She complained to her closest friends that her husband was a heavy drinker who beat her. The marriage seemed to be unraveling, but Chris struggled to hold it together, afraid he'd be separated from Bjorn and from Liysa's son, Papako. And then the worst happened. On a sunny morning in October 2000, Chris Northon lay dead in a sleeping bag at a campsite beside a pristine river, while his wife drove four hours to a friend's house, sobbing inconsolably. She appeared to have been beaten, and had a black eye and bruises on her knee. Was Chris's death a tragic accident or a deliberate homicide? Was Liysa involved? Questions arose that made Oregon State detectives suspicious, yet her family and friends stood staunchly by her, incredulous that anybody would ask such questions.

FROM OUR EDITORS

On a sunny morning in October 2000, Liysa DeWitt Ehlen King Northon began the most important drive of her life. At the end of her four-hour trip, she arrived at a friend's front door looking battered and desperate. Between sobs, she blurted out the story of a domestic dispute with her 42-year-old husband, Chris Northon, that had escalated into a self-defense slaying. Her story, bolstered by her black eye and bruises, initially seemed convincing. Only after inconsistencies emerged did Oregon State Police detectives grow suspicious. A gripping Ann Rule story about a brilliant, seductive killer.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Liysa and Chris Northon seemed the epitome of idyllic lovers when they married on a moonlit beach in Hawaii. Their friends admired the romantic couple: Chris - tall, athletic, handsome with a thatch of blond hair, a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines - and Liysa - attractive, charismatic, seductive, an acclaimed surf photographer, with a tanned, perfect body. Their son, Bjorn, looked just like his dad, and they were raising Liysa's son by a previous marriage. They had beautiful homes on the mainland and in Hawaii.

But it wasn't long before Chris saw a side of Liysa that he hadn't glimpsed before. Nothing was quite enough for her - she wanted more money, more property, and a future that included fame as a Hollywood screenwriter. She complained to her closest friends that her husband was a heavy drinker who beat her. The marriage seemed to be unraveling, but Chris struggled to hold it together, afraid he'd be separated from Bjorn and from Liysa's son Papako. And then the worst happened.

On a sunny morning in October 2000, Chris Northon lay dead in a sleeping bag at a campsite beside a pristine river, while his wife drove four hours to a friend's house, sobbing inconsolably. She appeared to have been beaten, and had a black eye and bruises on her knee. Was Chris's death a tragic accident or a deliberate homicide? Was Liysa involved? Questions arose that made Oregon State detectives suspicious, yet her family and friends stood staunchly by her, incredulous that anybody would ask such questions.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

… Rule's dogged reporting and sturdy prose draw a convincing portrait of a meticulous criminal mind bent on murdering not just a man, but his reputation as well. In the end Rule gives Chris Northon's good name back to him and demonstrates why you can't spell Liysa without a "Li." — Douglas McCollam

Library Journal

A beautiful woman living in Hawaii with her two gorgeous sons and her loving pilot husband, Liysa Northon appeared to have everything: a career as a surf photographer and the beginnings of one as a writer. However, she revealed another version of her life: her husband, Chris, was abusive, an alcoholic, and a drug user. On a fall day in 2000, Northon drove to a friend's house and related how Chris had beaten her while they were on a camping trip with their younger son. She said that she fired a gun at him to keep him from following her. When police came to the campground they found Chris dead, encased in a sleeping bag, a shot having been fired with deadly accuracy into his head. Was this the case of an abused woman fighting back or a calculated murder? Through her exploration, noted crime writer Rule teaches us about Northon and her desire to control the lives of those around her and about Chris, who worked desperately to keep his marriage afloat. As listeners hear Blair Brown's excellent reading they will be fascinated by how the police and lawyers worked to discover what really happened. For true crime collections and libraries where Rule's books are popular.-Danna Bell-Russel, Library of Congress Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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