Thursday, June 5, 2014

The Shoemaker

The Shoemaker(The Anatomy of a Psychotic) by Flora Rheta Schreiber is my True Crime book.  I choose this book because I knew about Joseph Kallinger and some of his crimes. (Read in May 2014)

Joe was an expert shoemaker.  Unfortunately, he was not raised by his natural parents, he was given up for adoption and was adopted by the Kallengers who wanted someone to take over their business.  He had issues from the beginning about his sexuality.  As an teen and adult he needed images of violence to be potent.  He tortured his children and involved his 12 year old in rape and murder.

I may have met him, I certainly knew his daughter, Mary Jo, as she was a student in the first class I taught - a 5th grade.  I wish I had known more about her family then.  I do know she missed a lot of school before she was in my class.  I did know Joe had been arrested for his crimes before I left Philadelphia.

Mrs, Schreiber is very familiar Criminal justice.  She has written many articles on psychology and psychiatry and is know for writing Sybil. She interviewed Mr. Kallinger in jail and talked to his family members.

I was very much surprised that his son, Joey, was almost murdered in the county in which I now live, Tioga County, Pennsylvania. Mr. Kallinger had a brochure from the Grand Canyon of PA and had taken a bus with his boys but could not get a bus to Wellsboro as it did not run on Sunday from where he would up - so Joey was killed in Philadelphia in a cellar.

It is interesting to read about someone you might have met.  I feel sorry for Mary Jo as it seemed as if she was raped by her own father, she was burnt by him, yet she did go to see him at the hospital where he finally was sent.  This book shows that judges can be wrong when it comes to people with mental problems.  It is very possible that if Joe had received help sooner, there might not have been any murders.

I would recommend this book to adults as it does get descriptive and is not for young eyes.