Book review: Extradition by Nick van der Leek
If you are interested in the Meredith Kercher case and want to know why Amanda Knox murdered her and how her public relations firm assisted in perverting the course of justice, then you must read Extradition by Nick van der Leek. This book covers the events surrounding the time after Amanda Knox returned to the U.S. through the Nencini trial where she and Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty.
Van der Leek peels away the events leading up to the crime and using thin slicing techniques.
Thin-slicing is a term used in psychology and philosophy to describe the ability to find patterns in events based only on “thin slices,” or narrow windows, of experience. The term means making very quick inferences about the state, characteristics or details of an individual or situation with minimal amounts of information. ~wikipedia
Van der Leek is the ‘king of thin slicing’ in my book. His deductions are extraordinary. He analyzes the phone data like no other author has done thus far and slices away at Amanda Knox’s and Raffaele Sollecito’s activities around the crime, exposing their lies while presenting convincing motivation(s).
The author lucidly relates Knox’s multiple attempts to compete with her roommate over and over, only to fail again and again. The animosity between Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox is laid bare in phone records (and lack of communication) as well as their own actions.
Again like no other, Van der Leek does an exemplary job of explaining the public relations activities, the group of charlatans hired by Amanda Knox’s father only a few days after Knox’s arrest. The author illustrates how similar tactics used by many of the same fraudsters were put to work on other prominent murder cases like Jonbenet Ramsey and Oscar Pistorius (cases that the author has studied in depth.)
Laws should be enacted to prohibit public relations firms from throwing their massive mainstream media weight behind a murder suspect during an ongoing trial. As Nick explains, it is all about controlling the narrative. He also exposes Amanda’s contradictions with her own book:
…it didn’t matter that someone had bled to death at her feet, or that she’d stepped through Meredith’s blood to find her place in the world. All that mattered was that at last the world was listening to her.
Words that are as true today as they were when Foxy Knoxy released her ghost-written memoir onto the masses and began her speaking tours. What is the driving psychology behind this? Read about it in Extradition.
Extradition then takes the reader through the Nencini trial, step-by-step, including the main points concerning the key pieces of evidence. Van der Leek takes the reader through the day-by-day court room drama, quoting the official trial documents, which gives the feeling of sitting in the courtroom as he explains the significance of what is being said and why. Bringing the dry legal documents alive is no small feat and van der Leek does an amazing job with this part of his book.
Extradition is exemplary, a powerful, persuasive and penetrating look at this crime and the criminals involved. After reading Extradition you will never view another high-profile murder case in the same way. The way the author outlines the inner and outer workings of the perpetrators, public relations and legal teams – it becomes frightening clear why the O.J.’s and Amanda Knox’s of this world get away with murder.
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