Joe McGinniss

I just bought Joe McGinniss' latest book, NEVER ENOUGH.

McGinniss is best known as a "true crime" author: more highbrow than Ann Rule, but with lower brows than Truman Capote.

McGinnis' contributions in this area have come with two-word titles: adjective noun.

There's been: Fatal Vision, Blind Faith, Cruel Doubt.

Never Enough is a bit of a departure there. The number of words is right, but its "adverb adjective" this time. The unspoken noun is "wealth," which is modified by "enough" which is modified in turn by "never."

The gist of the book is the "milkshake murder" in Hong Kong in 2003. A very prominent investment banker -- Robert Kissell, one of Merrill Lynch's expat American stars in east Asia -- was bludgeoned to death by his wife, Nancy Kissel, nee Keeshin, after she had first secured against the possibility of resistance, feeding him a milkshake filled with sedatives.

McGinniss' books follow a consistent pattern. An apparently "perfect marriage" is in fact riven with conflict and hatred, unbeknowst to the outside world. Suddenly, one spouse is dead, and the other seeks to blame outsiders/intruders or write it off as a mysterious disappearance. But investigators tear apart that effort, get to the truth, and the murdering spouse is convicted.

That pattern would have made McGinniss a natural chronicler of the OJ Simpson case, but for the acquittal -- which is never the ending he wants.

If I find anything extraordinary in this book, I'll let you know here.