True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa

By: Michael Finkel

Narrated by: Michael Finkel

The improbable but true story of a man accused of murdering his entire family and the journalist he impersonated while on the run

In 2001, Mike Finkel was on top of the world: young, talented, and recently promoted to a plum job at the New York Times Magazine. Then he made an irremediable slip: Under extraordinary pressure to keep producing blockbuster stories, he fabricated parts of an article. Caught and excommunicated from the Times, he retreated to his home in Montana, swearing off any contact with the media. When the phone rang, though, he couldn’t resist. At the other end was a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle, whom Finkel congratulated on being the first in what was sure to be a long and bloodthirsty line of media watchdogs. The reporter was puzzled.

In Waldport, Oregon, Christian Longo had killed his young wife and three children and dumped their bodies into the bay. With a stolen credit card, he fled south, making his way to Cancun, where he lived for several weeks under an assumed identity: Michael Finkel, journalist for the New York Times.

True Story is the tale of a bizarre and convoluted collision between fact and fiction, and a meditation on the slippery nature of truth. When Finkel contacts Longo in jail, the two men begin a close and complex relationship. Over the course of a year, they exchange long letters and weekly phone calls, playing out a cat-and-mouse game in which it’s never quite clear if the pursuer is Finkel or Longo—or both. Finkel’s dogged pursuit of the true story pays off only at the end, in the gripping trial scenes in which Longo, after a lifetime of deception, finally tells the whole truth. Or so he says.

Didn't realize it was abridged!

The narration was so so. Story was not that great. Character development was very poor.

A fascinating and complex character

What made the experience of listening to True Story the most enjoyable?

Just knowing that it was true.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

How anyone could be such a con man and hold on to a seemingly normal wife and family.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Michael Finkel found out an accused murderer was using his identity.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When the little girl died

Any additional comments?

I love true stories! They are always stranger than the truth. I am looking forward to the movie with Brad Pitt.

Good story

After working with criminals for 20 years i am amazed that anyone would have a doubt about the diagnosis. Or that the author would believe a word Chris told him. I liked that the author had some awareness of his own problems. Frustrated that the perpetrators reasons his thinking for his actions not clear at least to me.

The narration ruined it for me

The story is interesting, though I didn't find it spellbinding, but the narration is so bad that it
was hard for me to listen to. I agree with the woman who said it made her angry. Me too! I wanted to yell at him. Oddly stilted speech, lazy pronounciation, and a dramatic intonation at the end of just about every sentence was enough to interfere with the story.
In short bits I found it tolerable.

Instantly disliked Longo...and Finkle

I ended up being rivoted by this story, though I was immediately repulsed by the personalities of the two people the story was about, I suppose this is an indication of how good Finkle is with character development - I think this was his point. It was good to see that the horrific character "Flaws" in one man can bring about change in another...All in all a thought provoking riviting story...