By John Berendt - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (First Edition) (12/14/93)

Forceful, clear, gripping, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is the best nonfiction novel since In Cold Blood and a lot more entertaining, since Berendt's book has everything going for it-snobbism, ruthless power, voodoo, local color, and a totally evil eteticism. I read it till dawn. John Berendt has written a gorgeous and haunting blend of travel book and murder myster. It is enchanting and distrubing and deeply atmospheric. John Bredt has the ability to make the truth read like and exciting novel. This book is original, funny, and bleak-and it beckons quite alluringly to armchair adventures who are as curious about human nature as about the nature of certain places. I finished reading in convinced that Savannah, itself, may be the greatest performance artist of our day.