The Journalist and the Murderer
A convicted murderer sued the writer profiling him, and Malcolm turns the case into an indictment of journalism itself.
Jeffrey MacDonald, convicted of murdering his family, sued the journalist who had spent years gaining his trust and then written him guilty. Janet Malcolm uses the lawsuit to open her famous argument that every journalist is a kind of confidence man, and the book has been provoking the profession it describes ever since.
Recommended by 1 Person
James Lasdun
In a sense, all of Janet Malcolm's books are crime stories, needle-sharp forensic examinations of human folly, whether she's writing about poets or psychologists or actual criminals. This one, a study of the treacherous relationship between a killer and the journalist he took into his confidence, is my favorite.
Source · June 2026
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