The Burn Farm by Michael Benson

The Burn Farm Reviews

• 
  Misty Marie Harms

  Sheila LaBarre is a one woman sideshow. Trolling personal ads and phone lines she chose men that were of low intelligence to control. She assaulted them, emotionally tortured them, and accused them of being pedophiles. Sheila would make recordings of her boyfriends being forced to confess to all kinds of deviant activity. She terrorized her neighbors, the police, and basically anyone she thought she could. Sheila is a boiling pot of hot mess. Two of the men disappear. Following up on a report the police go to her farm and see piles of things on fire. They see a human leg bone with tissue on it in one of the piles. Later convicted of two murders (couldn't prove the third) she would be deemed sane in a court of law. I don't know if I agree. Sheila was off her damn rocker. She claimed to be an avenging angel sent by God to kill all the pedophiles. Regardless she belongs locked up, away from society.
• 
  Suzanne

  Crazy woman , evil woman. The writing was great but the topic just didn't get me.
• 
  Alicia Huxtable

  This book is an immensely disturbing look into an extremely deranged mind. It was interesting but I certainly didn't enjoy reading it for the most part, although Michael Benson has done a good job with compiling everything.
• 
  Jeannie

  I liked this book but I absolutely hated this woman. I don't believe she was insane in any way, shape or form, she was just plain mean and evil. I think the local law enforcement was partly to blame in the deaths of these men but of course they took no accountability for it. It also angered me the way the defense was allowed to smear the names of the innocent dead so they could attempt to prove insanity for their client. The pain the families went through while listening to her bullshit ravings never should have been allowed. I hate that the accused has more rights then the innocent victims, it never fails to anger me.
• 
  Fishface

  Hard To Get Through!
  
  Although this was an interesting and legally important story, I had to set this book aside more than once because so much of it consisted of the defendant's rambling self-justification. It was an important part of the story because this was what the police and jury had to work with, and my hat is off to all of them for slogging through it. The killer is a real piece of work and I hope our paths never cross for any reason.
• 
  ♥ Marlene♥

  Crazy story about a crazy woman but not that crazy that she did not know what she was doing? or was she insane?
  
  A lot of trial in this book. Interesting stuff so I did not mind that much. 3.5
• 
  Elaine Nickolan

  3 1/2 stars for this one. How do you spell evil? Sheila Labarre, that's how. She brought S/M to a whole different level. This is the true story of a woman that attracted men and then dominated them physically, mentally, and sexually. Some were lucky and got out while they still could. Others were not so lucky. This is one that you need to read for yourself, and after taking in all the evidence, decide was she insane or just pure evil? This reader votes for the later, but I'm sure there are others that will disagree.
• 
  Eva-Marie

  All I can say is "wow". I don't believe, from what I read, that this woman didn't know right from wrong but she most certainly had real, not imagined problems.
  I feel sooo sorry for the victims parents. I can't imagine my child being taken in like this, tortured, and not being able to do anything because they're an adult, and then having them murdered. And in such a sick, sick way. How the mothers managed to stay in that court room and hear the details I'll never know. I don't think I could be so strong.
  I was very surprised at how interesting the court room drama was. Usually that part can bore me easily but I think it's impossible with this woman. The testimony about her is just insane. I hate to use that word because I don't honestly thing she was insane to the point of not being accountable for her crimes.... but wow. You just have to read it.
  I don't like how the author added his own points to the book. I understand him and I can't say I wouldn't do the same because I know I would want to, but with a t.c. book you just can't do that. I want facts, not the authors beliefs.
  He also said a few things that just didn't make sense. The main one that I remember being something about pruning shears and hedge clippers being "made" for the purpose of murder. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but they ARE called HEDGE clippers and PRUNING saws, not PEOPLE clippers and SKIN/LIMB saws. I doubt very much that the person(s) who invented these things did so with the intention of making murder weapons. It was just a poorly constructed sentence, I know that, but I expect more also.
• 
  Shirley

  This case is twisted and shows once again people standing by when they know something is wrong. Because they do stand by people die. This woman is a nut case. Within the first several pages you knew she had serious mental problems. I am not saying in the legal defense theory (knowing right from wrong) she surely did know. From a layman's point of view I believe she is delusional and a sexual sadist. This combination made a personalty that believed she was designed to rid the world of the "evil men" that came into her life. She took care to conceal her crimes so she did know it was wrong. In her sadistic state she committed them But... in her delusional state she justified them.
  
  I have never found a book that was so difficult to read. Not the story but the structure of the book. There are entire pages with no paragraph breaks. So much information packed into those pages it is hard to process it all and found myself re-reading them. I am sure it is due in part to her ramblings but still it was difficult reading. Especially the trial part. I had to keep setting the book aside and read another I had started just to get a break from the irritation. I am happy I finally finished it. However as another reviewer said it ends without it really being ended.
• 
  Sara

  Although the book was interesting, I found it very long and drawn out. It was a difficult book to read, purely based on the fact it was very detailed and in some places quite disturbing.
• 
  Kierstin Martin

  Very twisted. First half of the book is hard to put down, second half is basically a give-away. I'd rate it between 3\5 or 4\5.
• 
  justablondemoment

  This book was a little hard to read. It was on the boring side of true-crime books in that it didn't really tell the facts in a story manner but instead just plopped the facts down. It also had a haphazard style of writing. Found myself trying to piece things together a lot, which, sometimes works, but not in this book. I was quite often frustrated with the jumping around. Parts of the book were better but sadly too few for me to give it a higher rating.
  
  What kept me going was what the outcome was going to be as far as would the jury find her sane or not. For true crime fans out there, if you can get beyond the slapping facts at you in a 'here's another fact for you' manner, it is an intriguing look into what is insane and what is just calculating and manipulative behavior.
• 
  Memizuki

  I don't know why I like true crime, maybe because it feels so much more real. this book specifically felt beyond real when reading about crimes committed in 2006-2008, and it all happened in areas that I am extremely familiar with like Hampton NH and Portsmouth. what really gets you about this case is that it was a women serial killer, even though the book didn't define her as a serial killer and it talks a lot about mental health and how that stands up to trial. After reading the book and looking at the evidence from this book if I was a juror I believe I would have found her sane during the murders as well.
• 
  Joe

  I liked the book, it was well written from beginning to end. Sheila LaBarre was not crazy or insane, she knew exactly what she was doing with her victims from the moment she first met them to their end. She is evil to the core on the way she manipulated then tortured then killed and finally destroyed their bodies, Hitler would have been proud of her. Law enforcement were just lazy and stupid for not wanting to get involved earlier when some people called in with problems they were noticing.
• 
  Shelia Timmons

  This book was a interesting book, but when I finished it I wanted to know more. It was like the story wasn't finished. You never really figured out what exactly happened to the victims. Sheila the woman in the book was found to be not crazy. But they found a victims bones that was not indentified. But all in all not a bad read.
• 
  Paula

  
  
  Truth is definitely stranger than fiction in the case of this book. So horrifying it doesn't seem real.
• 
  Jaime

  Sheila Labarre is evil personified. This is what happens when good people stand by and do nothing, when they know something is wrong.
• 
  Tammie

  Enjoyed
  
  Strange women. Glad this woman is Behind bars. Details aren't too graphic so it wont be to bad reading it.
• 
  Crystal Vojt

  this book was well written but it was hard to read this woman was so twisted she sent chills through me and i love true crime stories