Richie: A Father, His Son, and the Ultimate American Tragedy

Thomas Thompson

Apr 2019 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Shawn Compton

About this audiobook

George Diener, World War II veteran and traveling salesman, and his wife, Carol, had old-fashioned values and ordinary aspirations: a home, a family, the pleasure of watching their two sons grow up. But in February 1972, an unthinkable tragedy occurred in the basement of their Nassau County residence, shattering their hopes and dreams forever. George and Carol doted on their shy eldest son, Richie. But at fifteen, the boy fell into a devastating downward spiral. He started smoking marijuana, shoplifting, and hanging out with drug dealers, and was soon arrested for assault and expelled from school. By the time his parents sought psychiatric counseling for their son, Richie was addicted to barbiturates and given to violent outbursts and threats. The boy George and Carol knew was long gone. Then, one winter evening, Richie came at his father with a steak knife and a suicidal cry of "Shoot!" Edgar Award-winning author Thomas Thompson delivers a "scary, harrowing" account of a turbulent era in American history when the gulf between young and old, bohemian and conservative, felt wider and more dangerous than ever before (the New York Times Book Review).

About the author

Thomas Thompson (1933-1982) was a bestselling author and one of the finest investigative journalists of his era. His works include Hearts, Richie, Serpentine, and Blood and Money, which won the Edgar Award and the Texas Institute of Letters prize for best nonfiction book.

Shawn Compton is a professional voice actor and audiobook narrator. He is also a seventeen-year veteran of the Air Force, and has a strong creative background from which to draw inspiration for his narration.