Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Framed is an interesting book. And by interesting, I mean it is strange. And by strange, I mean here is a guy (Kennedy) proposing that his cousin (Michael Skakel) is innocent of committing a murder some 41 years ago of a 15yo girl (Martha) and that Skakel was "framed"! He was set up! He was an innocent lamb who was led to the slaughter. He actually likens Skakel to Jesus, yes, the Christ, on the last page of the book. Strangely pious. And also just strange. But not only is Michael now SAINT Michael (as Kennedy has virtually nothing disreputable to say about Michael and in fact, takes a number of opportunities to point out how unbelievably, amazing, wonderful and selfless the man is -- maybe he is!), but everyone else in the book is... craven, disgraceful, corrupt, unscrupulous, selfish, star-struck, sinister, a lowlife or a scoundrel. Literally, every character he introduces has some angle against Michael, or against the Kennedy family, or is only interested in making money off a high-profile murder case, etc, etc ad nauseum. Every single male who was anywhere near the Moxley's house that fateful night is a potential suspect and he has thrown out some made-up sinister profiles for every single guy he introduces including Martha's own brother (he even takes a soft jab at Mrs. Moxley). SPOILER ALERT: For the clincher he brings in the "real killers" in the last chapter. He tracked them down and did all the investigative work that everyone else should have been doing all these years. Somehow Kennedy has found what the police, investigators, media, and lawyers never found in 41 years -- the "real killers". He must be the most brilliant man to walk the earth. [C'mon, Mr. Kennedy. In the end, it's the visiting black guy? Now black people are used to being blamed for all kinds of crap in this country, but this kind of scapegoating really is old. So you better be damned sure you are FRAMING the right people, Mr. Kennedy.] I've actually seen Kennedy on talk shows taunting the two guys he's framing to sue him for slander. As if. He knows they don't have the resources to sue a Kennedy. Honestly, he whines about how people target the Kennedy family because of their name, but he's now using his name to set up two men to be framed and prosecuted on the testimony of one guy (Tony Bryant) -- whose testimony is not corroborated by anyone who was in Belle Haven that night. Bryant's story sounded credible to me at first because if you don't do any research at all and just take Kennedy's word at face value, it seems like he has made a great case. But if you do even a little bit of Googling, you find that he dismisses a judge's ruling on that testimony as "weird". So out the window it goes. Below is a quote from the Greenwich Time from July 23, 2016: "Superior Court Judge Edward R. Karazin Jr. discounted the contention that Hasbrouck and Tinsley were involved and rejected the appeal for a new trial. “The testimony of Bryant is absent any genuine corroboration,” he wrote in a 2008 decision." Kennedy is barking up trees trying to save his cousin. End of story. Almost. The real story here is how Kennedy frames other people to try to accomplish this mission. Now I understand his title.