The Onion Field

By Joseph Wambaugh

Book Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "A fascinating account of a double tragedy: one physical, the other psychological."--Truman Capote This is the frighteningly true story of two young cops and two young robbers whose separate destinies fatally cross one March night in a bizarre execution in a deserted Los Angeles field. "A complex story of tragic proportions . . . more ambitious than In Cold Blood and equally compelling!"-- The New York Times "Once the action begins it is difficult to put the book down. . . . Wambaugh's compelling account of this true story is destined for the bestseller lists."-- Library Journal

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385341598
• ISBN13: 9780385341592
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Delta
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Wambaugh's Best.

The Onion Field is a top shelf book. It's the in-depth analysis of the true story of a 1963 event in Los Angeles. Two cops pull over two crooks in an otherwise routine traffic stop. But the desperate crooks get the drop on the cops, get their guns, kidnap them, drive them out to an onion field in the countryside, and murder one of them. One of the cops escapes death, but is haunted by guilt over the death of his partner and...

I can't believe I waited so long to read this book.

I lived in Los Angeles in 1963 and I've seen the movie several times, but not until I picked up a used copy of the book out of the Good Will this last week did I read the written account. As usual, the book is ten times better than the movie. It's gripping and very hard to put down. The sadness of what happens to the surviving police detective is so frustrating and seems, today, so unnecessary. Of course, we forget that...

Good

This is an interesting book. See the movie, too. People mention Capote's IN COLD BLOOD in previous reviews, and Wambaugh used that book as a model for this one, and even used Capote's release forms to get interviews. Wambaugh could not get the surviving cop to tell the story so that Wambaugh could write the book. When Wambaugh told him about this book idea, and how it wasn't going to happen, Capote encouraged him to keep...

It's so unbelievable it has to be true. Sadly, it is.

The cruel slaying of LAPD Officer Ian Campbell and the sadistic hunt for his surviving partner, Karl Hettinger in a Bakersfield onion field is vividly recounted in this Wambaugh non-fiction classic. Additionally, in-depth and fascinating studies are made of the cold-blooded killers, Gregory Powell and Jimmy Lee Smith. Finally, the heartbreaking psychological deterioration of Officer Karl Hettinger, a victim of survivor's...

Outstanding storytelling; gripping, frightening, a winner.

This is the true story of the abduction of two police officers in Bakersfield California in 1963, and of the murder of one of the officers in a nearby field of onions. The by-the-book coverage of the investigation is dovetailed with observances of the psychological breakdown of the surviving partner. If you have read "In Cold Blood," then you should read this as well. A classic police story, written with honesty, reality,...