Review: Safe Harbor: A Murder In Nantucket
Finally! Our first review. Remember, we’re not professionals and the more reviews we do, the better and longer they will become.
Safe Harbor : A Murder in Nantucket
Author: Brian McDonald
Published 2006
Review By: Imnotannie
One of the first True Crime books I have read, Safe Harbor: A Murder in Nantucket by Brian McDonald was very interesting. Although I felt the book became a little sluggish during parts, I would recommend reading it.
Safe Harbor is about the murder of Elizabeth Lochtefeld, a successful 44-year-old woman, in 2004. She was killed by Thomas E. Toolan III, a 37-year-old well-bred man with a severe alcohol problem.
The beginning of the book tells the story of the short rocky relationship that Elizabeth and Thomas had, then leads up to the murder at her rental house in Nantucket where Thomas stabbed her repeatedly with a 4 inch knife while she struggled for her life.
The part of the book that includes the murder stops abruptly and the author, Brian McDonald, takes the reader back to the lives of the murderer and victim.
Elizabeth had the ideal family upbringing and became a very successful businesswoman and world traveler, however, she wasn’t very successful in her love life.
Thomas also had a very charmed upbringing close to New York City, but he always saw himself as a bad boy. He began drinking as early as 13, and would do horrendous and stupid pranks. Apparently his family would help him to get out of any sticky situations. Although he worked some high paying jobs with well-known companies - his employment always seemed to end poorly. There are several years where the author couldn’t confirm how Thomas had money, and he spent a lot of time at a NYC bar called the Dublin House.
After taking us through the better part of the book, the author concludes by further explaining the day of the murder and what happened to Elizabeth. Brian McDonald also speaks about his research for the book and the assistance he received from Elizabeth Lochefeld’s loving family.
The middle part of the book that took a little longer for me to go through seemed to become a little too romanticized for me at points. The author did a very good job setting the scene for both Elizabeth and Thomas, however, I felt there were a few portions that could have been excluded without upsetting the main storyline.
Thank you for reading my 1st book review, I look forward to any suggestions you may have as I continue to post reviews on this website!