Small Sacrifices is Ann Rule's shocking and powerful account of the destructive forces that drove Diane Downs, a beautiful young mother, to shoot her three young children in cold blood.

The mesmerizing story unfolds with the shooting of three children, and follows a detailed uncovering of facts that seems to lead to the mother as the prime suspect. Diane Downs, a beautiful, brilliant sociopath, commits the ultimate evil to gain the love of a married man.

Ann Rule provides an insight into the horrifying personality of Downs, who never confesses to her crimes. Her conduct during the trial is as disturbing as the act itself. She taps her foot and smiles while listening to "Hungry Like the Wolf," the song that played in her car during the crime. She laughs when she should cry, and cries only when it benefits her. One daughter is dead, another has lost the use of her arm and speech, and the little boy is paralyzed. None of this horror seems to penetrate Diane, who appears to have no feelings for her children's suffering.

This book is a must-read for all true crime buffs, as Ann Rule meticulously presents every piece of evidence, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat.

Billy Milligan can be anyone he wants to be... except himself. Out of control of his actions, Billy Milligan was a man tormented by twenty-four distinct personalities battling for supremacy over his body—a battle that culminated when he awoke in jail, arrested for the kidnap and rape of three women.

In a landmark trial, Billy was acquitted of his crimes by reason of insanity caused by multiple personality—the first such court decision in history—bringing to public light the most remarkable and harrowing case of multiple personality ever recorded.

Twenty-four people live inside Billy Milligan. Among them are:

• Philip, a petty criminal
• Kevin, who dealt drugs and masterminded a drugstore robbery
• April, whose only ambition was to kill Billy's stepfather
• Adalana, the shy, lonely, affection-starved lesbian
• David, the eight-year-old “keeper of pain”
• and the Teacher, the only one who can put them all together.

You will meet each in this often shocking true story. And you will be drawn deeply into the mind of this tortured young man and his splintered, terrifying world.