More specifically, it delineates exactly the nature of Jennifer's husband, Fotis Dulos, abuse and how he became capable of murder in deft literary strokes that catapult you towards the dramatic finish seemingly without effort. On the other hand, Rich Cohen, who says he lives in Connecticut, doesn't seem to know Connecticut, and gets substantial details wrong when he talks about it. As a result, as you read this book and see major factual errors, you can't help wondering--what else might be incorrect?
What do I mean by this? Well, let's take a look at three pages--pages 88, 89, and 90. Let's start with page 88. Here Rich Cohen gives a description of Canton, CT where Jennifer Dulos went after she married Fotis Dulos, moving into 10 Sunrise Drive. As luck would have it, that's not very far from where I used to live for 26 years so I'm quite familiar with the territory. I know exactly when Mr. Cohen gets his facts wrong. First, he calls Canton "poor" which is simply not true. Canton is just small, but has an equivalent range of social classes and opportunities as the surrounding towns of Avon, Farmington, Burlington and Simsbury. He states that Canton "is filled with people who dreamed of living...in Farmington, ten miles southeast." Perhaps, but for a much simpler, unexpected reason than he might have thought of. Lots of people in Canton, Avon, and Simsbury want to live in Farmington, because it charges half the taxes of the surrounding towns due to its strong business base. Surrounding towns have a tax base which is largely residential. Out of all these towns, Simsbury is the one with the most social cache, if that's what Rich Cohen is trying to imply.
But let's not stop here. There are more inaccuracies.
Rich Cohen says that, "there were neither playwrights nor theatrical productions in Canton in 2004." This simply isn't true. There is a theater right in the downtown area of nearby Collinsville and local theater people have put on performances there for years. A quick internet search provides the following information, "While a comprehensive list of every production isn't available, the Farmington Valley Community Theatre (FVCT) a community theater group that services Canton and Surrounding towns, performed several shows in 2004, including the musical "Anything Goes" and the play "The Curious Savage."
Over and above that, there are numerous opportunities in the area for those interested in theater, musicals, and even Opera. There is the Simsbury light Opera Company nearby. Local adults and children are free to audition for parts in any of their productions. Furthermore, one of the reasons that I moved to Canton, CT, as opposed to the other towns I've mentioned, is because it is well known as a town that attracts artists and writers. It has a bit of a Greenwich Village funky feel to it. For instance, there is the Gallery on the Green in the center of town that regularly features local artists. In addition, at the time when Jennifer lived there (it no longer exists now) there was a Writer's Collective in town that regularly published books including the work of local authors and sponsored public readings. I myself led a few writer's groups while I lived in the town. So to characterize Canton or even the local area as uncultured is simply untrue. But let's not stop here. There are more inaccuracies.
Rich Cohen speaks about the Canton High School Cougars high school football team. There has never been a Canton High School football team called the Cougars. The Canton High School Football team was called the Warriors until 2022 when it was decided the name was an insult to Native Americans and the team name was changed to the Cobras. So I'm not sure where Rich got his information from.
Further, Canton is a small town with a combined middle/high school which means that for decades its graduating high school class was somewhere around 100 more or less. This means that for the better part it hasn't had enough students to put together a football team. A google search provides me with the following information, "Canton High School in Connecticut had a football program from 1900 to 1963, then reintroduced it in the 2007 season, nearly 40 years after it was first dropped due to lack of players. The decision to restore the team was made in the fall of 2006 with the first game played in September of that year. Even if the game was restored in 2006, it took years to build the team so that it could actually be even a minimal contender on the field. Meanwhile, as I recall, since I lived there and had three kids, it wasn't football that enjoyed the focus of high school parents and children, it was soccer. Soccer was big. How did Rich Cohen not find this out? All he had to do was ask!
Moving on to page 89, Mr. Cohen seems to have entirely overlooked the fact that Canton is made up of two separate towns combined under one government--i.e. Canton and Collinsville. As an aside, Canton and Collinsville also share some aspects of town services with Avon, CT. It's complicated. Be that as it may, what Rich Cohen proceeds to do is to provide a description of the architecture of Canton as well as its history which is actually that of Collinsville and not that of Canton. It may surprise Rich Cohen to hear this, but Collinsville has not been subsumed under the name of Canton and is very much its own place as any townsperson could tell him. All he has to do is pick up the phone to find out. So when he says Main Street is the road at the center of the town of Canton, he is wrong. Main Street is the road that goes through the center of town in Collinsville. Route 44 or Albany Avenue goes through the center of town in Canton. When Mr. Cohen says, "Canton was once a manufacturing town known for mass-producing axes..." he is wrong. Collinsville has the axe factory. Again, a quick phone call or a google search would clarify that point.
On page 90, we again have more distortions and misinformation. He describes the home where Jennifer Dulos lived with Fotis Dulos--10 Sunrise Drive--as "perched on the lip of a ravine. One wrong step and it's goodbye." I drove by that house pretty much every day for that last 26 years and just between you and me that house isn't going anywhere. It's right at the bottom of the hill and you have to drive downwards to get to it. Further, Mr. Cohen describes the surrounding neighborhood as infested with houses which are "dilapidated" and "ramshackle". This is simply ludicrous. I'd really like to see a $400,000 house that is dilapidated and ramshackle. The hills on Lovely Street which lead up to the Dulos home, the development further up the hill on Queens Peak and leading over to Kingswood in Avon are just about the highest end homes that the Farmington offers. Far from being lived in by "misanthropes, nature lovers, and criminals on the lam", this area, and again I lived there, consists of corporate executives, judges, lawyer, doctors, successful business people and politicians. Rich Cohen's comments about the area are just plain wrong
I don't want to keep on going here. It seems as though my review is only touching upon a mere three pages of this book. But what a three pages--riddled with error! There are other inaccuracies I picked out in the book as well which I won't go into, but the one that troubled me the most was the mischaracterization of Hartford as a city overridden by drug gangs and criminals. His last phrase describing Hartford says it looked "dark and smoky in the distance." I don't know what day Mr. Cohen was driving around, but I've lived in the Hartford area for over 35 years and I've rarely found it anything but clear and metropolitan looking, except when you have a day of extreme weather which happens in a New England state. Sure, Hartford has its struggles with poverty and homelessness. At the same time, it is the insurance capitol of the world with a thriving nightlife. So what is he honestly talking about? I don't get it, or maybe I do and the issue of racism is not one I want to get into right now.
Finally, Rich Cohen pretty much skips the entire family court reform movement which was extremely active in the years prior to Jennifer Dulos death. There had been several hearings at the CT State Legislative Office building in Hartford where dozens of victims of family court injustice came to testify about the kinds of damaging and destructive processes were in play in family court. Representative Minnie Gonzalez led the charge in advocating for the reform of the judicial system, starting with more rigorously vetting family court judges, and suggesting the elimination of the controversial Guardian ad Litem (GAL) system which Jennifer Dulos encountered.
Why doesn't Mr. Cohen mention any of this in any way whatsoever?
Jennifer Dulos death was culmination of many atrocities which had been committed in family court system immediately prior. Mr. Cohen talks about the law protecting women from the kind of coersive control Jennifer Dulos faced which was passed in the years after her death. But again here he gets it wrong, referring to it as Jennifer's Law. In fact, it was actually called Jennifers' law--the apostrophe after the "s"--because there was another Jennifer--Jennifer Magnano--who was also murdered by her ex-husband in cold blood when she tried to protect her children from his sexual abuse. The family court system was in massive disarray before Jennifer Dulos arrived to face it, and it still is. The fact that Rich Cohen doesn't make a single mention of this is simply remarkable.
I'm not saying don't read this book, because there are sections regarding Jennifer Dulos family, her life in New York, and the complex relationship she had with Fotis Dulos which I found extremely informative. Anyone who wants to be expert on this subject matter definitely needs to read it. I'd just say double check anything you read with other sources.
