Review of Dangerous Attraction (Paperback)

How far will a mother go to protect her adult son from a murder charge? Sometimes, pretty far, as is revealed in the book Dangerous Attraction, by Robert Scott.

Twenty year old Katrina Montgomery was a lovely and warm young woman who was also a very beloved member of her family. None of her family is sure why she began to hang out with the lethal street gang in Ventura, CA. called the Skin Head Dogs. It appears that Katrina felt some sort of thrill involved with "taking a walk on the wild side."

Katrina befriended a member of the gang, the tattooed and drug abusing Justin Merriman, who himself was also twenty years of age and was doing time for the assault of a correction's officer. Katrina and Justin spent much time writing letters back and forth to each other until the day that Justin's time had been served and he was released.

Justin came out of prison with the impression that Katrina was his girlfriend, but that is not the way that she saw it. At a gang party on Thanksgiving of 1992, Katrina proceeded to get herself quite intoxicated and ended up at Justin's family home along with two other of the gang members. In Justin's bedroom, she was taken and raped by Justin right in front of his buddies. He then stabbed her in the neck with a knife, beat her over the head with a heavy wrench, then finally cut her throat. Her body was never found.

It was not until six years later, when he was stopped for a bike riding violation by police and ran, that he was caught.....and even that was after a wild chase and a harrowing seven hour standoff.

So, where does Justin's mother fit in?

Beverlee Sue Merriman had her own ways. She did everything within her powers to protect her son, no matter what the consequences were to her. She made sure to keep in close contact with Justin's other skinhead gang buddies, to ensure that no one would "talk." She ended up doing her son more harm than she would ever imagine.

This case had grown cold by the time the police had finally gathered enough evidence to bring Justin to trial, where the jury concluded that he was to die by lethal injection at San Quentin Prison in California.

This is a very well written true crime book. Robert Scott, also the author of Rope Burns and Like Father, Like Son, has done an excellent job of laying out this story which occurs over an eight year time span. Fans of true crime will find this story of murder, along with all of the terrorizing used to keep the gang members silent, to be a very interesting read.


Product Description
Katrina Montgomery took a walk on the wild side with a brutal, speed-fuelled skinhead called Justin Merriman. After serving a sentence for assaulting a prison officer, he murdered Katrina while his friends looked on. Katrina's body was never found but Merriman eventually died by lethal injection.

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