In October 2002, Susan Polk was arrested for the murder of her husband, Felix, kicking off what would become one of the most captivating murder trials in recent memory. Now, former judge and current Court TV host Catherine Crier turns an analytical eye to Susan’s story, delving into her past and examining how over twenty years of marriage culminated in murder. When Susan was in high school, Felix, who was more than twenty years her senior, had been her psychologist, and during their sessions as therapist and patient, a romantic entanglement began. These troubling beginnings grew into a difficult marriage that produced three healthy boys but led to disturbing accusations of abuse from both Felix and Susan.

Crier dissects this dangerous relationship, exposing the painful psychology that motivated this complex marriage. She masterfully reconstructs the tumultuous chronology of the Polk family, telling how Susan and Felix struggled to control their rambunctious sons and disintegrating marriage in the years and months leading up to Felix’s death. Here Crier also elucidates the methodic police work of the murder investigation and scrutinizes the remarkable trial, exploring Susan’s struggles with her defense attorneys and her shocking decision to represent herself. Dark, psychological, and terrifying, Final Analysis is a harrowing look at the recesses of the human mind and the trauma that reveals them.

The noise from both Washington and the media is deafening, the deeds of our lawmakers alarming. America needs a break from the posturing and the politicking. We need information: how we got here and where we are headed. Catherine Crier, one of the most respected figures in television journalism, presents an incisive, unbiased analysis of America’s political crisis-delivering a message we cannot afford to ignore.
America must move beyond political parties to invest in our nation’s future. Not just with money, but with vision, wisdom, and reason. Looking back at the foundations of our country, from Adam Smith to Alexander Hamilton, from Jefferson to Roosevelt, Crier cuts through the nonsense to show what really works and what doesn’t work for our nation today, including:
-The staggering disconnect between the financial health of corporations and the well-being of consumers that defies everything Adam Smith wrote about free enterprise.
-The role that government must play in regulations and job creation-and how the Republican Party’s anti-government rhetoric would appall the founders of American conservatism.
-Why our health care system is not the best in the world, but the most mismanaged and bloated, and how to change it.
-How today’s vitriolic partisan politics are in direct opposition to the very democracy on which our country is founded.