The story of Albert Walker has all the elements of a lurid mystery: high finance, international fugitives, incest, and finally, murder. Walker fled to England from Canada in 1990, taking with him his 15-year-old daughter, Sheena, and more than a million dollars bilked from clients of his financial services company. He contrived a new life for himself and his daughter, using a number of aliases, including that of a Ronald Platt. Platt’s body was discovered off the south coast of England on July 28, 1996 – and Walker was ultimately convicted of his murder.

Toronto Star reporter Bill Schiller and Toronto Sun reporter Alan Cairns have approached the case with decidedly different styles. In A Hand in the Water, Schiller fleshes out the details of this sensational case without compromising the dignity of the victims involved. Schiller is a good storyteller, his transitions are wonderful, the story is clear, and the book is a page turner. He tracks and explains an incredibly complex trail that takes the reader through time (Walker’s upbringing, his marriage, the building of his finance company, his years on the run, and his ultimate conviction for murder) and place (small town Ontario, Toronto, the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, England).

Schiller conducted extensive research including spending four hours interviewing Walker at the British jail where he was imprisoned. He also spoke to many of the people Walker came into contact with over the years.

The observations of those who knew Walker – landlords, employees, neighbours, betrayed friends, and bilked clients – paint the portrait of a very charming man. But Schiller also reveals just how calculated and manipulative Walker’s charm proved to be: The most sordid revelation is that he may have used hypnotism to control his daughter, who posed as his wife.

Neither Walker nor Cairns states outright that Walker is the father of Sheena’s children. But both books leave the impression that it couldn’t be any other way.

Nothing Sacred is like a daily newspaper report. In a bizarre twist, Walker was the business manager at a clinic called Solutions in Therapy in Essex, England, and one of Cairns’ most important sources is Isabel Rogers, a therapist there.

Rogers recounts many conversations and encounters with Walker, including his seeming defence of incest: “[A]s long as the child or young person doesn’t appear damaged or in distress, then it is okay.” Rogers also knew Sheena, and from her we get a great deal of insight into the day-to-day life of father and daughter.

Cairns’ reporting style is clear and forthright. His use of experts and courtroom transcripts lends the book credibility and his reportage of Sheena’s courtroom testimony is gripping. He goes into a lot of detail about the family itself: Walker continued to support and keep in contact with his eldest daughter, Jill, even as he was being sought by Interpol.

Once the case came to public attention, Barbara Walker (Walker’s ex-wife and Sheena’s mother) was vocal in her criticism of the media’s treatment of her and her family. Cairns is defensive about this: “As it is with almost any member of the public who gets caught up in a major event without having any say in the matter, Barbara apparently failed to understand both the intensity of news and its intensive nature.”

Unfortunately, this wasn’t just a news story, it was the life of a middle-class family torn apart by a selfish man. Both reporters approach this tragic story with that in mind: Cairns tries to redeem it by understanding the psychology behind the man and his family, Schiller by treating the victims with compassion.

In the end there’s no grand lesson in the story of Walker’s life. But we are reminded that characters usually reserved for the pages of sordid novels really do exist – and this one left victims on both sides of the Atlantic.