 In conversation with David Carr of "The New York Times", Morris argued that his book aimed to correct the earlier versions of the story.McGinniss's relationship with MacDonald, he argued, was opportunistic and deceptive, and "Malcolm wrote about Joe McGinniss as if he were representative of journalism per se, and I respectfully disagree...There was something very pathological in the relationship between McGinniss and his subject.”

The third major work on the MacDonald case was "" by Jerry Allen Potter and Fred Bost, published by W. W. Norton & Company (April 17, 1997).