Whither Helen?

Karen Trenouth, author of the Ripper classic "Epiphany of the Whitechapel Murders" posted this today on the "Exposing" blog:

Look what Dan Norder wrote on Amazon. Why does he keep insisting that I am Helen Pilon? I think that he has become delusional in his bearded age. Congratulations to Ms. Pilon for giving the most accurate review of Ripper Notes that I have seen to date.

She may well wonder why Dan Norder keeps insisting that Karen is Helen Pilon--everyone else is wondering why Karen keeps insisting she's not.

Let's take a look at the history of the enigmatic Ms Pilon, shall we?

Shortly after Karen's book was published (suspiciously so) a glowing review of the book appeared on Amazon.ca, claiming to be from a Helen Pilon of Saskatchewan. It read:

Epiphany Of The Whitechapel Murders was a great read. I especially enjoyed the photographs and information on the murder victims. Trenouth's Jack the Ripper are a team of aristocrats who kill these prostitutes using ritual murder. I have told all of my friends and co-workers about this book and everyone can't wait to get their hands on a copy. This book is a must have!!

Fair enough. A boffo review for a first time author, no one can complain about that. Things start to look a little fishy when one looks at Helen Pilon's Amazon profile. Prior to her rapturous review of "Epiphany", Helen Pilon had never posted a single review on Amazon.ca. It appears that Ms Pilon joined Amazon.ca specifically to praise Karen's book. What's more, since to this date Amazon.ca has not sold a single copy of "Epiphany", it follows that Ms Pilon must have purchased it elsewhere. On July 19, 2006 Helen Pilon was moved to offer a similarly impressive review of the book on the Amazon.co.uk site.

And so matters rested until the (in)famous review by Bob (Boob) Hinton, which he posted on Amazon.com, amazon.ca, and Amazon.co.uk, among other places. Granted Bob's review is harsh, and we acknowledge that he and Karen have a rather turbulent history. Nonetheless Mr Hinton's is an honest and forthright review.

Unfortunately Karen hasn't seen it that way, and has decided that the review is evidence of a highly orchestrated campaign against her book, most likely instigated by Dan Norder and Stephen Ryder. Surprisingly (or perhaps not) Ms Pilon appears to have read the review and felt the same way.

One month after having reviewed "Epiphany" and within a couple of days after Karen making her allegations of sabotage, Helen Pilon's glowing tributes to "Epiphany" appeared on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk--both on the same day.

Lest there be any doubt that the real author of this reviews is most likely the author of the book herself, I point out four curious "coincidences" :

• The reviews appeared shortly after Karen posted several tirades about "sabotage" of her book at Amazon's sites
• At the same time as the positive reviews of Karen's book were posted, "Helen Pilon" posted highly negative reviews of publications by Stephen Ryder and Dan Order--the very people Karen believed to be orchestrating the "sabotage". (more about that another time)
• The spelling, grammer, and syntax of Helen's reviews are suspiciously similar to Karen's--especially when Karen is upset or angry about something.
• One of the reviews leaves no doubt as to the cause of this burst of activity, since "Helen" writes: "I don't understand what Robert Hinton from the UK is talking about, however, maybe he has not read the same book as I have. Some people can be vindictive when they have not wrote a book. Trust me, you will want to read this book."

It is interesting to note that in her negative review of Dan Order's Ripper Notes, Karen...I mean Helen....says that Stephen Ryder's book is much better than Ripper Notes and she enjoyed it, but in the two reviews of Ryder's book elsewhere she says that she hated it. Make up your mind(s) please.

The six rave reviews of "Epiphany" and harsh criticisms of Dan Norder and Stephen Ryder represent "Helen Pilon's" entire Amazon posting career to date. She appears to have said her piece and retired from the hectic world of literary review. Helen, we hardly know ye.

Dan Norder claims in a rebuttal on Amazon that Karen has admitted that her married name is Pilon, however we have learned that this is not the case.

Dan has confirmed that "Helen Pilon's" claim to be a former Ripper Notes subscriber is patently and provably false. Given Karen's constant tirades about "author sabotage and boycotting", and a demonstrated history of justifying childish behaviour by claiming she has the right to do to others what she believes they are doing to her, we would have to say that say Karen has a much stronger motive for the Amazon reviews than the enigmatic Ms Pilon.

Expect a future story on the the Karen Trenouth/Bob Hinton feud, including Karen's rewriting of history regarding Bob's alleged "stalking" of her.