Tag: serial killer

Dissolved by Sara Blaedel and Mads Peder Nordbo

- Michelle Leave a comment

Fans and critics both agree that Sara Blaedel is the queen of crime fiction in Denmark and after reading her latest stand alone novel, Dissolved, I couldn’t agree more.  Blaedel excels at taking mundane village life, which has been historically simple and idyllic, and turns it on its head with chaos and crime.  At the start of Dissolved, life is pretty quiet in Tommerup, Denmark, one of the many small towns where residents don’t feel the need to lock doors or take many safety precautions.  Everything changes when a young mother, Charlotte Laursen, suddenly and mysteriously disappears one morning after leaving the gym.  The entire town is shaken to its core.

Chief Superintendent Liam Stark and Superintendent Dea Torp are called by Charlotte’s husband after her young disabled son is left at school and he tells them that she would not disrupt his routine by neglecting this duty.  Early suspicions are on her husband, as a likely suspect, as he was the last person to see her before she disappeared.  But suspicion soon dissipates when another person turns up missing the next day.  The second victim is gone, but a ominous note is discovered that mentions Charlotte’s abduction the day before.  Stark and Torp quickly realize they may have a serial killer on their hands.

One by one, each day brings another disappearance of someone in the small village.  Every disappearance brings a clue in the form of a note which has investigators baffled.  It becomes clear that the notes are religious in nature and correspond to the Ten Commandments.  In the eyes of the serial killer, each victim has violated one of the commandments and it is the killer’s job to seek revenge, making the victim pay for committing a sin.  Stark and Torp, along with their police team, race against time in an attempt to stay one step ahead of the killer.  Their objective is to try and identify persons in the village who the killer thinks violated the next commandment and try to get to them before the killer finds them.  As the disappearances hit closer to home, no one in the village is immune.  Nearly everyone is on edge, knowing one of the victims who disappeared.  After a lucky break, Stark and Torp know exactly what is in store for the nearly 10 victims who have disappeared.  They stumble upon video footage which shows the detectives definitive evidence of their possible fate.  It is a race against time, not only to stop the disappearances, but to try to find the victims and save them from a watery grave.

If you gravitate toward Scandinavian crime and are looking for a shorter read, Dissolved is a title you may want to check out.  It has all the hallmarks of Nordic crime from one of the best selling authors in Denmark.  Dissolved  has a eclectic group of villagers – some likeable and some not – as well as an intricate plot that combines a serial killer who is consumed by religious thought.  Just under 250 pages, this stand alone novel takes you on a nail-biting journey with the knowledge that someone else will disappear and you are unable to stop it.

I love smart Scandinavian crime fiction and Dissolved is another title that does not disappoint.  I enjoyed the villagers’ differing personalities and their close knit community.  Adding the Ten Commandments as the killer’s motivation also kept the plot interesting.   When the killer’s twisted motivation is finally revealed, all the pieces fall into place.  One small critique is that the plot wrapped up a little too quickly but that aside, I am happy to recommend Dissolved.

All the Blood We Share : A Novel of the Bloody Benders of Kansas by Camilla Bruce

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Have you heard of the bloody Benders of Kansas? Not much is known about their lives, but what can be agreed upon is that they were a family of serial killers who lived and operated in Labette County, Kansas in the early 1870s. The family opened their inn in 1871 and were gone from the area by the end of 1872/beginning of 1873. The family consisted of four people: Pa Bender, Ma Bender, and two younger people: John and Kate. The parents’ names vary amongst researchers, as well as whether the younger two were brother and sister or married or step-siblings. What we do know is that the four murdered nearly a dozen people, burying their bodies in the orchard behind the inn. Where they were before and where they went after Kansas is a mystery. Since not much is known about the Bender family, their story is prime material for authors writing ficiton. Such is the case with Camilla Bruce’s newest book, All the Blood We Share.

In All the Blood We Share, Bruce bases her novel on the real bloody Benders, but takes liberties. This is one author’s interpretation of what could have happened amongst the Benders before, during, and after they left Kansas.

William and his son John were the first Benders to arrive in Cherryvale, Kansas. Building an inn and some outbuildings, the two were anxious to finish their homestead, so they could be reunited with the two women in their family. Once Kate and her mother Elvira arrive, something dark and twisted begins to seize the Bender Inn. At first, Kate Bender makes a splash by working as a medium in Cherryvale. She is able to deliver messages from the Great Beyond that give people of the Kansas plains hope. Elvira peddles her potions and cures for their physical ailments while Kate tends to their souls. Their good deeds come with a price though. No one can find out what the Benders really do to survive. The Benders only prey upon those that travel alone, those that won’t be missed, and those that the Angels have marked. Kate’s powers come in handy, but even she can make a mistake. Her mistakes have horrible consequences though, as the family quickly learn. With their secrets hidden all over the family farm, the Benders have to decide what they are willing to do in order to escape being caught.

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

- Stephanie Leave a comment

“There are so many subtle ways we women subconsciously protect ourselves throughout the day; protect ourselves from shadows, from unseen predators. From cautionary tales and urban legends. So subtle, in fact, that we hardly even realize we’re doing them.”

A Flicker in the Dark is Stacy Willingham’s debut novel. It’s a twisted psychological thriller that bounces a bit between past and present; the story of a killer of young teenage girls and the devastating consequences for all involved.

Chloe Davis is working to get her life together. When she was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small town in Louisiana. At the end of that summer, Chloe’s father ended up confessing to the crime and was sent to prison. Her family was utterly destroyed. Her mother struggled with the truth and ends up abandoning her family when she couldn’t deal with what had happened. Chloe and her older brother Cooper are left to try to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives by themselves.

Flash forward tweny years, Chloe is working in Baton Rouge as a psychologist. She is recently engaged and preparing for her wedding. Chloe has a life of her own, a house she has worked hard on, and a job she enjoys. She worked tirelessly to get to this point of her life: to escape from her father’s shadow and have a name of her own. Sometimes though, Chloe feels out of control and like she has no idea what is happening around her. She relates a lot to her teenage patients who are troubled and trying to figure out their own lives.

Chloe’s life starts to spiral when a local teenage girl goes missing. Soon after another young girl also disappears. Chloe has flashbacks to the summer that ruined her. When Chloe tries to bring her concerns to the police and to a journalist, she is afraid that they will write her off and tell her to stop getting involved, given her history. Chloe repeatedly sees parallels between her past and present that she isn’t quite sure are real, but if they are, the idea of another killer is horrifying to her.

This book is available in the following formats:

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

- Callen Leave a comment

If you know me you know I love a good retelling, and that I fanatically loved Lyndsay Faye’s retelling of Hamlet. Recently I picked up her 2016 Jane Steele, a tongue-in-cheek retelling of Jane Eyre, in which rather than bearing up stoically under adversity, Jane turns to murder to escape her various oppressors. Once again Faye perfectly captures the spirit of the original while adding certain improvements – with both style and modern sensibilities.

Jane Steele has decided to write her memoir, after reading an interesting book called Jane Eyre. However, while she admires Jane E, Jane S has taken a rather different approach to her own life of suffering. It all started with her uncomfortably attentive cousin Edwin, after Jane’s beloved mother dies. In the spirit of honesty, Jane admits: “Reader, I murdered him.” Through her various trials – a cruel boarding school, her time in London – Jane often resorts to this problem-solving method, until one day she discovers that someone has bought her childhood home. Curious, she makes her way there, and is surprised by her feelings for new owner Charles Thoringfield. But can someone as admittedly wicked as Jane really get her happy ending?

I was impressed at how well this book echoed Jane Eyre‘s narrative style, while also feeling like an original story. Jane manages to be simultaneously sympathetic, relatable, and unique in her unflinching homicidal instincts. The murders themselves become a sort of feminist commentary – at the time this book (and the original) are set, the options for women to succeed are few, and the opportunities for them to suffer are boundless, and so from the beginning Jane’s victims are archetypes for those who oppress women: Jane’s cousin is a sexual predator as well as a demanding relative, the school’s headmaster shames and torments the girls in the name of religion, a later victim abuses his wife, and so on. This allows the reader to feel righteous glee as through murder Jane rejects and destroys these individuals’ harmful and/or misogynist messages.

To balance out the gore and social justice, Jane has her share of tenderness, love, and friendship from her mother, school friends, and others along the way – in most cases Jane only takes drastic measures in self-defense or to protect those she loves. There’s also a good amount of intrigue, mystery, hijinks, and romance, and of course, to lighten things up, the whole thing is shot through with frankness and humor. I think the story works particularly well because it follows the general structure of the original Jane, but puts even more focus on Jane Steele as an individual with power in her own hands doing her best to protect herself and her loved ones from many very real dangers.

For an excellent retelling and feminist romp in the spirit of An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good, don’t miss the vibrant and violent Jane Steele.

Did You Know It Was a Book First? Ragdoll by Daniel Cole

- Callen Leave a comment

It’s an age-old story: I was flipping through a streaming service and started watching something new, only to do a search later and realize it’s based on a book! In this case, the show is Ragdoll, from AMC+, based on a book of the same name by Daniel Cole. If you’re like me and love comparing page to screen adaptations to their original source material, here’s the breakdown of this grisly murder mystery, then and now.

ON THE PAGE

We meet Willam-Oliver Layton-Fawkes (nickname Wolf, for obvious reasons) at the trial of the Cremation Killer, where due to irregularities in Wolf’s investigation and chain of evidence, the suspect is acquitted. When the verdict comes down, Wolf drags the accused out of the defendant’s box and almost beats him to death on the courtroom floor. The book then flashes several years into the future, when a demoted Wolf goes with his friend and former partner Emily Baxter to a bizarre crime scene, where one corpse is made of parts from six different people. Thanks to the maneuverings of Wolf’s ex-wife Andrea, the press runs with the case and turns it into a sensational firestorm after a list is uncovered – with six new victims predicted, along with the dates they’ll be killed, the last being Wolf himself. Wolf works to solve the case alongside a troubled Baxter dealing with alcoholism and a buried attraction to Wolf, as well as Andrea, struggling to navigate the pressures of the news team and her own ambition continually driving her to violate privacy and sensationalize a horrifying event. Meanwhile, rookie Edmunds has his own theories about the killer, which he chases despite the damage it’s doing to his marriage to pregnant Tia. Along for the ride are Wolf’s good friend and current partner Finlay and unit boss Simmons, who discovers he doesn’t like being in charge while his people are thrust again and again into danger.

ON THE SCREEN

Our main character’s name is now Nathan Rose, and he does attack the acquitted Cremation Killer on the courtroom floor. In the show, however, more time is devoted to the direct result of that attack: Rose’s time at a mental hospital. His confused memories of that time, and of his friend there, Joel (on his own quest for justice) suddenly rise to the surface when Rose and Baxter (sober, witty, fighting for respect as a woman in the police) come to a crime scene where one corpse is made up of six different people. When the list of upcoming victims comes to light, delivered mysteriously to the police station, Rose quickly realizes that it’s all connected to the Cremation Killer, and that shadowy time in Rose’s past. He launches his own secret investigation to try and avert more murders (and atone for his own role in the ones that have occurred) as the police try to protect the victims on the list. Matters are complicated by frenemy Andrea (Rose’s on again, off again lover) in the media, and the resistance of the listed victims to accept protection. One very important change: intrepid rookie Edmunds has been transformed into a young American transplant named Lake Edmunds, an extremely young and liberal lesbian who struggles to fit in with the old boys’ club which Simmons and Finlay have been reduced to represent – though she remains determined to unravel the mystery, even if she has to do it on her own.

Without giving too much away, the changes made in the show (specifically what’s revealed and when) work really well to ratchet up tension and heighten the drama for the viewer, including a deeper sense of Rose’s emotional life.  In the book there’s a greater emphasis on the puzzle and trying to make it all fit together, using the dates the murders are predicted for to make it a race against time. While Andrea is less prominent in the show, which means less exploration of the pressure inherent in media work, the Ragdoll show still attempts to show the struggles of professional women through its focus on police procedure; Baxter and Edmunds have a number of conversations about the double standards women are held to. On a less serious note, I personally appreciated Rose’s name change; invoking a rose makes him seem complex and sensitive where, for me at least, “William-Oliver Layton-Fawkes, nickname Wolf” is a bit on-the-nose for an aggressive British police detective.

If you’re looking for a new crime thriller, serial killer story, or addictive binge-watch, I definitely recommend Ragdoll for an intricate puzzle that dives into questions of guilt, responsibility, justice, friendship, memory and identity.

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

- Stephanie Leave a comment

I’m not a spooky book person: hauntings, ghosts, unexplained mysteries keep me up all night. I decided to be brave and try The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James, even though the reviews I read described mysterious happenings throughout the book. It was worth it (and the many positive reviews didn’t let me down)!

The Sun Down Motel tells the story of secrets. A rundown roadside motel in Fell, New York has been the scene of many unexplained happenings. What’s even more chilling is that the city of Fell has a high number of young girls who have mysteriously disappeared without a trace. One of these missing girls is Viv Delaney.

Viv moved to Fell in 1982. She is desperate to move to New york City, but in order to help pay for it, she finds herself working as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel. She was only supposed to be passing through Fell – not staying to work. The more she works at the motel, the more Viv realizes that something isn’t quite right there. Something haunting and scary has taken over the Sun Down Motel. What’s even scarier: they are determined to get Viv’s attention no matter what.

Flash forward to Fell in 2017. Carly Kirk has been consumed by the story of her Aunt Viv, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances while working the night shift at the Sun Down. Viv disappeared before Carly was even born, yet her disappearance has cast a shadow over her life. Determined to finally find some answers, Carly decides to move to Fell and visit the motel where her aunt spent her last known moments. Once she steps foot at the Sun Down Motel, Carly quickly realizes that nothing has changed since 1982. The more she investigates what happened to her aunt, the more Carly realizes that both the town of Fell and the Sun Down Motel are ripe with secrets. Soon Carly finds herself wrapped up in the same haunting and scary mysteries that consumed her aunt back in 1982. Carly needs answers though and will stop at nothing to find out what really happened to Viv all those years ago.

This book is also available in the following formats:

October True Crime Pick – American Predator

- Stephanie Leave a comment

American Predator by Maureen Callahan has been chosen for the Best Sellers Club October True Crime pick! Librarian Anna has this to say about her latest selection:

Published in July 2019, this bestselling book investigates the heinous crimes of serial killer Israel Keyes. While not as infamous as other serial killers, such as John Wayne Gacy or Ted Bundy, Keyes is described as being one of the most “ambitious and terrifying serial killers in modern history.” Living in Alaska as a construction worker and as a father to his only daughter, Keyes would travel across the country to bury “kill kits,” which contained cash, weapons, and tools used to dispose of bodies; he planted these supplies in preparation for whenever he had an urge to act upon his sadistic desires in a particular place. He is thought to have murdered at least eleven people before his arrest in 2012, but stayed under the radar for fifteen years, as the first crime he committed was in 1997. I primarily selected this title for the BSC due to the positive and starred reviews it received from acclaimed journals and reader communities upon publication, as well as due to my surprise of never hearing of Keyes before finding this book, despite him committing these crimes in relatively recent history. I am excited to share this selection with you and hope you enjoy this pick!

Want to know more about American Predator ? Check out the following description provided by the publisher:

A gripping tour de force of investigative journalism that takes us deep into the investigation behind one of the most frightening and enigmatic serial killers in modern American history, and into the ranks of a singular American police force: the Anchorage PD Most of us have never heard of Israel Keyes. But he is one of the most ambitious, meticulous serial killers of modern time. The FBI considered his behavior unprecedented. Described by a prosecutor as “a force of pure evil,” he was a predator who struck all over the United States. He buried “kill kits”–Cash, weapons, and body-disposal tools–in remote locations across the country and over the course of fourteen years, would fly to a city, rent a car, and drive thousands of miles in order to use his kits. He would break into a stranger’s house, abduct his victims in broad daylight, and kill and dispose of them in mere hours. And then he would return home, resuming life as a quiet, reliable construction worker devoted to his only daughter. When journalist Maureen Callahan first heard about Israel Keyes in 2012, she was captivated by how a killer of this magnitude could go undetected by law enforcement for over a decade. And so began a project that consumed her for the next several years–uncovering the true story behind how the FBI ultimately caught Israel Keyes, and trying to understand what it means for a killer like Keyes to exist. A killer who left a path of monstrous, randomly committed crimes in his wake–many of which remain unsolved to this day. American Predator is the ambitious culmination of years of on-the-ground interviews with key figures in law enforcement and in Keyes’s life, and research uncovered from classified FBI files. Callahan takes us on a journey into the chilling, nightmarish mind of a relentless killer, and the limitations of traditional law enforcement, in one of America’s most isolated environments–Alaska–when faced with a killer who defies all expectation and categorization.

Join our Best Sellers Club  and automatically have selected titles put on hold for you. Want the hottest new release from your favorite author? Want to stay current with a celebrity book club? Love nonfiction? We’ve got that too! Choose any author, celebrity pick, and/or nonfiction pick and have us put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want!

My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

- Stephanie Leave a comment

My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is a crime novel that quickly draws you into the story and has you looking closely at how far you would be willing to go to help a family member.

Korrede is just sitting down to dinner when she gets a frantic phone call from her sister, Ayoola, desperately needing her help. Rushing out of the house, Korrede hopes that her sister hasn’t done what she thinks she has done. Ayoola, Korrede’s younger sister, has a rather inconvenient habit of killing her boyfriends. She always draws Korrede into the mess, asking her to help her cover up the crime.

Korrede is bitter. Ayoola is her younger sister and clearly her mother’s favorite. Ayoola is beautiful and can get any man to love her. Men flock to Ayoola and she always has a next man lined up.

Helping her sister through all her problems, Korrede is still hopeful that eventually Ayoola will stop and change. Korrede’s saving grace is her job as a nurse at a local hospital. While some of the people that she works with get on her nerves, Korrede looks forward to working with the kind and very handsome doctor who treats her as an equal. She hopes that one day he will realize that they are perfect together.

All of Korrede’s hopes are shattered the day that Ayoola stops by the hospital uninvited and catches the attention of the doctor. They instantly connect and Korrede is forced to deal with Ayoola’s past. She needs to figure out what to do before Ayoola slips and attacks the doctor.

This book is also available in the following format:

Outfox by Sandra Brown

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Sandra Brown is a well-known and prolific author of romantic suspense. She is also one of my go-to authors when I’m not sure what I want to read, but I need something that will keep my attention. Her latest kept me engaged from start to finish and had an ending that I didn’t see coming.

Outfox  by Sandra Brown tells the story of one man’s quest to capture a serial killer and another man’s desperate need to never be caught. Drex Easton has been hunting a serial killer for most of his adult life. For 30 plus years, he has been struggling to find a man that he last knew as Weston Graham. Weston is a sociopathic conman who has assumed many names and even more disguises over the past thirty years. So far, he has lured and tricked eight wealthy women out of their vast fortunes. These women then disappeared without a trace, along with Weston. Looking into the disappearances, the only commonality Drex sees is that a new man comes into each woman’s life before their disappearance. The man, who Drex believes to be Weston, then vanishes and leaves behind no trace that he even existed.

Drex is convinced that each of these women have been murdered and that Weston is the mysterious man responsible. Every time he gets close to capturing Weston though, he slips away, leaving Drex frustrated and with another dead woman left behind. Using countless tools at his disposal, Drex is now convinced that he has finally found Weston and is working hard to gain his trust.

Jasper Ford is attractive and charming. Having just married a successful businesswoman significantly younger than him named Talia Shafer, Ford ticks off many of the things that makes Drex believe that he is in fact Weston Graham. Desperate to save Talia from death, Drex moves to the town where the couple lives and begins insinuating himself into their lives. He starts surveillance on their house, posing as a neighbor researching a new book that he is writing. The closer Drex gets to the couple, the more he becomes convinces that Jasper is in fact that sociopath that he has been hunting for years.

Drex has only one chance to catch Jasper Ford and prove that he is in fact Weston Graham, but the attraction that he feels towards Talia threatens to destroy all the hard work that he has put in. Relying on help from his friends and hiding from the ire of others, Drex works diligently to prove Jasper’s guilt and Talia’s innocence.

This book is available in the following formats:

Believe Me by JP Delaney

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Have you ever read a book where you were consistently confused about what is real and what isn’t?  I felt that way all through JP Delaney’s newest book, Believe Me. Just when I thought I knew what was going on, a twist would come from out of nowhere and I would be back at square one, trying to figure out what was happening.

Believe Me by JP Delaney tells the story of a young actress desperate for money. Claire is a struggling British actress who, through a series of nasty circumstances, finds herself living in New York without a green card. Not sure what else to do and needing money and a job, Claire becomes resourceful in order to find work. Since she is an actress, Claire eventually finds employ working as a decoy for a firm of divorce lawyers. Her job is simple: she has been hired to entrap straying husbands. She is to get close, but not too close, in order for him to proposition her, while she stays slightly aloof. The firm needs evidence of their straying, but they must not be coerced.

Claire’s newest job seems straight-forward: the client warns her to be careful and is insistent that Claire doesn’t fall for any of her husband’s tricks. Claire’s meeting with the client’s husband hadn’t gone as well as she had hoped which frustrated them all. Moving on, Claire is surprised when that wife ends up violently murdered and the cops are convinced that the husband is to blame.

The cops decide to take advantage of Claire’s lack of a green card and her prior association with the suspect. They entreat Claire to use her acting skills and her work as a decoy to hopefully lure the husband unto a confession.

This seems like an easy job to Claire. After all, she is paid to lure men into propositioning her. How hard could it be to lure a man into confessing? Claire takes on a new identity and voice that the police feel will catch the killer’s eye. The closer she gets to the target though, the more Claire wonders if she is actually the decoy or the prey. Is she the hunter or the one being hunted? The further she gets into the investigation, the more questions are raised.

The twist at the end of this novel hit me so hard that 1) I audibly gasped and drew the attention of everyone in the grocery store around me and 2) I had to rewind and listen to the ending multiple times before I fully understand what was going on. I love when books do this to me. Read this book and let me know what you think!

This book is also available in the following formats: