I live in South Carolina and followed this trial just like a lot of people even nationally did. This audiobook takes you back through a lot of the history of this family and I learned a lot while listening to it. It’s definitely not something I would pick up all the time but it was definitely interesting.

The book was pretty good, the narrator was amazing. It is a very informational book however it had some weird organization to it. There were times where I found myself confused because it had transitioned to a completely different time real fast.

This one went deep into the generations of this awful family and that awfulness went back generations! I actually learned new things in this one and got a better insight into the family. Even if you have read other books or seen documentaries this one gave a good background on the whole family.


The narration by Joe Hempel was well done and I like that he sometimes leaned into the southern accent, the last book on this family I read was narrated by a Brit and it was an odd choice!

I highly recommend this one.

I received this audiobook from the publisher Spotify Audiobooks and NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

OMG this family is a total bag of dicks and got away with so much! This was an interesting read but I feel like it was a bit confusing to follow in this book. Perhaps it was b/c I was listening to it as an audiobook instead of print-reading it. I will definitely Jason Ryan another go.

#SwampKings
#NetGalley

What a crazy story...this was so engaging and interesting how certain people live their lives so warped from reality.

Swamp Kings The Story of the Murdaugh Family of South Carolina and a Century of Backwoods Power by Jason Ryan
Stars: 3.5

Who doesn’t love a good true crime story that follows one family over almost a hundred years, a small town drama in the swamps of South Carolina? Jason Ryan’s book examines the Murdaugh family, which has acted as the solicitors in their corner of the Palmetto state, reigning benevolently of the judicial system in the 14th judicial circuit, as long as you didn’t cross them. Last year's sensational trial of Alex Murdaugh for the murder of his wife and son brought the country’s attention to this family and there are a lot of skeletons in their closets. Ryan doesn’t go easy on the family but you can see why he, and anyone, might fall under their spell a bit. This book is a real life Southern Gothic tale.

So, let’s start with the good, this book was obviously well-researched and the writing is great. The story is fascinating, so obviously it is going to hold your interest. The main problem, and this is a huge issue, is the structure of the book; each chapter deals with a seemingly separate subject but it incorporates all four generations of Murdaughs at different times, so Ryan will be discussing a case argued by Randolph Murdaugh in one paragraph and he will switch over to the discussion of Buster Murdaugh’s marriage but there are like three Busters and four Randys so you aren’t quite sure which one you are now reading about. I think if you are reading the book it might be a bit confusing but when you are listening and can’t flip back to the beginning where Ryan lists the members of the family and their birth years, it is incredibly distracting. I appreciate that Ryan was taking a chance and trying to avoid a chronological story, but I think it would have read better that way - there were so many court cases discussed, all really interesting, but we were jumping between time periods and the story doesn’t build on itself and show how the family consolidated their power. And look, I’m a genealogist, I can deal with people with the same name, but even I couldn’t keep people straight because I didn’t feel like I had enough time to understand one man before we moved on to another and then another.

I would recommend this book, but definitely as an e-book or physical book so that you can easily refer back to the beginning.

This one was DENSE. I gave it a try as I was interested in the case and the history of the family. I thought that an audiobook would be a great way to delve into more detail. It was very detailed, and it felt like research had gone into creating a timeline to understand the generations of the Murdaugh family. However, I wonder if this would have been more compelling to me in print. Because of the repeated family names, it could be hard to keep track of which Murdaugh was being spoken about. I loved Matney's original reporting of this case, and reflecting on it that may have been enough for me personally. This book was well researched, but overall didn't hold any surprises for me after I consumed Matney's research on the issues.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free Advanced Reading Copy via NetGalley in exchange for a complete and honest review.

One of the best books I've read in a long while.

Swamp Kings was truly a phenomenal book. I was so impressed with the amount of care, detail, and research that was put into this book. Sometimes, when I started to feel like the book was jumping timelines too much and was convoluting the story, the author circled back, connected it all, and suddenly everything made sense again. It was genius journalism. I will say, to no fault of the author, that the story did get a little confusing at times just because a lot of the main characters share the same name and nickname. Despite this, all of the information is essential to understanding this family’s heritage and their entire history. This family has spent most of American history living a privileged life, bending the law at their will. I have spent the last year or so watching and ingesting any documentary that I could about the Murdaugh family, so going into this book, I really did not think that I would be getting new information. But the author describes how he essentially lived a second life in the Low Country, spending hours behind a microfiche machine at the library, and that shows in his extensive research. This was a truly solid true crime book. I am heavily impressed.

Might as well start out with a confession: I received the audiobook (thank you, Spotify Audiobooks — who knew this was a thing? Not I) and I liked the narrator very much but I just could not stay awake! So I bought the book, and my review is based on reading that. OK, more confessing! I am somewhat of a true crime fanatic, and a geographical bigot. I read and listen to books and podcasts about lots of true crime, and I pretty much think the southeastern quadrant of the country is just terrible. But damn, there sure is a lot of good crime reporting in and from that area!

In recent years, much of the most astonishing series of crimes and reporting has revolved around the Murdaugh Murders. If you haven’t followed this story and you dive into this book, better buckle up because it is way more shocking than can easily be understood. The younger son and wife of the famous, “high-flying, smooth-talking, pedigreed Southern lawyer, Alex Murdaugh” ** were found murdered on the family compound in the South Carolina LowCountry, with the 911 call reporting the discovery of their bodies made by Alex. Since then, an almost unbelievable list of crimes (over 100) have been attributed to him, and he has been convicted and sent to prison. As the stories unfolded, they kept getting more and more shocking, and revealed that he was not only guilty of two murders, he had also been a drug trafficker, thief, con man, and just a despicable human being (not a crime in itself, but OMG Alex is disgusting.

I thought the book was primarily focused on Alex and the crimes in the recent decade or so, but the first part (more than 2/3) is an exhaustive telling of several generations of Murdaughs…with several named Buster. No, seriously. Subtitled “The Story of the Murdaugh Family of South Carolina & A Century of Backwoods Power”, reading this book I learned more than I ever wanted to about multiple lawyers named Murdaugh. I was a bit overwhelmed by it all, but it helped me try to understand how Alex and his sons (especially Paul, the young murder victim) came to be so arrogant and stunningly cruel and just disgusting people. Alex Murdaugh is now disbarred, disgraced, and locked away. Prosecutors showed that Alex was crazed by the scandal that was about to be revealed and his final desperate bid to escape accountability led him to kill his wife and son.

There were a ton of headlines associated with Alex Murdaugh’s crimes, but the author’s incredibly deep research shows how similar incidents have occurred in his family’s past, including “fraud, theft, illicit trafficking of babies and booze, calamitous boat crashes, and even alleged murder.”**

The book goes deeply into the generations of Murdaughs, showing how their generations of lawyers lorded it over the people in the impoverished and isolated part of the Deep South where they lived. Again, I had expected more of a story about the fairly recent crimes, but this is a deep dive into the whole Murdaugh family and their extensive criminal undertakings. My only real complaint about the book is the difficulty I had due to the jumping around in time over and over, only to have to stop and think “OK, which generation is this, and which Buster?” It is compelling storytelling, and excellent reporting. I also like that it even touched on the various pronunciations of the names (it has been at times confusing in various podcasts and news reports to hear Alex, Alec, Ellick, and Murdaugh, Murdock – you get the idea.)

For true crime fans, as well as people who think rich white folks in the South can do no wrong. Warning: you will likely feel like you need a shower after this one! But really well done—it’s not the author’s fault this clan is so horrible. Four stars. (NOTE: Quotes** above are from the publisher’s blurbs).

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Swamp Kings: The Murdaugh Family of South Carolina and a Century of Backwoods Power is a nonfiction book that explores the history of the Murdaugh family of Hampton County, South Carolina.

Many may be familiar with the Murdaugh name following Alex Murdaugh's trial and conviction for the killing of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, in June of 2021. Several documentaries, podcasts and other media have been created examining this case and crimes. This book differs in that it's not solely focused on the recent murders, nor the boating accident in February of 2019 that resulted in the tragic death of Mallory Beach.

In Swamp Kings, the author, Jason Ryan, digs much deeper into the roots of the Murdaugh family's power and legacy in Hampton County. I enjoyed learning about the family and their deep hold in the area. It also had a bit of history of the Lowcountry, which I found enlightening.

I think if you go into this just expecting a True Crime novel focused on the murders of Maggie and Paul, you may be disappointed, but if you are here more for the history and a better understanding of this family's position within the community, you should be satisfied. I hesitate to say enjoy, because of the content, but you should walk away having learned some new things in regards to the family.

I come away with what I believe to be a better understanding of the events and environment that shaped Alex, and even Paul, into the men they became. It certainly doesn't solve anything, or explain anything, but perhaps puts a little more context to these brutal crimes. I feel the author did a solid job researching and pulling together all this information in a fast-paced and engaging way. I certainly was never bored while listening to the audio. In fact, it kept me wanting to go back to it.

My one critique would be that I wasn't crazy about the way the book was constructed, or laid out. I'm not sure how to explain it. The order in which the information was presented, I guess, would be fair to say. For example, it's going over things that happened in Paul's life, Alex's life, Alex's father's life and Alex's father's father's life. The men's names are all very similar and it would jump around in time, often feeling muddled. Like we'd be at the boating accident, and then without any preamble, or title head, jump back to the 1960s, but there would be a Buster here and a Buster there. I always had to pay attention to dates mentioned to figure out exactly who we were talking about.

I think I would have preferred a more linear layout, maybe with it broken into Parts, starting with the great-grandfather of Paul and then moving forward through time to the present day.

With this being said though, that's purely personal taste and I support the author's freedom to choose how he thinks best to present his research. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the case, or maybe to people who want to know more about the Murdaugh family in general, or the history of the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

Thank you, Spotify Audiobooks, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I'm glad that I picked this up.

Swamp Kings looks into the Murdaugh dynasty, revealing a saga of power, privilege, and tragedy in the heart of the southern swamps. The book feels very well researched and offers a narrative that explores the dynamics of this influential family and the dark secrets that shroud their legacy. The narrator for the audiobook was excellent and the only reason I have given 4 stars and not 5 is because the time line hops back and forth quite a bit and with the same few family names it is sometimes quite jarring and tricky to follow.

What a great book about terrible people. Not only was this book incredibly well researched, it was layed out in a way that that often times made you feel like you were right down in the low country. This was a great informative book that layed out the whole family and all the sketchiness surrounding them for decades.

The audiobook narrator was fantastic and it felt like I was listening to a podcast not an audiobook and I really enjoyed that aspect. Very well done all around.

So thankful for #netgalley and Spotify for the chance to review this book.

I had thought this was going to be more about the murders that Alec Murdaugh was arrested for but it turns out this is a full blown history of the entire Murdaugh family. If going all the way through the family tree interests you then this is a great in depth book of the Murdaugh family.

I want to start by saying, wow, Jason you really did your homework. There is no wonder why Alec and his family thought they would get away with everything. I am from South Carolina, so I’ve been following the Murdaugh trials from the beginning. Naturally, anytime I see a book about this family, I am immediately intrigued. Sadly, this missed it a bit for me. I thought the story would be more current and we went through SO many generations. The timelines also jumped a lot leaving it hard to follow. I did love how the atmosphere was painted of the low country; it was so good! Narration was wonderful as well.

I enjoy nonfiction podcasts and audiobooks, but I simply could not follow the timeline in this one. Jason Ryan has clearly done a lot of research, and I respect the compelling narrative he's attempting to pull together. The writing is also particularly good, especially in places where he's describing the Lowcountry's aesthetics. However, the time jumps back and forth, and since a lot of the family members share names, it's hard to keep track of who's doing the what.

The narrator was good, so I kept listening for them even while getting lost in the details.

It was so interesting to hear about the history of the Murdaugh family and all they did in SC. i knew about the trial for the murders by Alec, but this gives great backstory for the family and where they got their audacity.

I've seen several documentaries/true crime episodes about this case, so I did a quick read of the synopsis and requested on Netgalley.
I guess I didn't read the synopsis well enough because I was expecting this book to be more about the more current crimes and murders. Instead, it was a very long life story of generations of Murdaughs. I wasn't super interested in this.
The timeline also hopped around a lot without any real indication that we were switching which was a little bit disorienting especially in the audiobook. I wish that the timeline had been consistent, past to present, or had clear indications of switching times (maybe a date or something) when we switched.
The narrator was great. He made parts that weren't super interesting still feel interesting.
This was partially my fault for not reading and understanding the synopsis when it clearly states the book spans generations of Murdaughs, so if you are interested in this family's history, don't let my review put you off from reading it!