*shrug*

This was just ok for me. While the true crime aspect seemed unusual, the writing didn’t seem to do it justice and just felt old after awhile. With a stronger editor, I can see this improving.

Interesting premise, but faltered a little in the execution. I may try this one again as an audiobook as I felt that I missed some details in reading the ebook.

A riveting encounter of a murder that leads one to question if it really is. And investigative journalist M. William Phelps explores the case more deeply. You'll find it to be a riveting read. I had to read it in one sitting.

This one is on me. I read the tagline on the front of the book, “a deputy, her love affairs, a brutal murder” and assumed that the deputy was the one who was the victim of this brutal and horrific crime, but that is not the case - Tracy Fortson is the convicted murderer. I think, even though so much of my experience and the blurb told me otherwise, I expected something different as, like so many other true crime media, Targeted seems to forget that someone - a real person with hopes, dreams, wishes and wants - died in favour of focusing on the murderer.
And although so many reviews of this book commend M. William Phelps on his compassion for the victims, I see none of that here. In fact at some points, Targeted comes off as quite disrespectful towards Doug Benton in its casual, and often quite curse-laden, tone.
Shouldn’t the summarisation of the events of a person’s death be done in a style more fitted to the situation? I mean, on the day-to-day, every other word that comes out of my mouth is usually a swear word and yet, even I would realise that utilising my everyday speech pattern wouldn’t be appropriate in a book with someone’s death at the heart of its subject matter.
It just didn’t feel right and left a bad taste in my mouth.

M William Phelps is one of my favorite authors. I love the passion he feels for justice and the victims. This book is no exception. It is very well researched and of course, written well. I enjoyed his insights into this book and crime. I recommend it if you like true crime!

I always enjoy books written by M. William Phelps and this was no exception. Although I prefer a more cut and dried case, he does an excellent job of outlining the applicable facts. He is a talented writer and that quality combined with his impeccable research produces another high quality book.

My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I had seen this story on the ID channel and when I saw that M. William Phelps had written a book about it, I wanted to read it. :I thought it would go in more detail regarding this case. A deputy is arrested for the killing of her boyfriend. All his friends believe she did it, but did she? Yes, there was an abundance of evidence that may show her involvement/guilt but would Tracy being a deputy leave this behind? You must judge that for yourself. This book was an ok read. What took away from the book was there were several places where the narrative became boring ie: the email correspondance, the back and forth between the author and Tracy. This made the author seem as if ego got in the way. For the record, I think Tracy is a peice of work and she is exactly where she needs to be. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

M. William Phelps is a great true crime writer, and Targeted is skillfully written like all of his books. I love that he finds cases that aren't already completely over saturated in the media and brings them to light. I'm sick of hearing about the same 5 cases over and over again. Ann Rule (RIP) was a master at doing this as well. Just because a case isn't hyped by the media doesn't mean it isn't interesting or worthy of being told.

About this case in particular, though - I think Tracy Fortson is guilty. She has no hard proof of her innocence, and there is a lot of proof of her guilt. I think she is a master manipulator and probably thought either she was so above the law she didn't need to cover her tracks, or planned to use the harassment suit/cover up defense all along. I liked that the author stayed unbiased and presented both sides and let the reader decide.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

M. William Phelps is one of my favorite true-crime author's. His journalistic determination to find the truth and write the truth are exceptional
In this book we read about a deputy sheriff from Georgia, Tracy Fortson. She is in prison for murdering her boyfriend, Doug Benton. She emphatically declares her innocence. Tracy believes that she is being targeted and set up by her fellow officers. The reason is because she filed a sexual harassment case against the department. Through this book Mr. Phelps let's her have a voice in proving her innocence. She has no definitive proof. There are just questions and maybe some red flags.
This book does not disappoint. Interesting, compelling, haunting.
5 Stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this true crime novel. There was a lot of repitition in the writing, but I wasn’t too bothered by it. I thought it was written very well. I would recommend to any lovers of true crime.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own