I’m not sure how I felt about this book. I am a huge fan of true crime but I didn’t expect the book to be what it is - i struggled to finish it. I thought I’d be reading an insight to life with her father but in all honestly Kerri spent most of the book rambling on about faith - which is fine but not what I though the book would be about. Kind of a letdown.

I am in absolute awe of Kerri Rawson. Her story is so eloquently told, and truly is what the title describes. The story of a serial killer's daughter. It is not another true crime novel, and I am so thankful! We devour stories of criminals, soak up all of the truly awful and gory details, fascinated by the capacity of a human being to do such atrocious things. We don't often see the other perspective. In this case, a daughter who simply loved her father. A daughter whose world was shattered, and yet she has somehow found the ability to forgive the man she knew as her father, in order so that she may go on with her life. I read this in one sitting, it was so we'll written I simply could not put it down. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review!

Fantastic book. At some point in the story I felt like crying because of how beautiful it is, despite the subject matter.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

This book intrigued me from the start. I love true crime, and serial killers is a sensitive but intersting topic.
This memoir was interesting, kept my interest, and gave me some insight on her life.

Hmmmm....I love true crime books, but this one really fell short for me. When I read true crime, I like to hear about the ins and outs of the investigation and a description of events that occurred. A Serial Killer's Daughter was more like a religious crusade.

The story starts out okay by giving a look back at her family, childhood, and parent's relationship. Once she and her brother are born, she spends long chapters narrating memories of hiking and camping with her family. I understand she wanted to show that she had a normal childhood, but it was too much.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for giving me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

I found it really hard to finish this book. I enjoyed the general narrative and finding out bits and pieces of Kerri’s childhood, but it could have used with some heavy editing (as others have said, especially the hiking trip). I also found it very jarring when Kerri would have her ‘conversations’ with God and it would just be a line like “God, remember?” in italic. It was unnecessary and overly used. I also got really annoyed towards the end with the very little respect shown towards the victims and how self-absorbed the writing was.

However, it is Kerri’s memoir and ultimately she does a good job of writing about her life, ups and downs, and how she found faith. I wouldn’t have read this if I knew how much emphasis would be placed on faith, but I’m sure some will enjoy that aspect.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of the ARC. 2.5 stars.

It's challenging to rate a memoir because it almost feels as though you are directly rating a person's life and/or experiences and/or perceptions of the world. It is especially challenging to rate this one, since I truly did not find it very good. Kerri Rawson's story is wildly tragic, however the book itself was not written in a very compelling way. The religious overtones were also not something that I usually am interested in. Thank you for allowing me to read it, but it simply was not a book for me!

Thank you for the publisher for this ARC. This was an interesting read, as it is all told by the daughter of the infamous BTK Killer who terrorized Wichita, KS. You see him in a role other than villain and see the parts of him that acted as dad. In no way does the other condone his actions, not even close, rather it is her recounting her life and trying to come terms with who her father really was & is and how it taints most of her memories with the truth of who her father really is.

Overall, I wasn't a fan of this book. I thought that it would be emotional and interesting, but quite frankly I was bored. Overly religious undertones turned me off as well. Overall 2 out 5 stars.

I found the BTK killer fascinating in the fact that he was living among the general population of Wichita for decades undetected. Undetected to even his own nuclear family. So,obviously he was good at hiding in plain sight. And yet he wasn't bright enough to understand that a floppy disc from a computer could be traced. That was his downfall. His arrogance was unreal. The legacy he left his family is so sad. I commend his daughter for writing the book. In her eyes,she remembers her dad,while the rest of the country only sees the monster in him. A very brave young woman!

This was a very interesting book. I remember reading about the BTK killer and hearing about it on the news, but to read his daughter’s thoughts and feelings puts a totally different perspective on the whole thing. You have done a fantastic job Kerri, thank you for sharing your faith with us!

A Serial Killer's Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love, and Overcoming is a must read! I really was not expecting to like it that much. My heart really went out to the author. She went through so much and learned how to cope, overcome and learn the power of forgiveness.
I highly recommend it.
Five stars.

I condensed this review because my full review is a longer reaction.

60 pages in and already wondering why this book was published-FIFTEEN YEARS after her world comes crashing down. Honestly, it feels like she is trying to cash in on her father's reputation and the popularity of Mindhunter.

I am also not enjoying the detailed account of her life. I get it-it is painting the picture of Rader as a father, as a husband, and to show how he was able to hide from and fool his family. BUT, there is still a lot of exposition that would have benefited from heavier editing. Example: What does her cousin's death have to do with her father, the serial killer? I think this book was purposefully mis-marketed.

I just can't anymore. "Unlike the rest of the world, I was able to tie many of my dad's details [to the murders] to my own life." She also says she's lost some memories of the devestation he caused in her life. Clearly she didn't lose enough memories-I mean hiking details, the clothing she wore.

This woman actually thinks her family should have been consulted before full evidence was given? Oh wait, right above she wrote that her father gave a "one-sided, narcissistic view" of the crimes, almost complaining he minimized the torture of his victims. Yet she has the audacity to complain the prosecutors didn't check with his family? no. no no!

lol "My father selfishly rambled for 20 minutes." Ohhhhhh like this book!

SO the whole time she defends him and has all these memories (some tainted, but remember-she lost those memories anyway) but it wasn't until he calls his family "social contacts" that he is no longer her loving father. Now he can rot in hell.

"You wouldn't have known you were standing next to the daughter of a serial killer." Yeah well, she didn't know she slept in the same house as a serial killer. Who gives a rat's ass.

And the thing that really bothers me about this book, no the thing that disgusts me about this book- "I cut off all communication with him and tried to distance myself from the news." Then why in the hell am I 256 pages into a 336 page book of garbage? Seriously! Why was this book published? If 100% of the proceeds were being donated to some sort of victim support, or recovery or something I would feel differently, but this just the narcissistic rambling of the daughter of a serial killer. She is truly trying to make money off of him-going so far as to ask her mother for letters that he sent. She wants people to know who she is, look at her damn goodreads bio.
I have read Sue Klebold's memoir and did not have this reaction; but this book....wow.

(Yes I angry finished this book.)

I'll admit, I'm a picky fan of true crime--I like good writing, sound psychology, but proper respect for the victims, rather than holding up the supposed complexity or charisma of the killer (translation: Ann Rule, not any of the other books/movies on Ted Bundy, etc.).

That said, a book by the killer's daughter is going to be a little different, naturally. Those interested in the BTK case will be interested to read the letters Kerri includes here, which seem to confirm the learning disability he is suspected to have. To her knowledge, Dennis Rader was never abused or molested as a child, and although he was emotionally and occasionally physically abusive when she was growing up, there was no indication to his family of his other life.

But the thesis of this book seems to be that Rader's family are also his victims, elevated to the level of the 10 people (that we know of) whose lives he took. And while I'm normally someone who says "Suffering is not a competition," I just don't think that's a fair or respectful contention. Rawson writes at length about her grief and trauma over her young cousin's death in a car accident, seemingly unable to imagine that for people whose loved ones were tortured and their bodies desecrated, and the killer not caught for decades, their grief, trauma, and PTSD must be several orders of magnitude worse. I almost stopped reading when she whined that the prosecutors checked with the victims' families about sharing the gory details of her father's crimes at his sentencing, but not her family. Then she says:
"The families were given the opportunity to give statements after the prosecution finished. (I still have not read those transcripts. I tried once, ten years later; I made it a few lines in and almost threw up.)"
So we have to read 6 chapters about your stupidly overconfident father almost getting himself and his children killed in the Grand Canyon, and you finding God, but we don't have to honor the victims and their families with more than a paragraph each? We don't even have to acknowledge their words?

Speaking of the religious content, I was not fazed by the scriptures at the beginnings of the chapters, since this is a religious publisher after all, but some of the author's dialogues with God seemed a tad... unorthodox? E.g.:
[KR:] "Quiet, peaceful, easy, little life, God. Remember?"
But God lets nothing go to waste.
[God:] "We need to work on your forgiveness problem—we’ve got nothing but time."
[KR:] "I don’t wanna, God."
[God:] "Do it anyway."
It's all in italics, part of the stream-of-consciousness style she uses through most of the book, but still a bit off-putting, isn't it?

The positive takeaway from the second half of the book is that therapy is good, and sharing her struggles with depression, anxiety, and trauma has helped her and her mother in their recovery from this terrible ordeal they went through.

Also, one last quibble: she repeatedly refers to being in Detroit, but, ahem, FARMINGTON IS NOT DETROIT. Neither is DTW airport, the zoo, Greenfield Village, or frickin' Frankenmuth. (Although I did have to laugh that BTK loved Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, the tackiest place in the whole state). I found no evidence that she ever went into Detroit city limits once.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the digital ARC.

I struggled with this book. I was very curious to see how growing up as the daughter of a serial killer had affected the author; however, what I got was a redundant piece of literature that primarily focused on her faith, rather than her relationship with her father. There were a few minor flash backs where the author reflected on how her father handled some things, but that was basically it.

I was very disappointed by this book, I thought it would give more insight into the family life of a serial killer but it did not. It gave all the background facts of the family but it read like a grocery list, there was no emotion, no insight, nothing to even suggest the author even knew (much less was part of) the family. The way the victims were mentioned in the list of family facts was beyond disturbing, as they were listed in such a sterile and off hand manner.

I received an Advanced Reading Copy(ARC) of this book from NetGalley.com in return for a fair review. This book was written by Kerri Rawson whose father is the notorious BTK serial killer. Over several decades, Dennis Rader murdered 10 people (including two children) in and around Wichita, Kansas. His actions were horrific, perverted and unthinkable. He has been in jail since 2005 after confessing to his crimes and given 10 consecutive life sentences. I wanted to read this book because Ms. Rawson was once a resident of the city I live in. As a matter of fact, she lived within walking distance of my home. Her father even visited her here--a chilling thought. Imagine finding out that your dad committed such heinous crimes. Her story is simply told. She portrays Dennis Rader as the man who raised her because this is all she knew. Betrayal, shock, hurt and disbelief followed his arrest. Rawson's entire life was turned inside out, but a strong faith and a good husband helped her take one day at a time. I can't even imagine what it must have been like, but I give her credit for coming forward to tell her story. She makes no excuses for her father and has distanced herself from him. She has a unique story to tell and tells it well.

This book is marketed as a true crime book and I have to disagree. I thought this would explain how Kerri's father behaved in her childhood that explained his serial killer tendencies... however most of the first half of the book, the author rambles about how he was perfectly normal and a great father, with a few moments of outbursts, emotional abuse and even choking his son. The majority of the book is a religious memoir, as she tries to find god, which doesn't seem relevant to the book at all. There are so many chapters about a camping trip that had nothing to do with her father's murders, but only about her finding god. She talked a lot about depression, but never ties it into anything with her dad. She only paints him as a good father. Things get a little more interesting in the second half, but she really rubs me the wrong way when she tries to paint herself as a victim, completely disrespecting the families of the people he killed. The story rambles a lot and is not well written. Maybe if it was marketed as religious memoir, I would not have expected true crime writing. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I cannot imagine this happening to me. I don’t even know what my reaction would be besides sheer disbelief. But A Serial Killer’s Daughter by Kerri Rawson is a look at Kerri’s experience learning that her father was a serial killer.

Wow.

In 2005, Kerri Rawson heard a knock on the door of her apartment. When she opened it, an FBI agent informed her that her father had been arrested for murdering ten people, including two children. It was then that she learned her father was the notorious serial killer known as BTK, a name he’d given himself that described the horrific way he committed his crimes: bind, torture, kill. As news of his capture spread, Wichita celebrated the end of a thirty-one-year nightmare.

For Kerri Rawson, another was just beginning. She was plunged into a black hole of horror and disbelief. The same man who had been a loving father, a devoted husband, church president, Boy Scout leader, and a public servant had been using their family as a cover for his heinous crimes since before she was born. Everything she had believed about her life had been a lie.

Can you imagine the pain and feelings Kerri went through? Her book gives us an emotional look at her experience. This one is out now and is an interesting read!

Get it here and read more about it.

Written by the daughter of the BTK serial killer, Kerri Rawson takes us through her childhood growing up admiring and respecting a man that had a secret-life for over thirty years that ultimately led to the deaths of ten individuals. Kerri's story is heartbreaking in the sense that those that we hold dearest to us can hold dark, sinister secrets from us while loving and providing for us at the same time.

Her journey in discovering her father was a murderer, overcoming PTSD, anxiety, and depression as well as seeking the peace of God is detailed throughout this book. Her story is brave as much as it is interesting. We can learn a lot about grace and forgiveness from Kerri.

I gave this book 3 (3.5) stars because I felt that some of the material was repetitive, and not necessarily written extremely well. The story and the message is worth five stars, though.