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A Serial Killer's Daughter

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Note: This book is categorized as a Netgalley Review. I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and Thomas Nelson in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

I was browsing through Netgalley one morning, requesting advanced copies of various books that I was looking forward to, when I came across Kerri Rawson’s memoir, A Serial Killer’s Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love, and Overcoming. See, Kerri Rawson’s dad is Dennis Rader, known more commonly as the BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) killer. I’ve never hit the “Request” button so fast in my life.

I don’t know too much about BTK, but I certainly didn’t know he had a daughter, and I was really excited to read her perspective on what it was like to grow up with a dad like that. I was expecting an interesting true crime memoir. Instead, I read a moving story of forgiveness and moving on from tragedy.

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TW: violence, descriptions of murder, emotional abuse, physical abuse, anxiety, depression, PTSD

Kerri Rawson’s world is turned upside down on February 25, 2005, when an FBI agent appears on her doorstep in Michigan and tells her that her father is BTK, who has been terrorizing Wichita, Kansas. Kerri tries to place the loving, adventurous dad she had known her whole life alongside this man who killed and tortured ten people.

In her memoir, she talks about her experience growing up with her dad and how her life changed so dramatically when he was arrested. Kerri writes honestly about trauma, guilt, her struggle with mental illness, and her journey to forgiveness.

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Rawson starts the book by talking about the day her dad was arrested. She then moves to the beginning—how her parents met and her own childhood. I was surprised by how absolutely normal her dad seemed, given what I knew of the violent nature of his crimes. Near the end of book, as Rawson looks back, she talks about remembering some times that her dad was more violent or emotionally abusive to her, her mom, or her brother. While I was at first surprised that she didn’t put these recovered memories in chronological order in the narrative, it makes sense. Things can seem fine or normal in the moment. It’s with retrospect that you can see the damage.

The writing is really conversational. It felt like sitting down with a friend over coffee, listening while she told you about her life. Given the content, the book was easy to read and I got through it in a day. Rawson has a good sense of when to linger in a moment and when to move on.

In the last part of the book, Rawson details the aftermath of her father’s arrest. She shares some letters that they wrote to each other while he was incarcerated and she doesn’t shy away from her brutal anger at him or the way PTSD flashbacks debilitated her. Rawson is a Christian and she is very open about how hard it was for her to forgive her father for the way he broke apart her family with his actions.

That part was hard to read. As a Christian myself, I tend to struggle with forgiveness, and Rawson’s testimony was inspirational. I don’t know if I would make the same choices she does (like continuing to write to her dad), but this is her life, not mine.

This book is interesting and challenging, less a biography of BTK and more of the story of a woman trying to come to terms with the way a man ripped her family (and so many others) apart. I can’t recommend it enough.

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Kerri does a fabulous job of humanizing her father. Despite his rage throughout the years he was just a regular husband and father who loved his family while doing horrific things. I feel for Kerri, Brian and Paula. What an unbelievable story. The entire time I read it I couldn’t accept that the father Kerri knew was the same serial killer who destroyed so many families and lives.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

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I will admit it: I am a true crime addict. Books, documentaries, articles....you name it and I will devour it so it really takes a lot to make me sit down and think twice about something. Kerri Rawson has made me think.

Of all the books I have read about serial killers and mass murderers (and it's kind of a lot) I have never read a book written by the child of one of those killers until now. I am in awe at the strength this woman must have to be able to put so much into writing this book. Every honest and raw detail is right there for the world and it is incredible.

The first half of A Serial Killer's Daughter mainly focuses on Rawson's childhood and her misplaced faith. Honestly that wasn't the book I was looking forward to reading so even though it does give some interesting insight to her relationship with her father and God, I didn't feel that pull I was expecting had to question the reasoning behind the book. I started getting the impression that Rawson was simply writing a memoir and using her father's crimes to sell it, rather than telling the story the book had advertised. Honestly, I thought about simply putting it down and calling it a day.

Don’t pull out the pitchforks yet…I’m not finished.

I was compelled to continue the book. Maybe it was the constant foreshadowing at the end of each chapter (which drove me absolutely insane, by the way) but something was telling me that this was a story I needed to read and I had to keep going. Whatever that something was…was right! Once I struggled through reading about Rawson’s childhood, the father she had known growing up and her losing battle with her faith I flew through the remainder of the book. It facinatined me to have that inside look at Rader’s arrest and how the family dealt with the notoriety that came with it. We always think about the victims but never realize that those the criminal left behind are victims too and Rawson really opened my eyes to the other side of this story. She doesn’t go into great detail about the murders her father had committed over the years, which is fine, the book isn’t about him anyway, but she does give a very real and honestly account of how she felt and managed during this time of her life.

Very real and incredibly raw, Rawson brings every skeleton out of her closet in A Serial Killer’s Daughter. Although I am not a religious person, I respect that she brought her struggle with her faith into the open as well. She has a story to tell and this is a must read for crime addicts as well as anyone struggling through life. Honestly, everyone can take something beneficial away from this book.

I have, and will continue to, recommend this book to everyone looking for something a little different to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book to read and provide my honest opinion.

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A Serial Killer's Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love and Overcoming by Kerri Rawson is by a woman who is the daughter of BTK. Given this occurred in Kansas, I was quite familiar with Kerri's father's crimes. However, this story, above all else, was about Kerri. It was about the before of her life and then the after. Before, she was living a relatively normal life, as she went to school, college, got married, etc. Then, there was the after as she discovers (along with the rest of the world) that her father is Wichita's most notorious serial killer. Everything she thought she knew is different now in an unimaginable realization. Throughout, Kerri tells a honest and authentic story. She shares the depths of her emotions as she reflects on the before of her life, and then had to process everything that was revealed about the man she thought she knew. This was an incredibly powerful read as she centers her story in a reality that she could have never imagined. She shares how she struggles, especially with her own mental health and grief, and she also shares where she found comfort and even forgiveness. it was an emotional read, but again, it was Kerri taking ownership of her story and showing how she has found a way through it all.

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I've always enjoyed reading about the lives of serial killers and to find a book about one of the killers I find the most interest was amazing. This book was really good however because it wasn't another account of what Dennis Raider AKA BTK did. It was partly that but it was mostly about how his daughter viewed it, and how
she reacted to the news that her loving father was a serial killer. It was very sad to read this book because you can tell that the woman loved her father because he was her father and she had fond memories but you can also tell from her words how much she hates what he did. I can't imagine having to go through something so terrible. I found this book very interesting and I had to see what happened. This book was also good because of
all of the emotion that was in it. It wasn't just a factual retelling it had a lot of feeling put into the pages. Great book you won't want to put it down once you open it so get ready for a marathon read.

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This was really boring. I kept losing interest. I didn’t need to know the minute details of a summer camping trip in the early 90s to understand that BTK masqueraded as a good father for decades. I wanted to hear about the process of reconciling the father and the serial killer. That’s why I wanted to read this book. However, I don’t need the author’s entire life story to get there.

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I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid for this review.

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Real. Raw. Brave. Startling. "A Serial Killer's Daughter" doesn't hold back any of the feelings of Kerri Rawson as she lived and survived learning of the horrors committed by the father she truly loved. Thankfully not overly descriptive or gruesome, but a fact-filled account of the BTK serial killer's impact on his family. How two very different men could live in one body and murder children and adults alike and remain free for so long is difficult to comprehend. Kerri describes her actions, her her thoughts, conflicts and doubts with raw emotion. She also shares her spiritual journey and how she draws strength from the Lord through it all. A five star book for Christians and non-Christians alike, I found it difficult to put down and when I did, it remained fresh in my mind. Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy to review.

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An interesting, personal story, providing insights and perspectives about what it means to discover your life has been basically a lie. Some of the narrative is inconsequential to the author's thesis, but an interesting read about one woman's overcoming trauma and startling revelations.

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When you find an FBI agent outside your house you would probably think the worst but nothing could have prepared Kerri Rawson for what she was about to learn. Raised in a Christian household, close to other family members on her mom and dad's side she spent most of her time with them and outside if she could. Although Kerri and her brother knew to keep on their dad's good side their lives were pretty good but all this meant nothing when she learned her father was a serial killer, having been arrested and identified as BTK, someone Kerri had been more than aware of all her life without realising she actually lived with him.

I wasn't sure what to expect as Kerri was not only so closely and personally linked to such a sadistic killer, but also was a committed Christian, something I most definitely am not. What I found was a book written in an easy, open manner by a woman not afraid to show how her life had been shattered without feeling sorry for herself or forgetting that the families of her father's victims had suffered far more.

There is a strong message of hope within this book and I really wanted Kerri and her family to emerge the other side of their nightmare with the courage to live their own lives in the way the majority of us wouldn't give a second thought to. That she struggled with her faith, her ability to forgive, to even get out of bed in the morning wasn't hidden or glossed over in any way and I admired her and her fortitude far more than I thought I would. I finished the book hoping she can find a lasting peace, for herself and those who have suffered alongside her.

I was able to read a copy of this book thanks to Netgalley and the publishers and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys true crime biographies or books with a history that has to be overcome through personal strength and faith of some kind.

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When learning about a serial killer - do you ever wonder about his friends and family? Wonder what it was like for them to learn this about someone they loved or if they had always known there was something off? Kerri Rawson gives us the answers of her experience in this book - learning she is the daughter of a serial killer.

The book starts on a cold February day when an FBI agent shows up at Kerri’s apartment to tell her that her father is in custody and to question her. On that day, Kerri loses a sense of the self identity she has always known and gains a new identity - BTK’s daughter.

Kerri is very honest in her book of all the complicated feelings that come at every part of learning that someone she loved very much had a secret second life going on that none of them had any clue about. She shares stories from her childhood - seen now through a different lens - like learning her father committed a murder just a month after a family vacation.

In college, Kerri called her dad for advice on whether to move to a certain apartment. It had a sliding glass door which made her nervous since when she was little she heard of a neighbor who was killed after someone broke her glass door with a cinder block. Kerri’s dad told her the apartment looked safe and she moved in. Later she learned her father was the killer who had broken that neighbor’s glass door.

After learning the full extent of her father’s crimes and the 10 people he killed, Rawson wrote:

“Seven families were destroyed by my father, never to be the same again. Eight: his family — my family — too. My family — not his, no longer his. No longer his.”

Thank you Kerri for sharing your story and all the complicated feelings of your world being turned upside down on that February day that divided your life into Before and After. Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson for providing a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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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, Wichitacelebrated 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.

Written with candor and extraordinary courage, A Serial Killer’s Daughter is an unflinching exploration of life with one of America’s most infamous killers and an astonishing tale of personal and spiritual transformation.

I've always been a fan of reading about true crime and this book didn't disappoint. I really feel for Kerri Rawson and wish she didn't have to go through this, but she does write an uplifting and hopeful message to those who have gone through trauma themselves.

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of #AserialKillersDaughter
Pub Date: 29 Jan 2019

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Because this review copy I was given didn't have a cover, I won't be able to photograph it for my instagram. But I will be mentioning it in my stories because this book was AMAZING. I will be recommending this book to any crime junkie like myself because BTK (Dennis Rader's) daughter is someone we have all wanted to hear from. She gives us a deep insight as to what her father was like with his family, what he did in his free time, how he suddenly got a green thumb and turned her little room into a greenhouse, and even how he collected stamps for a short period of time. When we think of serial killers, we often only think of the victims they physically harmed or killed but his family were also victims. I can't wait to share this among my peers, especially some of my other bookstagram friends who love true crime.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

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This was an inspiring story of a young lady and her family who were thrown into the spotlight unwillingly.
The story of the other victims of crime, who are many times over looked as real “victims”.
I have read many True Crime books and we often delve into their pasts to try and find out what went wrong and if there were signs of what wouod become a heinous tragedy for so many people.
It is sad that more often than not the the families that the murderer leaves behind are almost vilified in a way as well.
We need to remember that they are grieving as well.....except that they are grieving in shame. They are often treated as if they knew what was going on....they could have stopped it. If only they paid attention.
Kerri Rawson is brave. She is a survivor. No doubt about it she will never be the same, however she suriviing with a little help from her family and her faith.

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It is a serious and terrible sorrow when others must carry the burden and fall-out of someone else’s criminal acts. “The Serial Killer’s Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love, and Overcoming” (2019) fortunately is a rare and highly articulate memoir written by Kerri Rawson. Rawson’s father, Dennis Radner, the self-identified BTK, ruthlessly murdered 10 people, (2 victims were children) in Wichita, KS. (1974-1991). Radner is serving 10 consecutive life sentences for these crimes in the Kansas El Dorado Correctional Facility.

In February 2005, Rawson called her husband Darian to let him know that a man was outside their Michigan apartment building clearly looking at their window, she was frightened, until the man identified himself at her door as an FBI agent. Unable to call her mother, or other family members, she learned the horrific truth that her father was apprehended for the notorious BTK crimes that for decades had terrorized residents of her Kansas home town. Her seemingly loving devoted father was a married family man, a military veteran, a dedicated church official and Boy Scout leader-- the BTK monster committed multiple heinous murders, he was believed to live in the community undetected for decades, leaving clues and taunting the authorities. Rawson’s life would never be the same after she learned her father’s vile and sickening truth: that he confessed to the BTK murderers. The shock and terror of her father’s crimes would haunt Rawson, her family, friends, associates, and community for years afterward. Rawson experienced symptoms of severe anxiety from trauma, depression, and PTSD.
Although Rawson suffered from occasional night terrors as a child, her life had been normal and ordinary. Enjoying a close relationship with her parents; she did well in school, and went camping and hiking with her father and brother. In her teens, she turned to her Christian faith and spirituality to sustain her in grief after the death of her beloved cousin, Michelle (1996). Many parts of the book read like a novel, slowing the storyline down somewhat, yet there is no correct way to tell a story like this.

Rawson was especially careful to tell only her story, there is little written about her mother Paula, who was granted a quick divorce from her husband (m.1971- 2005) without the customary waiting period. Unable to sell the family home, an unidentified buyer bought the property and the house was torn down. Several years would pass without Rawson writing to her father as she engaged the necessary services of a specialized trauma therapist. Rawson also wrote about avoiding the shadows of silence and shame, of further spirituality, forgiveness and mercy, as her courageous journey of healing moved forward. Rawson graduated from Kansas State University, she and her husband Darian live in Michigan with their two young children. ** With thanks and appreciation to Thomas Nelson Books via NetGalley for the DDC for the purpose of review.

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As much as I wanted to like this book, I just couldn't get into it. I found it to disjointed and it didn't hold my interest.

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I don't think I would've picked it up had I known it would be so... Jesusy. Far be it from me to tell anyone how they should deal with their trauma- it just wasn't for me.

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Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down so it was an easy, quick, and interesting read. It followed her life before her dad was arrested and her life after and what she went through afterwords in the aftermath of finding out her father was a serial killer and wasn't who she thought he was. Her life descended into a living hell of anxiety, depression, PTSD, night terrors and having to somehow live with the fact that her dad was indeed a serial killer. It does a good job of showing how a person can be like Jekyll and Hyde, how someone could live a double life, and lie and betray not only to their family but everyone around them. She talks about growing up with a man that she loved and then the other man that she didn't know, that was a stranger to her, like he was two people in one.

It reminds me how sometimes you can never really know someone and also how someone can put on a show/pretend/act/not let their true self out, whatever you want to call it, and hide part of themselves from others. It also shows how there's a good and bad side/light and dark side to everyone. His family and everyone around him was duped, played, "pawns in his game". I liked this book because it helps to show the psychology and nature behind these types of people and because it talks about true crime/violence and the real effects of it on his family, and how his own family is also a victim of his crimes and how it has hurt and affected them as well as the families of those he murdered.

Be warned though because at times this was a really hard and uncomfortable read when it went into the murders he committed. Luckily she didn't go into a lot of graphic details but it is disturbing enough even without the details.

It feels weird giving a 5 star rating to a book about such a terrible topic, but it gets 5 stars because I think it was a good book, even thought it's a horrible and hard topic. Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was interested in this book because I'm a true crime fan and I also enjoy memoirs. I thought this would be a perfect fit. It was not really a true crime novel at all but it was a memoir. Since I am from Kansas I liked that she mentioned places and things that most Kansans would be familiar with. Since BTK is from Kansas, that true crime story is especially fascinating to me. I made it about halfway through and just wasn't interested enough to keep reading. The first half of the book was mostly about the author's childhood and early adulthood and there was very little mention of the murders. There was an extremely long story about a camping/hiking trip she took with her dad but nothing really happened during the trip. By the time I got to the part where she finds out her dad is BTK it was about half-way through the book and I could tell the story was going to be mostly about the author and her pain. I do feel sorry for her and I'm glad she has faith to help her with her pain but unfortunately I wasn't really that interested in that part of the story. You can tell that the author wrote this book herself but it could use a bit of polish and tightening up.

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Kerri Rawson's life was forever changed on February 25, 2005.

FBI.... Your dad.....B.T.K....

That's how Kerri found out her father was the notorious Wichita serial killer known as B.T.K. Dennis Rader chose that name for himself when he began writing letters to the police to claim his murders. He called himself B.T.K. because it stands for how he killed his victims.
"Bind. Torture. Kill"

He hid this side of his life from his family for 31 years.

He was married.
He had two kids.
He was the President of their Church.
He worked down the hall from law enforcement for Y E A R S and no one knew.
No one knew he had created a shed with a false back so he could hide his "kill kit." No one knew the hallway and closets in their house had false bottoms. No one could have ever expected this to happen in their tiny neighborhood and Kerri definitely didn't think her dad could be behind it.

In Kerri's book, "A Serial Killer's Daughter" she doesn't really focus on the crimes B.T.K. committed. She decides instead to focus on her father, the man she knew and loved; not the monster she was just introduced to. In a way, she humanizes him. She remembers the man who hiked the Grand Canyon with her. The man she worshiped as a child. The man who held her tightly when she was sick and looked over her family. The man that taught her how to live.

Looking back it seem as though she was slowly realizing everything that he taught her was to protect her from people like him. He taught her to always ask for a badge when officers introduced himself/herself. He taught her to place a broom handle in the track of her sliding glass doors to prevent it from opening. Little did she know that was because he killed a woman by coming into her house through a sliding glass door.

Dennis Rader was just an average guy, raising his family, and hiding a dark secret.
But after years of therapy, separation, forgiveness , and quite literally the Grace of God, Kerri found a way to forgive her father for everything. She believes that God will forgive him when the time comes, so it only seems fair that she forgive him too.

Huge thanks to NetGalley, Nelson Books, and Kerri Rawson for finding the courage to tell her story!

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This is the introduction to the book:

"On February 25, 2005, my father, Dennis Lynn Rader, was arrested for murder. In the weeks that followed, I learned he was the serial killer known as BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill), who had terrorized my hometown of Wichita, Kansas, for three decades. As he confessed on national television to the brutal killings of eight adults and two children, I struggled to comprehend the fact that the first twenty-six years of my life had been a lie. My father was not the man I’d known him to be. Since his arrest, I’ve fought hard to come to terms with the truth about my dad. I’ve wrestled with shame, guilt, anger, and hatred. I’ve accepted the fact that I am a crime victim, dating back to the days my mom carried me in her womb. I no longer fight the past nor try to hide it. It just is. It happened and it’s terrible. Terrible to dream about, terrible to think about, terrible to talk about. Incalculable loss, trauma, emotional abuse, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress—these things leave scars. I’ve struggled with forgiveness, fought for understanding, tried to put the ruptured pieces of my life and my family’s life back together. It’s an ongoing battle. But hope, truth, and love—the things that are good and right in this world—continue to fight through the darkness and overcome the nightmares. I am a survivor who has found resilience and resistance in faith, courage, and my sure stubbornness to never give up."

That quite sums the book up in a quite full-rounded way. It's obvious to me that the author has suffered—and suffers—immensely at the hands of her normal father, who is also the serial-killer Dennis Rader, known as BTK.

One of the absolutely best things about this book, is the author's ordinariness, or rather, her being who she is; this book does not suffer from the sensationalism (in spite of the book's title) that usually marrs autobiographies that have been spruced up to gallant or even evade the truth, in service of tabloid fodder. She writes about her usual days before knowing her father's BTK, as in this paragraph:

"In January 1974, Dad murdered Joseph and Julie Otero and their two youngest children, Josie, age eleven, and Joey, age nine. The three older Otero children found their family’s bodies after walking home from school."

Another powerful stylistic trait throughout the book, is the author's jumps through time, even in the same paragraph at times, giving way to a kind of stream-of-consciousness feel. Still, most of the book is very coherently written:

"Mom found comfort in the chime that went off in the hospital right after Grandpa died. It meant a baby had been born at almost the exact moment my grandpa passed. Mom told me later that Dad had wept over his father’s body. Wrecked with grief, he had walked hunched over down the hospital hallway. She said, “I don’t think your dad had ever sat beside someone who died before.” When I heard these words, I was filled with sorrow, picturing Dad next to Grandpa’s frail body. Dad was grieved over the loss of his father—he had loved him, very much. It’s impossible for me to reckon that with Dad taking the lives of ten innocent people."

There are a lot of Bible references throughout the book, and still, it's obvious to see that the author has accepted help from other sources, e.g. therapy and family members.

There are several mind-boggling episodes in this book, unlike most serial-killer books that I've read (and I have read quite a few), especially when the author reveals herself as human in all kinds of facets, as here:

"Mom said, “Did you know I was teasing him this fall that he spelled like that guy—BTK?” I grinned a bit at this, trying to stifle a laugh, as I checked Mom’s face."

She was trying to hide a smirk, too, and when our eyes met, we both started giggling. It felt good to laugh.

People died. I’m not supposed to be laughing ever again.

“I asked your dad once why would BTK use a cereal box to communicate with the police—like it was reported in the news. He said, ‘Cereal—like a serial killer.’”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that one.

“Where did he get those boxes? We don’t eat that type of cereal.” And that’s what my poor mom is wondering.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Mom continued: “When I got interviewed, they asked what was behind our hidden door. I asked, ‘What door?’ They said the one in the kitchen behind the table. I said, ‘You mean the door the dryer is behind?’” I snorted, tried to contain it, and gave up, laughing out loud.

Mom and Grandma followed. “The police asked me about safety-deposit boxes—I don’t know why.”

Later, we learned that Dad used secret ones to store BTK items. Mom’s face turned serious, her voice lower.

“Early last year, there was a special about the thirtieth anniversary of the first murders, what happened to the Oteros. It was on TV. Your dad watched it.” Oh. I didn’t know he had watched it."

The letters from and to Dennis Rader are also quite mind-boggling. This one from the author to her father:

We weren’t very thrilled to see your written interview with the local TV station. We also didn’t like seeing your poems and letters on TV. We know you can and will do what you want to do, but we would really appreciate it if you could control that stuff better. Any publicity is bad for the family, especially for the ones that live in Kansas.

Brian and I have the grace of living in areas where we’re not known; and that’s been a blessing these last three months. Mom and everyone else doesn’t have that grace. We’re asking you to stop this type of communication on behalf of us. I have shared this view with your lawyers, and they were going to talk to you about it.

Mom is having the hardest time with everything that has happened. Brian and I share a different kind of bond with you than she does. It is easier for children to love their parents unconditionally (and vice versa) than it is for spouses. For her own sake, she might need to start distancing herself from you, and you’re going to have to try to understand that. She’s stronger than we all thought and she’s going to get through this, just as the rest of us are. We refuse to let the bad stuff win. Mom shared 34 good years with you, Brian 29 years, and me 26 years. We’re trying to hold on to that—not let the other things define you or us. You should not let that define you either. You’re stronger and better than that.

I love you and I know you’re trying to do the right things. I’m truly sorry your life has turned out this way. I want you to know you’re loved and cared for. You’re loved by your children, family, and most importantly God, whose love and forgiveness is much more powerful and greater than any on earth could be. I’ll write again soon.

Their correspondence changes over time, as the author comes to terms with what's happening while being severely affected with PTSD due to her father's legal crimes.

All in all, I feel the book should have been shortened, but on the other hand, its length does serve a purpose. All in all, this is a very human feel of how it can be to be closely related to a person who's committed crimes that were highly publicised for a while and most likely, due to sensationalistic "true-crime tv series", always be current to serial-killer boffins.

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