This book was so weird!

You Have A Very Soft Voice Susan is a true story and the story was so bizarre that I kept shaking my head and thinking, "whatt?!"
The beginning of the book was a struggle to get through as you must read through all this background that doesn't add much too the story and just tries to build suspense by telling you soon the story will get wild ...
"like a carnival of cracked mirrors with a quicksand floor with phantoms reflected in the glass"
...okayyyy.
There's a ton of just boring day to day stuff, blah blah Susan really wishes her dad wasn't a fuckup, blah blah she really likes her job, etc. And I just wanted to get to the creepy stuff already!

Finally, it gets creepy as fuck really fast about 70% through the book. More descriptive writing happens....
"I was like a bull who had stumbled into a shuttered, cobwebbed china shop. Every step I took knocked over some precariously placed urn."

What happened to Susan is freaky, but I kept thinking "damn lady, don't you know how the internet works?!" and "geeez, stop being so nice!" And then she had to go and describe people as "sex ghouls" and "geisha goth" and I couldn't help but laugh and picture Susan looking like that 'Can I speak to your manager' meme.

Everything wasn't as shocking as I hoped, but it was a fascinating story and good for a laugh.

You Have a Very Soft Voice, Susan by author Susan Fensten.. The title alone got my attention. Then I read it was actual events.. Then I started reading it and WOW! Creepy, heart pounding and flat out SCARY! This is not to be missed, people could seriously take some advice from this. The internet can be a dark, scary place! Beware!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 4 solid stars!

Creepy, screwed up, twisted - should I keep going?
I love the fact that these are events that actually happened (as unfortunate as it is to the author) - it goes to show people are seriously f’d up.
And can we talk about the title and cover?! It’s perfect. And gives me chills. And it’s what drew me to read this book in the first place.
If you’ve ever had a weird experience online, give this book a read - it’ll make you think twice about even the most innocent gestures.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks NetGalley!

soo.. the title huh? I truly didnt' know what to expect of this book based on the title alone. the first part of the book was a TAD slow, but the second half? made it all worth ti. i'm glad i held on through the first half.

stalking is a crazy real thing, and this book sheds some light onto how easy / often it happens.

“Dear cousin, my cousin, Oh cousin so sweet
I’ve seen where you live, i know what you eat
I want to see Your eye’s when we first meet.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀
First let’s talk about that title !?
Just the name of it gives me the Willy’s and the cover is creepy which is very apt because this book is frightening.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This book is surreal , shocking, scary and crazy! You couldn’t make it up and to think that this actually happened in 2000 which relatively is not that long ago. At a time when the internet was new, the world of www. was exciting and the dark dangers of internet we know today were unkown, a simple online search by susan fenston to trace her father’s family on a genealogy site soon turns into a two year extraordinary case of internet stalking. She is contacted by what she thinks are distant cousins and through email correspondence
with her new “family”, she discovers mental illness, dark secrets and she quickly becomes the focus of sexual obsession. Bombarded with porn and crude messages , her life is completely turned upside down. She fears not only for her safety but her boyfriends Nolan’s too . Local police wont help , but when
Nolan contacts the FBI SOME ONE FINALLY LISTENS. Described by the FBI as a case “in a category by itself”.
I rate this 4 star rounded up, i felt the first part of the book perhaps could of been condensed and I felt it a little slow but the 2nd part was enthralling. It’s difficult to find the words as things like enjoy , loved don’t seem right somehow as this was someone’s life , Susan’s life . I keep thinking would i have been so gullible ,done things differently? Hindsight is 20/20

*Thank you to the author and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Wicked wicked wicked.

Yes the laws have changed but so has the technology and crazy families like this still exist. In the 80's we used to say "There are no life guards in the gene pool" well this smashing, scary story reminds you the 'waters' aren't; safe on the net either! Beware your 'electric trail/tail'. Great story that is hard to believe it is true!!!!

Great book cover and an even better story! This really sucked me in and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction and boy, is this a great example.

In 2003, Susan Fensten decided to go to an online genealogy site to look for family members on her dad's side. Two weeks later she received an email from her cousin and thus began a spiral into online stalking unlike anything conceived of in Wes Craven, Timothy Burton, and Quentin Tarrantino nightmares.

She soon finds herself the target of salacious sexual advances, all of which quickly escalate into threats of rape, kidnapping and cannibalism. Yep...cannibalism.

Perhaps most harrowing, in 2003 her stalkers' behaviors weren't considered a crime and no one from the NYPD was particularly interested in helping her. She finally gets an agent from the FBI to listen to her and as he begins to investigate things just keep getting stranger.

This true story will make you want to shut down every social media account you have, chuck your computers, tablets and phones, and buy a little stretch of land somewhere off the grid, even if it means you won't be anywhere near Whole Foods, your favorite colorist, or the gym. You'll get plenty of exercise working the land and your chickens won't care what color your hair is. See you there!

Thank you to Susan Fensten, WildBlue Press and Netgalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

All I can say is "Wow!" This book totally creeped me out. Susan innocently goes onto a genealogical website and discovers some extended family. This is the start of her nightmare. She becomes the victim of horrible internet stalking. I was so appalled at everything that happened to her over the next year or so. It is hard to believe that there is not a better way to protect yourself in some way. (I will note that the story takes place in the relatively early days of the internet, so her story probably could not have unfolded the same way today.) But, the story is told in a way that makes you feel her fear and frustration with the situation. The end result is truly shocking. I highly recommend this read if you like true crime. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in return for an honest review.

A terrifying true crime tale of cyber stalking that will make you want to throw your phone out the window and become a hermit. Extremely frightening and bizarre, the story alone will drag you in, but you'll stay for Susan's masterful writing painting a picture of gritty New York and the faceless horror of an online threat.

I'll admit that I am a sucker for a good book cover and this one nails it, that's if you like creepy covers of course, and I do!

This story is absolutely bonkers. And it's true which is why it is all the more frightening.

Imagine it's the early 2000's when the internet, email, and social media are really beginning to take hold. You post an innocent inquiry on Genealogy.com searching for long lost relatives and to your utter amazement when two weeks later your contacted by someone claiming to be your cousin. Now imagine that these "long lost family members" turn your life into a living hell for the next two years. Profane & pornographic emails, threats of death and cannibalism, rape, torture. It goes on and on and on and on. You are no longer safe even at work. Your boyfriend is now be harassed via phone calls threatening his death. You are spiraling down the rabbit hole of despair and can not find any police officer or FBI agent to take you seriously.

"Dear cousin, my cousin, Oh cousin so sweet. I've seen where you live, I know what you eat. I want to see your eyes when we first meet."

He was getting closer, I could feel it. He was emerging from my email inbox, coming into the real world. My world.

Finally with the push of her boyfriend demanding some action FBI agent Waller finally steps in to see what he can find out and you will be shocked as to what he discovers.

This is what happened to Susan Fensten. As you read this you will have your mouth agape. You will likely want to close all social media accounts. (Except Goodreads!)

If I learned anything from this it's to keep your personal information just that - PERSONAL. *Shivers*

Thank you to NetGalley and WildBlue Press for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

You Have A Very Soft Voice Susan by Susan Fensten 🖤
Thanks @netgalley @susanfensten @wildblue_press For my ARC
Publication date 26th February ‘A shocking true story of internet stalking’. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
My first true crime story for a while. Firstly, I loved the setting of this book, the gritty and dark side of New York. To say this book was a disturbing read would be a complete understatement. I absolutely raced through this and I’m still in complete shock. An absolutely terrifying look at cyberstalking and how it easy it can be done. This is definitely a case of truth is stranger than fiction. An absolutely fantastic, well written and a deep dark trip. Highly recommended, five star read. Thank you my buddy @elainesreviews for recommending this xx

Wow, what a bizarre series of events this was! You Have A Very Soft Voice, Susan is a twisted tale of an internet search gone incredibly wrong. In 2003, Susan Fensten conducts a search for her father’s relatives on a genealogy website. Little does she know that her seemingly harmless query will bring her into contact with the most sinister people she has ever met. Believing that she’s communicating with her distant relatives, Susan soon becomes the target and obsession of a criminal sociopath and other frightening characters.

This book is so creepy that I had to remind myself that these are true events. It’s scary to think that people like the ones in this book actually exist in the world and that just the click of a button and an internet connection can put you in such danger. After reading this book, it’s almost impossible not to consider how much you should really share on the internet.

Thank you to WildBlue Press and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

<i> “I thought about how so many trials and tribulations had resulted from what started as a little correspondence on geneology.com at a moment when I was feeling vulnerable and seeking connection. Genealogical websites are promising venues for useful information and possible contact with loved ones. They’re generally not known to be repositories for pain, misery, the threat of rape and cannibalism, and worse.” </i>

Wow. YOU HAVE A VERY SOFT VOICE, SUSAN is an astonishing true crime story like you’ve never read before - about internet stalking harassment taken to the next level.

Susan Fensten, a book publicist living in Williamsburg, NYC, divorced, in her early 40s, pokes around on the internet for some information about her father’s family. It’s the early age of the internet, and Susan searches on the Ellis Island website to no luck - so she posts on a website called genealogy.com. It’s a simple message, giving a few details about her paternal grandfather. She doesn’t expect a response, really.

But in a few days, she gets a response from a woman who says they shared the same grandfather - a cousin named Karen who lives in Massachusetts. Susan is excited at this connection, astonished that it happened so quickly, so she responds and starts an email correspondence with Karen. But soon enough, Susan gets tangled into a web of Karen’s bizarre family: a mentally disturbed brother working on Wall Street named Leonard who occasionally dresses up as a woman to engage in kinky activities (“Leona”) and an unhinged sister who immediately despises Susan and sends nasty, threatening emails to her on a regular basis. The family drama escalates into a much bigger plot, involving cults, murder, rape, suicide, drugs, and even cannibalism. Susan has no idea what she got herself into, and how to get out. Susan confides in one of her best friends from earlier in her NYC life, Bobby, who helps her navigate the whole situation. All of the action takes place over email and AOL messenger (remember, it’s 2003!). It seeps into Susan’s real life, with the harassment extending to her work and onto the streets of New York.

The writing is sometimes a bit simplistic; Susan herself disclaims that she’s not a writer. Towards the middle, after the initial family drama is laid out, the plot becomes somewhat hard to follow - there are so many characters with bizarre names, backgrounds, and alleged criminal histories; it’s tough to keep track of who’s who and who’s saying what to whom, particularly since all correspondence is online and email addresses are in constant rotation. I was losing the story a little bit about 2/3rds of the way through, but then, Fensten delivers the amazing lightning strike of a twist that wakes you back up. The rest of the book leaves you agape, wondering how on earth this could have happened.

I still have lots of questions at the end, and the final hammer was only the slightest bit unsatisfying, but overall - this was a fascinating book to read. It makes you reflect on how real internet harassment is, despite claims that it’s just virtual and shouldn’t really affect you that much. The police and FBI get involved, remarking on the inadequacy of laws to prevent or prosecute internet stalking and harassment to the immense degree that Fensten experienced. It makes you wonder about how this case would be handled today with changed laws and internet security.

If you like true crime and wild goose chase stories, you’ll enjoy this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and WildBlue Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

One woman's online search for potential relatives on a genealogy website soon begins a descent into a hellish nightmare. Susan Fensten connects with cousins on a genealogy forum and is soon in regular contact with them, or who she believes to be her cousins....

This book had me gripped from the get go. I read it in 36 hours, not being able to put it down. The first half of the book is a horror story of epic proportions and practically had me looking over my shoulder. At times Susan came accross as naive and too nice to hurt anyone's feelings, but who among us is not guilty of wisdom in hindsight. It's easy to offer judgements from safe distances. The second half of the book is horrifying in quite a different way and I said more than my fair share of "OMG's" throughout. It definitely reiterates the age old question ... Do you really know who you are talking to online?

Thank you Wild Blue Press and Susan Fensten for sharing your story. It's a great teaching tool too.

I don't know what to rate this book, it's really good and I feel for Susan. I want to rate it a 3 due to the content but also rate it a 5 due to Susan. I have to say it's disturbing and the fear you had to go through. This book was picked up, read, put down etc.

To say this book is strange is an understatement. Innocently enough Susan Fensten decided to use a website to try and locate family on her father's side. She ended up locating something very evil. She gets a reply from a Karen, then Leonard, then Sharon, then another and another. They all email each other and get to know one another. Each family sharing way too much. Then things get worse and yes worse. Soon no one in Susan's life is immune, Reading this book made my jaw drop and made me rethink my social media. Susan was smart for taking such good notes and saving everything. I wanted to know who was behind all this, Thank you for sharing your story Susan. It must of been horrible to relive this to put it all down on paper.
Thanks again Wild Blue Press.

This book is already available. Be careful out there.

4 stars


*Thank you to the author and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

This was a terrifying journey into the unexpected dangers of the internet and how susceptible and vulnerable it can easily make us to deception, manipulation and abuse. Especially when there is a mentally unstable and sexually depraved person on the other end.

The events that unfolded over halfway through the book were so chilling and crazy that it seemed hard to comprehend it all really happened. I can't talk about the book much without spoiling anything, so all I'll say is if you like to read about twisted and disturbing true stories, then read this one.

First of all, how creepy is this book cover?! The eyes look like they can see through my soul haha!

This read was so bizarre that I had to regularly remind myself that this was not a work of fiction, Susan actually experienced this over a period of around 2 years! This was quite a slow read for me because I’m not usually a fan on ‘autobiography’ style books as I start to lose interest, I started to get this feeling about half way through.
There were times when I was so confused and couldn’t even keep up with what was going on half the time.
However, I am really glad that I persevered as just when I thought this couldn’t get any weirder, it did! It also came to a conclusion through an FBI investigation which also gave another area of interest.

"How did I, a normal New Yorker, end up in downtown Manhattan FBI Headquarters being vigorously questioned about an unsolved brutal murder?"

That is how the story begins. We are quickly brought back to the tough childhood of Susan Fensten in the seedier areas of New York City. Susan's dad, John, had spent much of his life in and out of Bellevue Hospital. Her mother eventually became proficient in Cel-Art. Susan had one sister, Ilia, who married a Vietnam Veteran after she had become pregnant at 16. After the birth, Ilia committed suicide. Susan had a 3 year marriage that ended amicably.

Susan loved books. In 2001, the Internet was quite new to her - but her work at Doubleday helped her adjust to "a world of endless horizons", rapidly. Susan's old friend, Bobby, was living now in Washington, D.C. When Susan visited him and his roommate, Bobby showed her his collection of letters he had that had been written by serial killers - a collection of sorts. Later, little "cracks' emerged in Bobby's persona (snippy, intrusive comments) that pushed Susan away for now.

In the last week of October, 2003, Susan became very interested in her father's background. She had not seen him very often and wanted to find her "roots". Now that her dad had passed away, Susan turned to the Internet for guidance. At about this time, Susan began to work for the Oxford University Press. Using her father's name she eventually came in contact with Karen Gardiner whose mother was Lania Fensten. After e-mailing back and forth, Karen sent a family photo from the 1940's in which Susan found some resemblances! Also, Bobby had befriended Susan, again - he had just found his birth mother! Susan and Karen e-mailed each other all of the time...

Eventually, Susan became familiar with Karen's other relatives - Leonard reminded her most of her father (Karen's brother). Susan also got herself into some uncomfortable situations with the family. Personally, I would have just stopped the correspondence. But not Susan...

And wait until you find out what happens to Susan on her internet journey/nightmare (at times).

Another MUST READ for all fans of suspense, thrillers, mystery and most any genre!

Many thanks to Wild Blue Press and NetGalley for a truly suspenseful read!

The author's painstaking research and attention to detail is obvious in the writing of this book. The author laid out the information in a manner that allowed the reader to form their own opinion.