Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I've found the "boom" of true crime in the last few years to be strange, especially when members of fans who seem to use the grisly details of someone else's violent death as grist for the mill of personal empowerment. Rachel Monroe seems to share my skepticism, given the intro and outro of the book which take place at CrimeCon, but also sees more to why people (and in particular, women) get so into things like this and the field of forensics.

Across four stories, we see how women's fascination with true crime led to the formation of forensics as a field, helped get the story of Sharon Tate's family out in the press beyond the major narratives, helped exonerate the West Memphis 3, and (in a nice twist on the previous three stories) helped plan a (largely unsuccessful, but still!) school shooting in Canada thanks to murder fandom.

The book is an easy read, with each story sketched out too the perfect extent to communicate what it needs to as it relates to our current obsession with true crime. Rachel Monroe's weaving in of her own story and experiences helps brings this to light in every chapter.

I thought I might enjoy this because I occasionally read true crime. Well, these people are on a whole other level and it kind of creeped me out. These women, and apparently many more out there, really are obsessed and that changes their lives in ways that are not at all healthy. This is an interesting book, but I will definitely wait until the bad taste leaves me to pick up any further true crime books.

An interesting book for the true crime fanatic! There's a lot of true crime titles coming out this year but this was unique.

If you enjoy true crime books (Ann Rule was my favorite true crime author) and podcasts (My Favorite Murder, Crime Junkie, Sword and Scale) as I do, Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession by Rachel Monroe needs to be on your Must Read list!

In this illuminating exploration of women, violence, and obsession, Rachel Monroe interrogates the appeal of true crime through four narratives of fixation. In the 1940s, a frustrated heiress began creating dollhouse crime scenes depicting murders, suicides, and accidental deaths. Known as the “Mother of Forensic Science,” she revolutionized the field of what was then called legal medicine. In the aftermath of the Manson Family murders, a young woman moved into Sharon Tate’s guesthouse and, over the next two decades, entwined herself with the Tate family. In the mid-nineties, a landscape architect in Brooklyn fell in love with a convicted murderer, the supposed ringleader of the West Memphis Three, through an intense series of letters. After they married, she devoted her life to getting him freed from death row. And in 2015, a teenager deeply involved in the online fandom for the Columbine killers planned a mass shooting of her own.

Each woman, Monroe argues, represents and identifies with a particular archetype that provides an entryway into true crime. Through these four cases, she traces the history of American crime through the growth of forensic science, the evolving role of victims, the Satanic Panic, the rise of online detectives, and the long shadow of the Columbine shooting. In a combination of personal narrative, reportage, and a sociological examination of violence and media in the twentieth and twenty-first century, Savage Appetites scrupulously explores empathy, justice, and the persistent appeal of violence.

The stories focus on four archetypes of females- detective, victim, attorney, and killer. Savage Appetites looks at each of these types with detail and insight which I found fascinating. I highly recommend this book if you have a desire to learn about the darker side of human nature, what makes us gravitate towards these murders and mysteries?

Due out on August 20.

In this true crime novel Rachel Monroe researches the appeal of true crime by putting focus on four archetypes: detective, victim, attorney, and killer. She attaches each of these archetypes to four true stories about women who were driven by obsession. Monroe follows the history of American crime using forensic science, victims roles, satanic cults, online detectives, and school shootings.

I am a lover of all things true crime so when I was given the opportunity, through NetGalley, to read and review this upcoming true crime novel. The synopsis was great and really got me excited to read this book. This book is extremely interesting as it goes very in depth while talking about the four women and the archetypes that they correlate with. They were women that I had not heard much about but their stories are so interesting that I was instantly hooked while reading. I wanted to know more about them and I feel like Monroe did an excellent job at providing not only information about the women but also what happened to each one at the end of each chapter.

On Goodreads I rated this book a 3/5 because although I really enjoyed reading this book and learning information about the different women I feel like there wasn't a good tie to the archetypes that Monroe was focusing on. She did an excellent job at explaining the archetypes and how each woman identified with them but I felt like there was a lack of explaining how these archetypes tie into the true crime obsessed. It felt more like this book was about the 4 women and their crimes rather than about how these women are linked to why there is a rise in true crime obsession. However, this is definitely a book that I will be recommending when it gets released on August 20, 2019 because, like I have said over and over again, the cases are just so interesting!

True crime fiends please keep a lookout for this book; you will really enjoy it.

Shocking and informative, Savage Appetites was a very interesting read. I enjoyed reading the stories of all four of the women, but I most liked learning about Frances Glessner Lee and her crime scene models. Monroe does a good job at linking these stories with major happenings of the era, but at times it detracted from the story (I personally think that she spent too much time on the Satanic Panic of the 1970s than what was necessary). Savage Appetites is also a quick read at fewer than 300 pages, which often isn't the case with true crime books. Fans of true crime will be excited to see this book.

To me, this book seems like four very different short books thrown together into one. The claim is that the four women discussed in the book are all obsessed with something and that is their link. That seems very weak to me. That said, I enjoyed all four tales. Each woman has an interesting story. I just would have liked some way of tying the four together better, or choosing four stories that had a stronger link. Monroe knows how to research, and she writes well. What is missing is the continuity where you feel like the book is a whole story rather than just four separate ones. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was lucky enough to see Frances Glessner Lee's dollhouses at a recent Smithsonian exhibit so I was excited to read more about her here. I also enjoyed the Sharon Tate part. This isn't so much a work of true crime as it is a work about true crime which I really enjoyed. I liked the scholarly approach to what has become such a popular interest and felt like I learned a lot.

A fascinating look into why the current true crime trend appeals to a predominately female audience, as evidenced by four cases where women played a big role as mentor/victim/killer. Interspersed with the author's insight into her own fascination with crime stories, this novel had me glued to each page. On top of a more psychological focus, this novel also explores and explains the role that certain crimes played in creating laws, and in changing public perceptions in media.

A special thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

While definitely interesting, this wasn’t what I expected when I went into it. This reads as a part-memoir, part-biography of women who obsessed over crime. This will appeal to the niche of true crime lovers who are fascinated by those who take their devotion a step further.

I received an advanced copy through Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Interesting non-fiction book, told in four parts. In keeping with the trendy true crime genre, this book looks at the perspective of four very different women; one who recreated crime scenes with astounding detail in doll house miniature to teach forensic crime scene investigation, one who obsessively attaches herself to the Tate family in the wake of the Manson family murders, one who became pen-pals, eventually married and helped gain the release of one of the West Memphis Three, and a young woman that planned a crime as an homage to the Columbine school shooters. Overall interesting, but I struggled connecting with the narrative voice and the subjects of the book, felt more like a series of long magazine articles than a cohesive story.
***I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.***

Our society has become obsessed with true crime.  Podcasts, books, TV shows, websites, and TV channels devote hours to discussing crimes.  Statistically speaking, it's women who are fueling this obsession.  The overwhelming majority of true crime readers and true crime podcast listeners are female.  According to Monroe, forensic science is one of the fastest growing college majors and seven in ten of those students are female.

 Rachel Monroe has chosen four stories to discuss the history of forensics and the true-crime obsessed while also analyzing her own fascination with the genre and its effect on her life.

"The four women in this book were encouraged to lead small lives or to keep parts of themselves hidden; becoming entwined with a famous crime enlarged their worlds and allowed them to express thing they couldn't otherwise voice." *

Savage Appetites divides four stories into chapters, including:  The Detective, The Victim, The Defender, and The Killer.

The Detective tells readers the story of Frances Glessner Lee, a wealthy heiress who used her time and money to create Nutshells---painstakingly detailed miniatures of crime scenes that were used as training tools for law enforcement.  Lee was an unlikely detective whose obsession with crime was tolerated because of her wealth.

The Victim follows the bizarre story of life for actress Sharon Tate's family after her death at the hands of the Manson Family.  Tate's younger sister Patti eventually became the family spokesperson after her mother's death with the support of Alisa Statman.  
In 1990, Statman moved into the Beverly Hills guesthouse on the property where Sharon Tate and her friends were murdered.  Statman claims she only became interested in the history of Sharon Tate after she moved in and helped writer Bill Nelson with some research.  Either way, she eventually became close with Patti and continued to raise Patti's children and speak for the family after her death.

The Defender explores the relationship between Lorri Davis and death row inmate Damien Echols, one of the "West Memphis Three" accused of murdering three eight-year-old boys in Arkansas.  Lorri and Damien became acquainted through letters after Lorri watched a documentary about the murders and believed Damien to be innocent.  She quickly became fixated on the case and began a romantic relationship with him. Lorri left a successful life in NYC to move closer to Damien.  The couple married and Lorri devoted all of her time to the case.
The West Memphis Three gained the support of several celebrities who funded further investigation that could lead to new evidence that would allow for a new trial and all three men were eventually released from prison.  

The Killer details the progression of an online chat between Lindsay Souvannarath and her friend James who both shared an obsession with Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.  The pair eventually begin planning to open fire at a mall in Nova Scotia but an anonymous tip prevents them from carrying out their plan.  Many people believe their discussion was mostly bravado and the young couple would never have actually opened fire but there was certainly intent since Lindsay boarded the plane to Nova Scotia to meet James.

I found all four of these stories to be fascinating and enjoyed the discussion and structure of the book.  All four women are vastly different and that's why the stories work so well together.

"The more time I spent with their stories, the more I realized that there wasn't a simple, universal answer to why women were fascinated by true crime---because "woman" is not a simple, universal catergory. Obsession was a recurring theme in their lives, but that obsession wasn't monolithic. It stemmed from different motivations, had different objects and different implications." *

Savage Appetites is four true crime stories that explore obsession and motivation in relation to women who gravitate to the subject.
I recommend it for readers who enjoy true crime and sociology.

Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession is scheduled for release on August 20, 2019.

*Quotes included are from D-ARC are subject to change upon final publication.

Rachel Monroe’s book delves into the issue of women and their obsession with true crime. As if that’s always a bad thing. This is basically divided into four sections relating four different cases the author examines as separate cases to consider as studies. I was already familiar with the one of the heiress in the 1940’s who came up with and then crafted a dozen miniaturized crime scenes called nutshells that were used for teaching what later became known as forensics. The second chapter is on a woman who years later, moved into the house where Sharon Tate and others were murdered. She has a thing for the murders and the Tate family in particular and spends her time trying to get to know everything there is to know about both. I remember reading the book she wrote after she eventually managed to get close to remaining family members after mother Doris Tate passed away. The third chapter is about a New York woman who becomes enmeshed with one of the West Memphis Three after seeing a video on it. After falling for one of them by mail, she devotes her life to trying to get him released from death row. And finally, the fourth chapter is about a young female who becomes infatuated with the Columbine school killers after reading all about their exploits online, and begins planning a shooting of her own.

This isn’t a typical true crime book, there is some discussion of the large number of women who are hooked on true crime vs. the small number of men. Then these four different kinds of examples and what they might mean. But it’s still all very interesting if you like the subject. I certainly had no complaints with it and was interested very much. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Rachel Monroe, and the publisher.

I've always found crime cases to be interesting, but I've also deplored the tendency to view murders as "cool" at the expense of erasing victims' pain. The concept of this book is something I've wondered often myself: why are women in particular attracted to true crime stories? Monroe doesn't have a specific answer to that because a succinct one doesn't exist, but she divides fans into those who identify with four major groups (and I'm not looking directly at the book, so pardon me using my own words): the investigator, the victim, the advocate, and the perpetrator. Monroe does a good job weaving together specific tales of women, background about crime, and her own personal experiences as a crime fan analyzing her own feelings.

During the research and writung if Savage Appetites, Rachel Monroe discovered that women are most interested in true crime articles, books, movies, and television shows. Due to this interest, several television channels are devoted to true crime 24/7.

The first segment of Savage Appetites is "The Detective". In the 1940's, Florence Glessner Lee developed an interest in the science of clues left at crime scenes. As police work was nit considered suitable for a lady, she created a series of intricately designed miniatures called "The Nutshells". Each Nutshell is a separate crime scene, and includes all the clues needed to solve the crime depicted.

The second segment is "The Victim". In the aftermath of the Manson Family Murders, in March, 1990, Alisa Stanton moved into the guesthouse at the murder scene. After meeting others interested in the murders, Alisa became entertwined with Sharon Tate's family for the next twenty years.

The third segment is "The Defender". In the 1990's, Lorri Davis, a landscale architect in Brooklyn, fell in love with her prison penpal, Damien Echols. Echols was a convicted killer and the supposed ringleader of the West Memphis Three. Through letters, the two fell in love and married. Davis then devoted tbe rest of her life to getting Echols freed from death row.

The fourth segment is "The Killer". In 2015, Lindsay Souvannarath became deeply immersed in the internet fandom of the Columbine killers. There, she met James, who seemed to be her kindred spirit. Together, they planned their own mass shooting. Authorities intervened before they could carry out their plans.

Using these four cases, Rachel Monroe traces the growth of forensic science, the evolving role of victims, the popularity of true crime television, the emergence of online detectives, and the repercussions of the Columbine school shooting.

Savage Appetites is meticulously researched and well written. I would highly recommend this title to any true crime fan.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free digital copy of this title to review from Net Galley..

#SavageAppetites#NetGalley

I really enjoyed 3 of the 4 sections on the women Monroe was covering and I liked the way she structured and set up the novel overall; it was fascinating to read their stories, the high level explorations on their motivations and rationales. I didn't love the final segment and I didn't care for how she tried to make connections in that final segment between her subject and herself. It felt very forced to me and not well done.

As a long time true crime reader, a lot of what she had to say about true crime writers, civilian cold case researchers was very interesting and I wish there had been more in that arena.

I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Who's guilty of loving a little too much of true crime podcasts, documentaries and series in Netflix and Hulu?? I Am. 😂

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

What draws so many into the gory, fearful world of true crime? Rachel Monroe dissects one region within this popular phenomenon; namely, the women who become obsessed with true crime. Divided into 4 sections about 4 real life women, she discusses four archetypes women tend to fall into when obsessed with true crime, and their lives to perhaps explain why they fell so deeply.
Monroe writes engagingly well, and the book feels more like an intimate chat versus a nonfictional look at true crime of years past. An interesting perspective on #ssdgm

The author couldn't seem to make up her mind on what she wanted this book to be: why women like true crime; her own obession with true crime (she seemed to think that made her special); or women involved with crime stories.

This could have been good but the sudden chapters of her own story had no relevance and kept getting in the way.

This book needed a ruthless editor.

I have been a fan of true crime books for as long as I can remember, and this book did not disappoint. The author has done a great job of laying out all of the details and keeping the stories flowing without bogging you down with unnecessary details. I really enjoyed this book.