It's a fast paced read with plenty of action. It's also an entertaining read and once you start you might not stop until the very end. The pace is high speed, the characters are engaging.

As a moviemaker and a big fan of true crime documentaries, it was obvious for me after reading only two sentences of blurb, going blind to explore the story and eventually being hooked from the first pages!

Theo Snyder is flawed, broken hero, a documentary maker whose career already fell apart after involving in a scandal and manipulated by his documentary subject’s sister. As a result his last movie has been canceled because of his biased perspective to the true events.

Once upon a time he had it all when he directed “The Basement” and achieved critical and commercial success, but after the public humiliation of his next project and turning into persona non grata of La La Land’s business circle, he left LA and moved back to his classic shoe box Hell’s Kitchen apartment.

Now he has his comeback chance by making a true crime documentary about the notorious Halo Killer Jasper Ross-Johnson.

His investor friend Kent accepts to finance him and helps him to connect with one of the toughest kickass investigators, Zora Monroe. And guess what? The one of the most dangerous, cold blooded serial killer of the history is already on board to corporate with him. This was like a second chance.

The passionate, adrenaline junkie movie maker inside of him already got too much involved into the story. As soon as he starts to interview with Jasper in the prison and try to find out the truth about his getting caught up, ( because he was one of the most methodical criminal who never leaves any trace, clue or evidence that may connect him with the murders) he starts to realize, it may be connected with “Miracle Baby” who is left at the sink of an empty building, malnourished, all alone for days after her birth. She is the daughter of Jasper’s first victim. You may guess why they named her “ Miracle” after her tremendous survival skills.

Now 2 decades later, Jasper learned the baby’s existence who is a young woman now. What is connection between them? Does Jasper see her as his unfinished business?
We just witness Theo’s dedication to his project till it starts to destroy him mentally and physically but it already captivated him and no matter what the people around warn him to stop, he gets already obsessed. He doesn’t do it for fame, money or clear his name after his last biggest mistake which nearly killed his career. The adrenaline rush of finding the truth and bringing out some meaning to his miserable life push him harder.
But now Jasper escaped from the prison and he keeps calling him. His life is in danger but he feels he’s so close to solve the mystery. He cannot stop even though this can be his final job and it can also end his life!

It’s a fast paced, intriguing, unputdownable journey. I empathize Theo a lot. His character is well developed and realistically reflected a person’s true obsession and passion to his profession. I didn’t like Zora and her indecisive, precarious, untrustworthy manners.

At the end all the illogical plot lines are explained and especially the final twist was smartly played, beat my spidey spider senses!

So I’m giving my four Oscar worthy, binge watch true crime documentary stars! I’m so happy this book put this author on my radar and I cannot wait to read more works of him.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for sharing this unputdownable ARC with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Theo is a film maker renowned for his film The Basement, however his credibility was shattered when he relied on an unreliable source. Theo is an all or nothing type man, and when he becomes,obsessed with the Halo Killer, he immersed himself in the case and his journey down the rabbit hole begins when he agrees to meet the Halo Killer, Jasper Ross-Johnson. Jasper may have withered away in prison but his brain is as sharp as ever. Theo wants to delve into his psyche in order to make a successful film, but who is playing who? The book is written in a format which includes flashbacks and the form of a script for scenes of the film as they play put in Theo’s mind. The pace is high speed, the characters are engaging on a human level. I felt that I could sense Theo slowly losing his grip on reality and becoming more paranoid as the plot unfolded. A modern take on a serial killer thriller.

I would like to thank Bryan Reardon, NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for my ARC in return for an honest review.

This was a good one - it moves at an almost frenetic pace just like the narrator, Theo Snyder. He is a documentary filmmaker who fell from grace after a scandal involving a follow-up to his masterpiece, The Basement. Now he's trying to get himself back into the limelight by delving into the case of The Halo Killer, looking into a new angle of how he was caught. after easily evading authorities for years.

He joins with an investigator named Zora, one of the best and toughest in the business. We follow as he chases lead after lead, sometimes not even keeping Zora up to date on his latest whims. He quickly becomes obsessed, not sleeping, not eating, driven only by his addiction of The Halo Killer. Not only is the future of his movie career at stake, but perhaps his life, as well.

It's a fast paced read with plenty of action, though I didn't empathize with any of the characters. Theo is just obsessed and hasn't learned anything from his previous scandal, getting too involved in the story and the lives of people involved. Zora isn't particularly likable, a typical 'badass' female character who acts however she wants, and pries however much she wants, but don't you dare ask anything personal. One of those types. I did enjoy the scenes set on the Delaware coast near Rehoboth because I've been there and know the area well. Local readers will probably get a kick out of that. So, it's an entertaining read and once you start you might not stop until the very end, just like Theo.

It doesn’t take long for filmmaker Theo Snyder to go from champ to chump after he makes a foolish public comment. His unthinking comment costs him his new movie. Now feeling desperate, Theo decides to begin a new project, one centering around a serial killer dubbed the Halo Killer. Jasper Ross-Johnson, the killer himself, agrees to talk with Theo and the filming begins. The more he talks with Jasper, the more sure Theo is that there’s something there, something hidden, that no one else has been able to prove. Why didn’t Jasper kill his last victim? This intense thriller had me biting my nails and remembering the quote about staring into the abyss and how it stares back into you