This book is gripping and compelling, depicting the truths and horror of what happened in the Dirty John dramatization that many are familiar with

My thoughts: This was a riveting read all the way through, especially the end part. Some of you may know the story from the dramatization of it shown on TV. That’s not the real story. This is what happened according to the woman who lived it, told in her own words and written by M. William Phelps, my favorite true crime author and guru. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Debra Newell, and the publisher.

Very good book. It was an interesting story. Scary at times. John was a real psychopath. The reason for the 4 stars....the writer repeated herself several times throughout the book. Some was for emphasis, some was redundant.

I think this book can't be reviewed as a whole entirely, every aspect has to be reviewed separately, so, here we go...
1) the writing style, it felt kind of repetitive and dull, there were some sentences that kept being in repeated as if the author wanted carved into our mind, for example: Debra's request for us not to judge her time. And again, which felt quite... Irritating? She should've told her story and left the rest for us as reader, isn't this how it supposed to be with books??!
2) the sequence, at the beginning of the book, the narrative was taking place in two different times, the first in 1980s following Debra's sister, Cindi, abusive relationship with her husband, and the second describing the date life of Debra herself in the present,, i thought that was done quite well, it gave the story a foundation, and it kind of painted a bigger picture of Debra's life and upbringing for the reader to be able to understand where she was coming from and why she kept taking decisions that some would find wrong.
3) I'm not going to critique the story itself, because i wouldn't be comfortable criticizing the victim, even if she took some risky decisions, and also, no one deserves abuse.
For me, that was my first time hearing about the whole ordeal regarding dirty John, maybe if i have known more about the case beforehand i would've been more invested in the story.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review via netgalley and the publisher*