3 stars
Not at all what I expected. I do feel there is a audience for this book. It is not for me. Thanks for the ARC of this book.

comprehensive yet easy to read guide to the most famous crimes, killings, and kidnappings. There's enough information to give you a good idea of what happened but enough room to also allow for the deep dive for additional research if you want more.

A comprehensive yet easy to read guide to the most famous crimes, killings, and kidnappings. There's enough information to give you a good idea of what happened but enough room to also allow for the deep dive for additional research if you want more. Interesting tidbits as well as quizzes to test your knowledge. True stories of survivors are added in to help lighten the more gruesome stories. These are more modern day so I was familiar with most of these but still some great information included.

This comes out in 2022, but I was in a crime mood when the approval for the ARC came in and I am not the most patient person ever so I hopped right in!

I was hoping that with almost 400 pages there would be a multitude of in depth analysis of cases, but each case was really only dedicated one page, with the bigger cases having maybe 3 or 4 pages. There wasn’t a lot of detail, either. I understand skimming the details with popular cases, like Ted Bundy or the Zodiac, but even then there was such a slim description- victims weren’t always mentioned, either, which is disconcerting because in true crime discussions today, there’s an added emphasis on remembering who these monsters killed.

As an avid consumer of crime literature, I’ve read about the mainstream crimes a lot. Like, a lot a lot; I don’t really understand the need to continuously visit cases like Ted Bundy. In unsolved cases I can see the constant allure because “maybe I can solve it” but even then, what new evidence or suspect hasn’t be explored by someone already?

Unlike most other crime books I’ve read, this one tries to bring a little lightheartedness with weird, bizarre, and non-murderous crime, like an exploration of the “Florida Man” phenomenon. There are also quizzes, which I honestly thought were really unnecessary. Especially because the actual cases in the quizzes weren’t always discussed within the book.

However, despite my disappointments with this book, it did include some cases I had never heard of before:

Michael and Suzan Bear Carson: The San Francisco Watch Killers
Betty Broderick: Love Triangle Turned Deadly
Roch Thériault: The Ant Hill Kids Cult
There were also small profiles on forensics, like blood pattern analysis, DNA matching, and fingerprinting. I liked the inclusion of how crimes are solved, and how it was threaded through with the crime stories so there was a small progression throughout the book.

I’ve seen this described as a “gift book of true crime” and I have to agree: it has a little of everything without being wholly substantive.

This is a great book for the true crime junkie in your life. I have a Master's degree in forensic science and almost all of the cases in this book are well known. This book talk about several serial killers, survivors, crimes that changed the world, and talks about different types of forensics. It was a quick read and informative for those who want to know more about true crime.

A quick, but interesting collection of short true crime stories. The stories are well done and contain something of interest for all. For the true crime fan, this is a great read!

Thank you to #NetGalley, #Danielle Steel, and #Random house for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.