3.5/5 stars

I really think when historical fiction and true crime come together it’s a great thing! Something about this time period tends to fall flat for me though. I like the author’s story building and totally want to research this story now.

All the Blood We Share is a historical fiction novel inspired by true events dealing with the “Bloody Bender” family. A family of serial killers who lived and operated out of a rural Kansas town. While there in Kansas, the Benders embarked on a killing spree motivated by greed and a desperate need to regain what they lost.

While I did enjoy All the Blood We Share, I didn’t quite like it as much as I did Bruce’s first novel, In the Garden of Spite. I believe that this lack of enthusiasm stemmed from my wanting a lot more gruesome details which All the Blood We Share didn’t deliver. I for one enjoy morbid and gruesome details so that is probablly why All the Blood We Share didn’t meet my expectations. I can understand, however, how some readers would enjoy All the Blood We Share over In the Garden of Spite due to the nature of the main villains in each novel.

I was somewhat disappointed in the overall flavor of All the Blood We Share because Bruce’s previous novel really captured my attention. I attribute my disappointment due to Bruce’s desire to capture a larger audience that want a taste of the macabre, but weren’t invested in the gruesome details. Three mediocre stars.

I received a digital review copy from Berkely Publishing Group. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

This historical fiction takes us to the Kansas plains of 1871. The Benders have just arrived, hiding out from previous “problems” in Pennsylvania and Indiana.
Beautiful Kate dreams of life on the stage as a medium. These were the days when spiritualism was all the rage. Her mother is just trying to keep them all safe and thinks they need to lay low, but her concerns fall on deaf ears. The story alternates between their two POVs, along with that of a young man from the trading post nearby.
There’s a deep sense of darkness and brooding tension. Everyone in the family possess tempers and father and son are clearly unbalanced. And killing travelers is such an easy get rich quick scheme. But I couldn’t decide if they were a group of equal psychopaths or were the men in thrall to Kate. Whichever, no one in the family had a strong moral compass.
This is a very fast read. I was caught up in the plot and curious to see what would be their undoing.
The writing is pretty basic, but Bruce does a good job of giving the reader a real sense of time and place.
Little is known about the Benders, as Bruce explains in her Author’s Note, so this is much more fiction than fact. The ending highlights some important issues though - how society looks to punish a woman, especially a pretty one, for “stepping out of line” and how “even regular people can be capable of despicable acts under the right circumstances.”
My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for an advance copy of this book.

What a creepy story, made worse by the fact that it is based in truth. I think I also had problems with the creep factor because I have known THAT person, the one who easily manipulates, gets in your good graces, plays you like a piano. A great Halloween read but it was missing something that I can't put my finger on to be a four or five star read.

I found this one really interesting, thank you for the copy to read and review. Longer review to come shortly.
Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the advance copy to read and review.

*Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group, Camilla Bruce, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/all-the-blood-we-share/

“I wonder if female serial killers haven’t been studied extensively because at the end of the day, in our heart of hearts, we don’t consider them worthy antagonists.”

― Tori Telfer, Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History

Kate Bender is a beautiful redhead with a winning smile, a beautiful laughter and a talented con-artist. She is also a serial killer, having killed, with her family, 14 people in the early 1870s. The Benders were a family of serial killers who lived and operated in Labette County, Kansas, United States, from May 1871 to December 1872. The family comprised John Bender, his wife Elvira and John’s son, John Jr. and daughter Kate.

All The Blood We Share is a somewhat fictional account of the Benders and it is a dark and disturbing story. The kind of story that appears in your nightmares right after finishing it. This family is truly evil.

The Benders have moved to Kansas after Kate became involved with a married man, whom she eventually murdered, and they were shunned from the town. When Kate and her mother arrive in Kansas, they are originally disappointed by the house her father and brother have built. It is small, dirty and dusty compared to the wonderful farm house they have just come from. But then they get the idea to turn it into a general store and Inn to make money, somewhere travelers can stop and get a hot meal and perhaps take a rest. But when the first traveler is killed, Kate can almost taste the blood. She has also started a side job as a medium and begins making a name for herself in the small town of Cherryvale. She is, after all, a con artist, and an excellent one.

William Bender, Kate’s father, believes wholeheartedly that she can talk to angels. The angels will tell her who is hiding money when they come for a meal, and who has not a cent on him. Speaking of angels, when Kate gives the word, John and William attack those wealthy visitors to steal their money and Kate grabs her knife to finish the business her family started. Elvira, Kate’s mother, raised her as a thief, sending her out at a young age to flirt with older men and then pickpocket them. Even John, her step-brother, is obsessed with Kate, and his jealousy knows no bounds. When Kate becomes engaged to the local shopkeeper, John beats him within an inch of his life and he never sees Kate again.

Camilla Bruce is an amazing storyteller. She has taken the true story of the Benders and fictionalized it so we can relate to the characters. She admits she has fabricated some of it, including adding a couple of people, who did not exist. But it doesn’t take away from this absolutely insane and chilling recap of those 18 months in a small town in Kansas. The author’s forte seems to be female murderers in American history and she has done an amazing job with this one.

All the Blood We Share is told from the perspective of Hanson, a young boy living with Kate’s fiance in the local general store, Elvira, Kate’s Mother, and Kate, whom the book focuses on. One of the most chilling pieces of this fantastic book is the Benders disappeared one day without a trace, and to this day, no one knows what happened to him. Once the townspeople become suspicious of the Benders, they go out to their farm and realize they have abandoned it for weeks. The animals are starving, if not dead and there is no sign of them. There are theories they were murdered, buried alive, or they just started over under alternative names, but no one knows for sure. Again, this book is dark and the feeling of uneasiness stays with you long after you put the book down.

All the Blood We Share is historical fiction based on the Bloody Benders, a real family of serial killers in the Old West.

The book’s premise fascinated me on its own, but even more so because a version of this story actually happened. Women are rarely known to be serial killers, and here we have a family with two of them.

I thought the setting and atmosphere were extremely well done. I could envision the vast expanse of the land, the disconnect from city life, and how easy it might be for a pretty, devious female to con lonely men.

I loved the author’s vision of the family, regarding their personalities and how they related to one another. These were some messed up genetics.

Unfortunately, I didn’t connect well with the writing style. I can’t say why, exactly. Something didn’t click for me, and I didn’t feel the emotions from the characters or their actions. Consequently, this was an interesting read that didn’t hit me as hard as it should have.

When a family slays together, they’d better stay together.

The Benders are a real-life 19th century American family who did a lot of what’s described in this phenomenal novel. But time is a shroud, and their actions were once a desperately guarded secret. Therefore many of the questions a reader will have are simply unanswerable.

Two things we do know:

1. The Bloody Benders deserved their nickname.
2. Their exploits made for one heckuva book

Kate Bender is so flirtatiously ambitious even her step-brother pines for her attention. Jealousy broods beneath this gruff, isolated young man.

Using the family’s Kansas home as a roadside inn, their immigrant parents pine for the day when enough pennies will have been pinched to buy their dream farm.

The author has written a spellbinding story of cruelty and deceit. When avarice and rage create violence in their home, the Benders identify a bloody road to a better life.

While managing the family’s gruesome affairs Kate is hedging her bets with a side job as a “medium,” hustling the bereaved with seances and messages from lost loved ones.

This book galloped off the page with creepy drama punctuated by masterful episodes of manipulation. Told from the dual perspectives of Kate and the mother who made her, ALL THE BLOOD WE SHARE was a sinister delight from beginning to bitter end.

3.5 stars - I was so here for the creepy western frontier vibe in this horror novel! I hadn't heard of the Bloody Benders before, but now that I've read this book and the Wikipedia page ;), I think this was an entertaining take on that story that wove the known historical details into a convincing and compelling story of this family of serial killers in frontier Kansas in the 1800s. I'm not sure that I needed both POVs from each of the Bender women, but overall, a great example of successful historical horror

Oh, I loved this! I really liked the author’s prior book about Belle Gunness, but this one was even better!

The author takes us deep into the psyches of the Bloody Benders – especially Kate and her mother – and it’s sooooo good. As horrible as they were, she also made them all too human.

The book is violent, of course, and you’re there for every slice of a knife or slam with a hammer. And some of what happens is just so very sad.

An intense read – even more so as it’s based on true events! Loved this one.

• ARC via Net Galley

Historical fiction set on the American frontier that could appeal to fans of True Crime books and/or podcasts. I enjoyed the changing narrative viewpoints between different family members and was intrigued to learn this novel takes its foundation from actual historic events. Recommended for readers of Cormac McCarthy.

All hail Camilla Bruce! She knows how to write a good one!I loved Camilla Bruce's "In the Garden of Spite" and "You Let Me In." I'm enjoying her novels about little known female serial killers. Although I didn't like this one as much as I liked her depiction of Belle Gunness, I thought this one was excellent nonetheless. In this novel, Bruce takes a look at the Bloody Benders. A serial killer family on the frontier. Yes, pioneer serial killers. Not much is known about the actual Bender family so Bruce had to fill in the story with fictional details, but I think this was a great take on the story. The Bloody Benders became notorious for have lodging along a pioneer trail. When weary travelers stopped for food and sleep, the Bender family would murder them and bury them in the orchard. I think Bruce did a great job filling on the story of Kate, John, and the other Benders. This one isn't for the faint of heart. I'm excited to see what comes from Bruce next.

Camilla Bruce doubtlessly has a habit of spilling blood in her novels, and "All the Blood We Share" is no exception. I enjoyed this one more than Bruce's previous novel In the Garden of Spite. The main character of Bruce's latest novel, Kate Bender, is more compelling and charismatic than Belle Sorensen from "In the Garden of Spite", who was just absolutely miserable. While the story alternates between three characters, Kate, her mother Elvira, and a young neighbor, Hanson, the story really centers on Kate. The entire Bender family are despicably wicked. Fleeing from a string of previous murders, the Bender family set up a new life in Kansas. Kate devises a plan to make money by hoodwinking travelers and neighbors in to believing she is a talented Spiritualist that can commune with the dead, but behind the scenes, in their small home, the body count keeps stacking up. Of course there's some suitors, and Kate has an abundance of men vying for her attention, one of which happens to be her step brother, so there's an icky aspect here. Ultimately this book kept my attention, and left me feeling uneasy, which I think was the point. The Benders were incredibly unlikeable family, but a small part of me was rooting for Kate to turn her life around, find happiness, and settle down to live a peaceful life -- a difficult endeavor for a cold blooded serial killer. She undeniably had a tough childhood, so there's a smidgen of sympathy for for her based on the circumstances that led her to become a manipulative adult.

If you like books about heartless serial killers, this is your novel. I'll be off to read something light and fluffy to cure my nightmares.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel, in exchange for my honest opinions.

"I tried to force myself to look at the stars and not the lights at the Bender place, but spectacularly failed at this."

WOW. What a tale! I devoured (sorry) #AlltheBloodWeShare, Camilla Bruce's (@camillabruce_writing) fictionalized tale of the Bender family of Kansas. Spending time with the Benders, a more unhappy family I have not met, was not easy. And Kate, oh my goodness, SO narcissistic and manipulative. Ms. Bruce does a terrific job with the sense of place - dusty, dirty and depressing. There's not a likeable character in this book, save for Hanson, a young boy who narrates several chapters of the book. Lucky for him, the Benders like him! I can't even imagine living as they do, and afraid to turn their backs on one another, for fear of being murdered. Also the cover is simply perfect. The Benders have no souls. Pure evil. It's a fascinating read, highly recommend.

P.S. thanks to #Netgalley & @berkleypub for the ARC.

I was looking forward to this because I loved in the Garden of Spite. Unfortunately this one didn't catch me like that did. This one was too slow-paced for me. I wasn't into the mystical and spiritual aspect and couldn't wait for those scenes to be over. Most of the characters annoyed me and it was hard to keep going.

I love the idea of a serial killer family in the Old West and this was done really well done, but to think about this being a real family was shocking to me. It works great as a historical novel and I'm surprised that this hadn't been thought of before. The writing was really well done and was what I wanted from a historical novel about serial killers. I had a great time reading this and look forward to reading more from Camilla Bruce.

"The door was open, and so I stepped outside, fully expecting to see men on horseback with their rifles aimed at my William’s chest. Maybe one of them even carried a noose—already tied. This was not what I saw, though. Out in the yard stood my husband with his rifle at the ready."

All the Blood We Share by Camilla Bruce

After reading and loving the true-crime-based novel, In the Garden of Spite, I was ready for Camilla’s newest bloody story centering around a real family who committed terrible crimes.

Camilla is an amazing writer who does a fantastic job of weaving a suspenseful tale. As a fan of true crime, I was eager to get my hands on this book. Unlike Belle Gunness from In the Garden of Spite, who I knew of from true crime podcasts, I had no idea who the Bender family was so I especially liked learning about them. I want to know what Camilla is going to write about next, I can’t wait!

PLOT:

A sinister novel based on the real Bloody Benders, a family of serial killers in the old Westbound by butchery and obscured by the shadows of American history.

The winds shift nervously on the Kansas plain whispering of travelers lost and buried, whispering of witches. Something dark and twisted has taken root at the Bender Inn.

At first the townspeople of Cherryvale welcome the rising medium Kate Bender and her family. Kate’s messages from the Beyond give their tedious dreams hope and her mother’s potions cure their little ills—for a price. No one knows about their other business, the shortcut to a better life. And why shouldn’t their family prosper? They’re careful. It’s only from those who are marked, those who travel alone and can easily disappear, that the Benders demand their pound of flesh.

But even a gifted seer like Kate can make a misstep. Now as the secrets festering beneath the soil of the family orchard threaten to bring them all to ruin, the Benders must sharpen their craft—or vanish themselves.

This will be published on November 22.

I’m so sure I’ll suffer from recurring nightmares after reading Bloody Benders’ absolutely bloody, vicious, bleak, dark story! Camilla Bruce did a magnificent job, giving voices of this monstrous family. With realistic narrations of Kate and Elvira, she help us to witness true nature of evil and darkness!

Third narrator is Hanson: young townie, helping Benders to build their house, forming a bond with them is such an innocent voice, created by the author ( I wish he may have been a real person who became a journalist to write about the true crime story of the family) the only person who starts doubting about true intentions of the family.

In the history, Benders were a family of serial killers who lived and operated in Labette County, Kansas, United States, from May 1871 to December 1872. The family consisted of John Bender, his wife Elvira and their son John Jr. and daughter Kate.

This book based on the real events, opening with Benders’ moving to Cherryvale after getting away from crimes they’ve committed.

Kate Bender: young, cunning, attractive daughter of the family is a cold blooded killer, hardly restraining the need to shed more blood. Her mother Elvira help her daughter get away with murder because she raised her as a criminal, forcing her pickpocketing, flirting with old men at the young age. They left their old life and she trusts her daughter pay her back by gaslighting people with her fake ability to talk with the spirits.

William Bender, step father of Kate thinks her daughter can talk with the angels. The same angels can whisper to her for informing the loaded visitors who stay their house which turned into an inn! As angels keeps whispering his son John and William attack those wealthy visitors to steal their money and dear Kate grabs her knife to finish the business her family started.

John, step brother is also obsessed with Kate and he doesn’t hesitate to get his hands dirty if he sees any man getting too close to Kate’s vicinity.

The Bloody Benders are villains, cold blooded killers, human stains, grifters, liars, manipulators!

So what happened to the Benders? Did they get caught? Did they pay for their sins? Or did Kate use for spiritual connections to get away from the murders?

The gripping, engaging storytelling skills of Camilla Bruce allure you from the beginning! You cannot put the book down and the fictional parts were developed perfectly.

I highly recommend it to true crime,historical thriller lovers!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

I originally was going to give this book three stars, but only because it just was not my cup of tea. I strive to be fair with books, so I think that it deserves four stars for being a quality work.

This book is based off of the Bender family, who were serial killers in the late 1800's, and this book is along the lines of "In Cold Blood" in the sense that it is a fictional telling of an historic crime. Overall, it was a well written book, but it was a bit too slow paced for my liking.