Thank you NetGalley and Pegagus Crime for accepting my request to read and review With the Devil's Help.
This is the first book I've read by Neal Wooten. And I was hooked from the beginning. His writing style and sense of taking something traumatic and violent and making it more lighthearted without being flippant is well done. The alternating timelines tied in well together.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first book I've read by Neal Wooten. And I was hooked from the beginning. His writing style and sense of taking something traumatic and violent and making it more lighthearted without being flippant is well done. The alternating timelines tied in well together.

This was an interesting book, but wow. Just wow. I had to take some breaks while reading through this, and I can usually read through a serial killer spree with not a thought. There was a lot of abuse in this book, and the rough and tumble growing up that the author describes is pretty vivid.

Decent overall, and the author is a good storyteller, but a few warnings should be given for this one!

Mental Illness does not care if you are rich or poor, It doesn't care if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth or if you were born on the wrong side of the tracks. It will sinks its claws in anyone and everyone. With the Devil's Help take place in the Deep South when prohibition was still prevalent and where if you were white, you were 'alright'. This means that the Wooten's of Sand Mountain, AL were alright. They lived in a shack in the woods with no running water, no insulation, and (most of the time) no electricity. But they were 'alright'. But is being isolated the best thing?

Neal Wooten recounts his childhood living in the backcountry of Alabama and the indoctrination he endured from his family and community. This story does have multiple POV. Every family has a history and that history tends to lead to self destructive generational cycles. This novel shows how pain can transcend generations.

Thank you NetGalley and Pegasus Crime for accepting my request to read and review With the Devil's Help.

Thank you NetGalley and Pegagus Crime for accepting my request to read and review With the Devil's Help.

Published: 09/06/22

With this being an Adult book, genre is debatable -- biography, memoir, and/or true crime. As a nonfiction book a star rating seems impertinent; therefore, I am giving my standard three stars. I implore the reader contemplating this to carefully look at the synopsis. There is a lot packed into this book. It is in no way a novel or to be taken lightly. This is a book, not a story: a book with generational familial multiplayer and types of pain.

At the conclusion, I was left once again wondering why the average human being proudly says -- we will not let history repeat itself, we have to learn, while aiding in repeating history and doing nothing proactively to prevent abuse.

In my opinion, this was written for the author.

I liked this book!! It had me interested from the start. I honestly didn’t want to put it down!! I finished it in just 5 hours. I was disappointed when i finished it because I wanted to keep reading this book.

I found With the Devil's Help: A True Story of Poverty, Mental Illness, and Murder to be a fascinating read. I enjoyed reading Neal Wooten's story.
Four stars.

This story was truly gut wrenching. I don’t think I can put into words how terrible I feel for the author with this upbringing. As a teacher, reading stories of abuse hits me in such a deep place. I felt a lot of emotions while reading, nausea, sadness, disgust, brief spurts of joy when the writer experienced true care and love by others for short blips. When I got to the end I can’t say I was happily surprised, I still felt angry at the grandfather and angry he was able to live out the rest of his life comfortably. I think this story is important, but the important part for me is that even if there is a mental illness people are held accountable for their actions. Thank you to the author for sharing your story, something so important for others to hear despite how incredibly uncomfortable it may be to listen.

Thank you for providing me the opportunity to review "With the Devil's Help". I am appreciative and leave my sincerity review voluntarily.

Wow, I started out reading this, and was drawn into their lives, hardships, problems, pains, and just was in shock and awe at this family. I do not like expanded details of a books contexts before I read it, so I will not do that here. I will say that it should be a must read for High School students. Perhaps it could help someone along the way of life? I sooo admire this author, and I will read more of his publications .

It is amazing how different one life can be from another. What one of us grows up thinking is 100% normal can leave another person in total shock and awe. And not always in a good way.
With the Devil's Help is just that. Neal lives a life entangled in shady deals and men who can get you whatever you need in a place where nothing really is. But plenty lurks where you least expect it.
As you read along with Neal's narration we feel the layers being pulled back as new light gets shed on old tales. What really happened? What story is bigger than life? AND what kind of life did grandpa lead anyway?
If you love any of these: crime, memoirs, southern lit, family secrets-fiction or nonfiction-then this will keep you reading. Only negative thing, I feel it was a little muddled at the end, as if the author didn't know how to tell us the story is over.

I grabbed this book bc it was categorized as true crime. I wouldn't agree with that, but it didn't deter me from reading and enjoying. The writing was truthful and heartfelt.

Such a great book! Highly recommend it to anyone and I look forward to reading more by this author! A must read!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.
This was an interesting combination of memoir and true crime. It gives a lot of insight and information on crime in Alabama and the affects it had on others.
Not the best true crime book I’ve read but it held my interest and was not a bad read.

I literally had to stop while reading this book to double check that it really was non-fiction! The author truly has a lot of interesting family history. Some of it was sad, some funny, and some absolutely unbelievable. I enjoyed both the audio and print versions. 4⭐️

A spell-binding book, honest and gutsy. Living on Sand Mountain, Alabama, isolated and poor, Neal Wooten grew up with a brutal father and a mysterious uncle, with men in black cars following the family whenever they go out. With an unexpected twist at the end, this is a book well worth the read.

I was a bit disappointed in this memoir. I think my disappointment relates to the expectation I had from the title and cover. It seems like it is being marketed as a murder story, perhaps capitalizing on the culture's current desire for true crime narratives. It really read more as a memoir of dysfunctional family life, and worked much better as that. I'd recommend a different marketing strategy than what I perceived.

This is part memoir and true crime. I started reading it and couldn’t put it away. I was equally drawn in by Neal’s ability to make the reader want to continue. Through the brutality Wooten is able to make the reader empathize and want to see him succeed despite all that he’s gone through with his family dynamics.

I enjoyed this read, but can’t help but feel that either I or my Kindle missed part of it. I was still confused at the end, so I may have to try a re-read to get the full story this time.

This was a well written book about the author's family history. Was it my favorite book? No, but it was a quality read overall.