Thank you to Netgallery and publisher for the ARC of this book!

I'm surprised this case wasn't talked about more. I had never heard anything about it (one of the reasons I requested it). But to have a murder or suspected murder go unsolved for decades in which most people already thought it had to do with the wife seems crazy to me.

The lives of Mike, Denise, Brian, and Kathy (4 best friends) was changed by sex, lies, and cheating. It was a little hard to get into (as I'm not religious or know much about the Baptist faith), but the author did a great job of giving background descriptions of their lives and faith.
These 4 friends seemed to have a great relationship/friendship with each other, until Denise and Brian acted on their feelings for one another. This led to even more lies and eventually Mike's murder. They were able to keep their secret for so long, until Denise wanted a divorce after marrying Brian. This changed the dynamic as Brian couldn't handle another divorce. But yet, the reason for the murder was because Denise thought divorce was too great of a sin. I find this ironic as I figured murder would be a bigger sin. Although she didn't murder Mike herself, she had plenty to do with it.
I was glad I read it, but believe Brian should have been charged also. Although he was granted immunity because he was already facing charges for kidnapping Denise, which was the turning point for him. I believe if he hadn't had a breakdown about the divorce they would have both gone to their graves with the secret of Mike's murder.

Interesting true crime that I was not familiar with but definitely reads more like a court transcript or textbook, didn't really grab my attention.

"Guilty Creatures" masterfully unravels the perplexing true crime tale of Mike and Denise Williams, once part of a seemingly unbreakable Baptist friendship. Brottman skillfully navigates the suspenseful events surrounding Mike's mysterious disappearance while duck hunting. The unexpected twist involving Brian and Denise's romance adds a layer of intrigue, sparking speculation about their involvement in Mike's fate. With a well-crafted narrative, the book keeps readers hooked until the shocking truth emerges many years later. Gripping and unimaginable, "Guilty Creatures" is a compelling exploration of betrayal, secrets, and the dark undercurrents beneath seemingly perfect Southern lives.

Im a huge true crime fan. So I was surprised I hadn't heard of this case before. It's a wild tale of betrayal, religions, adultery that ends in cold blooded murder.

This book was written so detailed, and the author clearly did a metric ton of research, it just lacked the flow of true crime that usually sucks me in. In my non-author opinion, it just read more like a prose-y textbook than true crime nonfiction. I think others will really like it though! It definitely made me want to research the case more.

Thank you to Net Galley & the publisher for this arc!

Oh the things you’ll do for love, or well in this case, lust and religion. I enjoyed how we were given full knowledge of the suspects day to day lives. The author took the time to give us all the details so we knew them genuinely as people and not solely judge them for their crimes. In some parts I felt the reading was a little dense and read off like a case study rather than a true crime story BUT it was still entertaining. There was plenty of well written drama to keep the pace and the pages turning!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. Guilty Creatures is one of the most well-written true crime books I've read. The true life story of a murder, religion and sex is sordid to the very core but written factually and with consideration given to the family of the victim. Mike Williams was a well-loved, hard-working Baptist man, married to Denise, who he had been dating since high school. His friend, Brian Winchester was married to Kathy and the two couples were long term friends. Denise and Brian were unhappy in their marriages and devise a plan to murder Mike and they succeed. However it takes authorities 17 years to find the truth and convict the two deceitful, "Christian" lovers, who married after Mike's gruesome death. I live in Florida and had heard of the case over the years. The belief was that Mike drowned on a fishing trip and that his body was consumed by alligators in Lake Seminole. Nothing could be further from the truth but the unsavory truth is both shocking and sad. A great read for those who enjoy true crime and for those who follow "Florida Man" stories. As the old saying goes "Truth is stranger than fiction."

I'm always fascinated by the crimes committed by "normal" everyday people. They're a stark contrast to serial offenders, but somehow less comprehensible. Like, if you're gonna do something as drastic as murder, just go for it & commit all the way? When there are elements of a criminal's story that hit close to home, morbid curiosity comes out to play, and that's where Guilty Creatures excels. I was raised in the Southern Evangelical world (and have since left) so Denise and Brian's Baptist beliefs felt very familiar. While I don't think I would jump from divorce to murder as the next-best option, I have seen the stigma of divorce carry social consequences that can rip your community away in a millisecond. Mikita did an excellent job of driving home the fragility of relationships forged in a religious community that isolates you so that when you leave or are cast out, you are unnervingly alone, which heavily influenced how Brian and Denise's story played out,

Mikita's style of storytelling draws you in like she's telling you a secret only you two know, keeping the pages turning even when it's past your bedtime and you're nodding off. The way she weaves together the various narratives that make up Guilty Creatures is wonderfully done, revealing bits of information in moments where they'll have the strongest impact rather than telling the story chronologically, and I feel like that's an element most books in the True Crime genre often miss. The way Guilty Creatures is written feels a bit like Michelle McNamara's I'll Be Gone in the Dark, minus the memoir elements that tied Michelle to the Golden State Killer.

I will definitely be adding Mikita's other books to my TBR.

I requested this book because I don’t remember hearing about this particular case. It was an interesting case and the author did good with it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books, Atria/One Signal Publishers for this ARC. ~I was given this book and made no commitments to leave my opinions, favorable or otherwise~

I chose this book for a few reasons. 1. I am a Floridian myself and I had not heard of this story before reading the synopsis. 2. I love watching murder mysteries with my mom. It’s what made me want to go to school to be a Crime Scene Tech.

As far as the book and how it was written, I loved the writing style and how descriptive it is. My issue was that some of the dates in the timeline were kind of confusing. I think some of the years might be wrong based on how the events flowed. Other than that, great quick read!

Sex, drugs, and murder - What else could you possibly want out of a true crime story?

I really enjoyed Guilty Creatures. It was interesting that the story unfolded like a play, with the various acts, but I also felt like it had a very “Netflix murder documentary” vibe, which is right up my alley. Mikita Brottman did a good job of describing how the story unfolded and I had no trouble picturing how they THOUGHT the murder played out, as well as the way it actually did. Just goes to show you that those who claim to devote themselves to the Lord may not be as righteous and holy as they make themselves seem…

Many thanks to Atria Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a copy of this book to read, I enjoyed it and I would rate it a solid 3/5 stars.

How can a suburban father and husband commit murder and live with himself? If this question intrigues you, so will "Guilty Creatures." I had heard only a little about this case -- it's been on Dateline and other true crime shows. Brottman's coverage delves deep into the psyche of the main perpetrator, and reveals how the murder -- instead of making his big dreams come true -- destroyed his life. Recommended for any true crime afficionado interested in the pyschology behind making the decision to end another person's life -- in this case, a best friend.

Despite being a pretty active true crime junkie, I had not heard of the case that brought about the book. And I'm honestly glad I got to enjoy the writing without anticipating the turns and twists. Brottman is a wonderful writer, her background in literature makes for excellent stage setting, and keeps the story going. This case (the disappearance of Mike Williams while on a hunting trip on Lake Seminole) is not necessarily a whodunnit, nor a howdunnit, but this allows Brottman to bring us inside two troubled marriages, to examine closely how competing societal claims and norms can, in the right person, bring about truly awful consequences.

I generally prefer my true crime to have a little bit more of the clue gathering, procedural elements, and there were a few times I had to check to see if the author had made the weird decision to write about herself in the third person (but no, the reporter is a separate person). However, it is sometimes lovely to trade the detective story for the domestic thriller, and this book delivers on that front thouroughly.

True Crime is one of my favorite genres to read and I've read hundreds. I don't recall this story so I was excited about reading it. It was very well researched but the way it's written just didn't work for me. It reads more like an article rather than a book. It seems that the author just compiled information from many different sources and compiled them into book form. It also lacked pictures which is almost a requirement for any great True Crime book. 2.5 stars rounded up. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Two couples in Florida make up a close knit quartet of best friends, until one husband vanishes while out duck hunting, sparking a long running mystery that will remain unsolved for more than a decade.

In the annals of true crime, murder as the solution to an affair is a common occurrence, mundane even when stacked up the ranks of serial killers and mass murderers who generally get top billing. But even a 'mundane' crime is a story in itself, and the people they victimize deserve just as much attention as those that generally grab headlines. In this book, Brottman works to bring that well-deserved attention to the murder of Mike Williams.

This is a quick read, but an engrossing one. Brottman does a good job bringing the socially stifling world of the subjects to life, grounding us in their lives and the path to Mike's murder. She treats everyone with an even hand, making it easy to visualize them as they are - that is, the kind of people that we all know. By not 'othering' the murderers, the case only seems more immediate and tragic.

What's really astonishing about the case though is the aftermath. It was fascinating to see Brian and Denise continue to carry on with their lives as they slowly splinter under the weight of their consciences. I also liked that there was just enough supporting information to contextualize what happens between the pair and how they are treated in the media and by their community without pulling focus away from the story itself.

Well written but so very difficult to read. I am sure there are many who will appreciate this book more than I did.

Thank you so much to the publisher, NetGalley, and the Author for opportunity to read this ARC. Review to follow!

Synopsis (From Netgalley, the provider of the book to review)
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From the critically acclaimed author of the “enthralling” (San Francisco Book Review) An Unexplained Death, a breathless true crime tale of sex, religion, and murder in the deep South.

Mike and Denise Williams had a tight-knit, seemingly unbreakable bond with childhood friends, Brian and Kathy Winchester. The two couples were devout, hardworking Baptists who lived perfect, quintessentially Southern lives. Their friendship seemed ironclad. That is, until December 16, 2000, when Denise’s husband Mike disappeared while duck hunting on Lake Seminole.

After Mike's body was never found, everyone assumed that he had drowned in a tragic accident, his body eaten by alligators. But things took an unexpected turn when, within five years of Mike’s disappearance, Brian Winchester divorced his wife and married Denise. Their surprising romance set tongues talking. People began wondering how long they had been a couple, and whether they had anything to do with Mike’s death. It took another twelve years for the truth to come out—and when it did, it was unimaginable.

Now, the full, shocking story is revealed by Mikita Brottman, acclaimed true crime writer and “one of today’s finest practitioners of nonfiction” (The New York Times Book Review). Through tenacious research and clear-eyed prose, she probes the psychology of a couple who killed and explores how it feels to live for eighteen years with murder on the soul.

A fascinating page-turner of modern noir, Guilty Creatures is destined to become an instant true crime classic.

I love me some true crime… as long as it is not a podcast…I have no use for podcasts as they are too much like talk radio. I had never even heard of this couple before and their true-life story was fascinating to read. Highly recommended, especially to book clubs who would inhale this and talk for hours about this deep and darkly twisted couple.

#shortbutsweetreviews

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have never read true crime before - I am normally a documentary type of girl - so this book was the first of that style that I have read. It did not disappoint! The storyline is developed with the backstory of the crime, the suspects, and the families and goes on to talk about how the crime is solved and everything that happens in between and afterwards. I had never heard of this crime before I read the synopsis of this book and I am now going to find all the documentaries and episodes on this case that I can to see it physically instead of in my own brain. It is well written and keeps you wanting to know more about the case.

This book may have turned me to a new genre and I again thank Netgalley and the publisher for opening me up to that.

"Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida" by Mikita Brottman is a true crime tale that unfolds in the deep South, exploring the intertwined themes of sex, religion, and murder.

The narrative revolves around two seemingly unbreakable couples, Mike and Denise Williams, and their childhood friends, Brian and Kathy Winchester. Devout and hardworking Baptists, they led perfect Southern lives. However, on December 16, 2000, the tight-knit community was shaken when Mike Williams disappeared while duck hunting on Lake Seminole.

Initially assumed to be a tragic accident with the presumption of drowning, the case takes an unexpected turn within five years of Mike's disappearance. Brian Winchester, who was married to Kathy, divorces her and marries Denise Williams. The sudden romance raises suspicions, leading people to question the circumstances surrounding Mike's death.

The shocking truth takes twelve years to surface, and Mikita Brottman, an acclaimed true crime writer, unveils the full story. Through meticulous research and clear prose, Brottman delves into the psychology of a couple involved in murder, exploring the complexities of living for eighteen years with the burden of guilt.

"Guilty Creatures" is described as a fascinating page-turner of modern noir and is expected to become an instant true crime classic.