Tag: horror

Book review – American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century by Maureen Callahan

Caidyn's review (1)

American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century

5/5

CW: murder/serial murder, psychopathy, kidnapping, rape, suicide, and dismemberment

I read this book in less than 12 hours. Started it while I was waiting on a friend to show up for brunch, kept reading it once I got home, and then just didn’t stop. It’s one of those insane stories that you forget about and then, when you’re reminded with all the details, you can’t help but wonder how you forgot it.

I’ve definitely been exposed to this case through true crime podcasts before this book came out. When I read the description, I only had to read that it was about a kidnapping of a girl from a coffee kiosk in Alaska and that was it. I knew exactly what story this was and what the content would be.

But I entirely forgot the case.

It was like reading it all over again because the story starts at the beginning. Israel Keyes kidnaps Samantha Koenig. Everyone thinks that she’s being held captive for a ransom since that’s how he made it look. Finally, he’s caught and apprehended. Except, it turns out that there are more victims. He operated entirely underground and no one knew that there was even a serial killer. He had kill kits. He studied books written by FBI agents who worked on apprehending serial killers.

The first two parts of this book is about Samantha’s kidnapping. They find out that Israel Keyes is more than what he says he is, along with finding Samantha’s body. (Which was horrific and sad to read.) The second half of the book, or the last two parts, is the detectives and agents working on this case seeing that there was more to the story. We learn about Keyes’ upbringing — completely off the grid and very religious, along with him showing what are considered hallmarks of psychopathy — and his other crimes.

The crazy thing about this case is that literally no one knew that it was going on. People went missing and there was nothing about it. Keyes stated that he operated for around fourteen years. In that time, we have no clue how many he killed. He said he never killed kids, but was that always how it was or did that just start after having a kid? The crazy thing is that he was so meticulous and studied the craft so much that we really don’t know how many victims he had.

And we’ll never know because he took his life.

This book was honestly amazing. I’m still sitting here in shock about this case while I’m writing this up. And we’ll never know more. I would be really surprised if agents were ever able to figure out how many he killed. There are three confirmed kills that he spoke about before his suicide, but there could be so many more across America.

If you like true crime, I highly recommend this book. It’s absolutely chilling to read and it made me realize just how little I actually knew about this case.

Talk to me!
What true crime do you love?
Are you familiar with this case?

by Categories: caidynTags: , , , , , 5 Comments

Book review – The Passengers by John Marrs

Caidyn's review (1)

The Passengers

I received an ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review!

4.5/5

CW: inter-partner violence, chronic illness, racism, death, pedophilia, mention of human trafficking, adultery, bigamy, blackmailing, childbirth, and graphic violence/descriptions of gore

Like with The One, this is fit for a Black Mirror episode. It was unputdownable (it’s now a word). I didn’t want to stop reading it because I was so, so intrigued by it.

The story is set in a future Britain. After Brexit. After everything else. Britain has passed laws to help integrate driverless cars into their world. Of course, they have to do inquests for deaths caused by these cars. That’s where Libby comes in. Libby is very against driverless cars, yet she’s chosen to be a part of the jury to decide whether the car or person harmed by the car is at fault for the crash. Most of these cases come out in favor of the car making the right choice.

However, everything goes wrong.

Eight people get into their driverless cars to get on with their day. Six of them are Shabana, Claire, Sam and Heid, Jude, and Sofia. Shabana is fleeing her abusive husband. Claire is pregnant. Sam and Heidi are a married couple, each going on with their day. Jude is down and out. And Sofia is an aging actress.

The Hacker takes over their cars, which have already been set to explode at some point. He breaks into the jury room, putting the people in it as jury for whether these people will survive the day. Because they — and the rest of the world — have to choose which one of the eight will live while the other seven will crash into each other. If anyone tries to stop the cars or gets in the way at all, the car will explode, killing the person inside and injuring other people.

It’s fucking madness.

I read this book so quickly. The thrills kept coming. It’s split into two parts. I loved Parts 1 and 2. God, they moved fast and the hits didn’t stop coming. I tried to cover everything in my content warnings, but I have a feeling that I missed something because of just how quickly the story went. I feel like some of the hits were lackluster just because there were harder hitting things. I know that the Hacker chose these people for his specific purpose, but it still was a lot and it kept veering towards too much.

I wish I could talk more about the plot, honestly. But you have to take my word for it that it moves at an insane rate for about 80% of the book. It was nonstop and I couldn’t put it down for the first two parts.

The next two? Eh.

While the first two parts were imaginative and insane, the ending was weak. I think it honestly could have ended at the second part and it would have left me wanting more rather than it dragging on for 20%. There were multiple “twists” that didn’t work. I just kept wanting it to end because it had gone too far. The story kept going even though it had stopped being interesting.

And that made it all fall flat. I sincerely think it could have ended around 80%. Sure, I might be writing about how the ending left me wanting more, but when I got more I wasn’t happy about it.

Still, a fantastic book. Just with a lackluster ending.

Talk to me!
What was the last thriller that you loved?
Have you read this? Are you planning to?

by Categories: caidynTags: , , , , , , , 6 Comments

Book review – If You See Her by Ania Ahlborn

Caidyn's review (1)

If You See Her

4.5/5

CW: suicide, unhealthy obsession, and alcoholism

Ania Ahlborn does it again! Yet again, she’s managed to impress me with her knowledge of how to write a story and how to keep me hooked. I don’t know if any other author could have made this such a taut, intense tale.

Really, this is a story of obsession. It was so interesting to read it and how it transferred. As usual, she toes the line of what is supernatural and what is psychosis. She does that in nearly all of her books and I just love how deftly she manages it. It never dips too much one way or the other. I never feel like she’s leading me somewhere but is guiding me to make my own decision at the end about what really happened.

The story follows Jesse. In high school, he and his friends, Casey and Reed, decided to go to an old, abandoned house after a night of drinking. Three friends go in, two, Jesse and Casey, come out. Reed commits suicide in the house with them there. Or, did he?

After that, Jesse becomes an alcoholic and, eventually, gets his life together again. He’s a teacher with a wife — his high school sweetheart — and one child. All until Casey comes around. Casey moved on with his life and became a YouTube star. But, now he wants to go back to the house for whatever reason.

And then the cycle starts up again.

Really, this is a story of obsession. It was so interesting to read it and how it transferred. As usual, she toes the line of what is supernatural and what is psychosis. She does that in nearly all of her books and I just love how deftly she manages it. It never dips too much one way or the other. I never feel like she’s leading me somewhere but is guiding me to make my own decision at the end about what really happened.

I felt like the characters and their motivations were very real and believable. I loved watching the descent into madness and the struggle to resurface from it. It was really wonderful to read.

The book was very slow. It felt like it could have made a good short story but it was expanded into something larger. At times, it dragged. I think the backstory of the ghosts and the flashbacks didn’t work as well for me as I wanted it to, but it was still interesting to read as it was all central to what Jesse goes through.

As usual, Ahlborn crafted a very interesting and compelling story. It was just a joy to read. I nearly devoured it all in one sitting, so that says a lot!

Talk to me!
Have you read this? Are you planning on it?
Who’s your favorite horror author?

by Categories: caidynTags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

First Lines Friday

First Lines Friday

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

Continue reading →

by Categories: caidynTags: , , , , , 3 Comments