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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
TRUE CRIME was a brutal novella which, to my mind, was about the cycle of violence abuse engenders within families, and which then ripples outward to the world.
Being a novella, every single word counts and Ms. Kolesnik masterfully used those words to impact the reader.
Recommended to those readers who can stomach severe abuse, (though most appears off-screen), so to speak.
*I bought this novella with my hard earned cash.*
Being a novella, every single word counts and Ms. Kolesnik masterfully used those words to impact the reader.
Recommended to those readers who can stomach severe abuse, (though most appears off-screen), so to speak.
*I bought this novella with my hard earned cash.*
True Crime is the name of a murder magazine that a girl named Suzy has become fascinated with. It’s also the name of the deeply disturbing and dark book I just finished reading. From the very first chapter, we sense something is terribly off with Suzy. Her home life is riddled with sexual and physical abuse at the hands of her mother. Her older brother, Lim, is her only parental figure that shows her any sort of love.
Throughout the book we follow Suzy in the first person POV and we get to hear her thoughts and emotions as her and Lim take off on a road trip during which several sinister occurrences take place. The lingering question that follows us is how much of Suzy and Lim’s sociopathic behavior is a product of their environment? Or maybe they were born that way? Do they enjoy the awful things they do, or are so they damaged that hurting others is all they can do to feel alive? The POV gives us a front row seat into a complicated human being with a sick mind, but also grants us glimpses of the humanity that lingers deep within the darkness of her psyche.
True Crime is an extremely twisted tale based in a realistic scenario, but is also a study in human nature and how destruction of the soul by a lifetime of abuse can affect the lives of people beyond the victims.
Perhaps this is where the cover art came from. This story would be right at home within the pages of the True Crime magazine that Suzy herself adores, making the whole thing pretty damn meta. That’s where the genius of the author shines bright. I highly recommend this book and will read everything Kolesnik writes!
Throughout the book we follow Suzy in the first person POV and we get to hear her thoughts and emotions as her and Lim take off on a road trip during which several sinister occurrences take place. The lingering question that follows us is how much of Suzy and Lim’s sociopathic behavior is a product of their environment? Or maybe they were born that way? Do they enjoy the awful things they do, or are so they damaged that hurting others is all they can do to feel alive? The POV gives us a front row seat into a complicated human being with a sick mind, but also grants us glimpses of the humanity that lingers deep within the darkness of her psyche.
True Crime is an extremely twisted tale based in a realistic scenario, but is also a study in human nature and how destruction of the soul by a lifetime of abuse can affect the lives of people beyond the victims.
Perhaps this is where the cover art came from. This story would be right at home within the pages of the True Crime magazine that Suzy herself adores, making the whole thing pretty damn meta. That’s where the genius of the author shines bright. I highly recommend this book and will read everything Kolesnik writes!
The cover for True Crime by Samantha Kolesnik grabbed me by the eyes and dragged me to Amazon, where I quickly purchased the book. I loved the pulpy, noir feel to the layout, and the contrast between showing the female form while also covering it under the white sheet set up an interesting conversation in my head regarding how we view the female form in contrast/comparison to how we view female victims of violent crimes. Furthermore, as an avid reader of the True Crime genre, I was excited to dive into the text while also supporting Kolesnik’s debut novel and continuing to cheer on and champion female horror writers.
As I look at my Kindle notes—which upon reviewing adds up to over 30 highlights—what I loved most about True Crime is how Kolesnik tackled issues of gender, trauma, sexuality, and religion. Some of my favorite quotes/passages are:
“I made myself as still as a dead girl.”
“I had a strange desire to see all of her. I wanted to see her vocal cords and how they danced as she spoke. I wanted to see how blackened her lungs were. I wanted to reach up between her legs and shake her innards around. She was beautiful.”
“And then I thought of my body, of all the soft and feminine parts. And I wanted to cut myself open, too. I wanted to cut myself and leave those parts to rot in the sink.”
I feel like choosing to present Suzy as a serial killer was already a powerful choice because while female serial killers certainly exist, it’s not something that gets talked about a lot, and if it does it’s always within the archetype of The Black Widow or The Angel of Death. Here, however, we see real cut-throat violence and rage up against disgust and stillness, and it’s absolutely horrifying because Suzy’s body and her ability to retain agency or autonomy over herself is always in question and/or up for grabs. She’s almost never safe—or has no concept or understanding of the word “safe”—and as a result, readers can literally feel and witness her psyche break, which speaks volumes to themes of dysmorphia and blossoming psychopathy. However, the moments that truly shine in this book are when Suzy questions the world and how it operates: how does one define good and evil? Are there layers to loyalty? Do things like redemption and forgiveness truly exist? At what point are we responsible for our actions? Does a dead woman have more freedom than a living one? How does trauma shape who we are and do we have a say in ultimately shaping what rises from those ashes?
Truly, this is some chilling stuff, folks.
Something else I want to talk about is how this book confronts contemporary issues through horror, which I’m always a big advocate for because I think our genre gives us a platform for us to write and for readers to talk about difficult issues in a way that both provides some distance while at the same time brings us closer to the root of the problem in maybe a more accessible way because we’re theoretically talking about fiction rather than reality. For instance, there’s this recurrence in the text surrounding the unwritten rule that women should help other women, and the phrase there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t support other women comes to mind. This is something that Suzy really struggles with because she doesn’t understand how something that’s never been applied to her existence can be--or should be--a rule, and as a female whose main source of trauma exists around her mother, it’s fascinating to see her navigate her emotions around female bonding and trust. This can also be witnessed in her relationship to Alice, whose name she takes later on in the book, and is brought up time and time again when she’s confronted with seeing the female body as anything other than a disgusting collection of flesh or as something that traps, confines, and further exploits women in the first place.
Now this book was intense, and it was intense in ways that challenged me, that pulled me out of my comfort zone, and that sent my stomach into a twisting matted ball of tangled knots. After working in the horror genre for nearly a decade, I like to think that I have a strong stomach, but this book put some things in perspective, and yeah, it turns out I don’t. For instance, I’m not particularly great with writing that tackles animal violence (like, I can’t leave my house in the morning without kissing my dog and telling him what time I’ll be home so he doesn’t worry) and I don’t handle crimes about/surrounding pregnancy in the horror genre particularly well. Does that mean these issues were handled poorly within the book? No. They just hit me in the feels harder than some of the other material throughout the novel, and after thinking about it and processing it for a week or so, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. In fact, Kolesnik’s writing reminds me a lot of Jack Ketchum’s, and his work is one of the reasons I decided to get involved in this industry in the first place. Specifically, both The Girl Next Door and The Lost are coming to mind here, and those stories buried themselves inside of me and stayed there for years.
In fact, they’re still there now.
I suspect Kolesnik’s True Crime will remain next to them, too.
I give this book 4 out of 5 body bags.
As I look at my Kindle notes—which upon reviewing adds up to over 30 highlights—what I loved most about True Crime is how Kolesnik tackled issues of gender, trauma, sexuality, and religion. Some of my favorite quotes/passages are:
“I made myself as still as a dead girl.”
“I had a strange desire to see all of her. I wanted to see her vocal cords and how they danced as she spoke. I wanted to see how blackened her lungs were. I wanted to reach up between her legs and shake her innards around. She was beautiful.”
“And then I thought of my body, of all the soft and feminine parts. And I wanted to cut myself open, too. I wanted to cut myself and leave those parts to rot in the sink.”
I feel like choosing to present Suzy as a serial killer was already a powerful choice because while female serial killers certainly exist, it’s not something that gets talked about a lot, and if it does it’s always within the archetype of The Black Widow or The Angel of Death. Here, however, we see real cut-throat violence and rage up against disgust and stillness, and it’s absolutely horrifying because Suzy’s body and her ability to retain agency or autonomy over herself is always in question and/or up for grabs. She’s almost never safe—or has no concept or understanding of the word “safe”—and as a result, readers can literally feel and witness her psyche break, which speaks volumes to themes of dysmorphia and blossoming psychopathy. However, the moments that truly shine in this book are when Suzy questions the world and how it operates: how does one define good and evil? Are there layers to loyalty? Do things like redemption and forgiveness truly exist? At what point are we responsible for our actions? Does a dead woman have more freedom than a living one? How does trauma shape who we are and do we have a say in ultimately shaping what rises from those ashes?
Truly, this is some chilling stuff, folks.
Something else I want to talk about is how this book confronts contemporary issues through horror, which I’m always a big advocate for because I think our genre gives us a platform for us to write and for readers to talk about difficult issues in a way that both provides some distance while at the same time brings us closer to the root of the problem in maybe a more accessible way because we’re theoretically talking about fiction rather than reality. For instance, there’s this recurrence in the text surrounding the unwritten rule that women should help other women, and the phrase there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t support other women comes to mind. This is something that Suzy really struggles with because she doesn’t understand how something that’s never been applied to her existence can be--or should be--a rule, and as a female whose main source of trauma exists around her mother, it’s fascinating to see her navigate her emotions around female bonding and trust. This can also be witnessed in her relationship to Alice, whose name she takes later on in the book, and is brought up time and time again when she’s confronted with seeing the female body as anything other than a disgusting collection of flesh or as something that traps, confines, and further exploits women in the first place.
Now this book was intense, and it was intense in ways that challenged me, that pulled me out of my comfort zone, and that sent my stomach into a twisting matted ball of tangled knots. After working in the horror genre for nearly a decade, I like to think that I have a strong stomach, but this book put some things in perspective, and yeah, it turns out I don’t. For instance, I’m not particularly great with writing that tackles animal violence (like, I can’t leave my house in the morning without kissing my dog and telling him what time I’ll be home so he doesn’t worry) and I don’t handle crimes about/surrounding pregnancy in the horror genre particularly well. Does that mean these issues were handled poorly within the book? No. They just hit me in the feels harder than some of the other material throughout the novel, and after thinking about it and processing it for a week or so, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. In fact, Kolesnik’s writing reminds me a lot of Jack Ketchum’s, and his work is one of the reasons I decided to get involved in this industry in the first place. Specifically, both The Girl Next Door and The Lost are coming to mind here, and those stories buried themselves inside of me and stayed there for years.
In fact, they’re still there now.
I suspect Kolesnik’s True Crime will remain next to them, too.
I give this book 4 out of 5 body bags.
One of my favorite things about horror fiction is that it holds up a mirror to society -- it reflects back on us the ugly truth of a world we have created. It shows us, with no apologies, the worst things about life that we refuse to talk about, and it makes us see those moments with our eyes wide open. That is exactly what the author does here. Kolesnik's writing is impossible to look away from -- she lures you into places you do not want to be, and she does it so well. The charm of the writing style makes the brutality of the events in this book all the more horrifying. I appreciated the author's willingness to "go there" and create something as dark as what is happening every day in real life. The content is not easy to read, and I don't think this book is for everyone, but its ability to make us ask these questions about identity, villains, womanhood, trauma, and more is brilliantly captured in every word and moment.
Suzy is such a fascinating protagonist; the empathy I felt for her and Lim at first dwindled as the book went on, yet I knew I was watching a human monster do these things because she was the product of a perhaps even worse human monster. Either way, I could not look away and devoured the book in one day. It reminded me a little of Natural Born Killers and Jack Ketchum's Joyride -- but the author's writing and story is completely and uniquely her own. The cinematic writing is enchanting despite the brutal darkness.
**Slight spoiler** The only thing that really took me briefly out of the story was the quick time jump, yet the author made it work really well. I had a lot of questions about how Suzy ended up where she was and how she escaped so many consequences (did she quell her urge to kill for two years and then it came back?) But none of these questions took away from me devouring the book. Highly, highly recommend. I really cannot wait to see what this author does next!
Suzy is such a fascinating protagonist; the empathy I felt for her and Lim at first dwindled as the book went on, yet I knew I was watching a human monster do these things because she was the product of a perhaps even worse human monster. Either way, I could not look away and devoured the book in one day. It reminded me a little of Natural Born Killers and Jack Ketchum's Joyride -- but the author's writing and story is completely and uniquely her own. The cinematic writing is enchanting despite the brutal darkness.
**Slight spoiler** The only thing that really took me briefly out of the story was the quick time jump, yet the author made it work really well. I had a lot of questions about how Suzy ended up where she was and how she escaped so many consequences (did she quell her urge to kill for two years and then it came back?) But none of these questions took away from me devouring the book. Highly, highly recommend. I really cannot wait to see what this author does next!
Grey slush is what my mind feels like after reading TRUE CRIME.
This short little book packs a huge punch and it's brutal!!
The cover compares it to Jack Ketchum's Girl Next Door and yup, it's definitely that level of depraved.
If you're looking to read about one girl's descent into madness through abuse and murder and you don't mind disturbing content then you should read TRUE CRIME.
You get right inside the head of a murdery girl and her brother, who she can't help but love despite his crimes.
Thanks for sending me an early copy @sarukokole ! My mind won't ever be the same.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
This short little book packs a huge punch and it's brutal!!
The cover compares it to Jack Ketchum's Girl Next Door and yup, it's definitely that level of depraved.
If you're looking to read about one girl's descent into madness through abuse and murder and you don't mind disturbing content then you should read TRUE CRIME.
You get right inside the head of a murdery girl and her brother, who she can't help but love despite his crimes.
Thanks for sending me an early copy @sarukokole ! My mind won't ever be the same.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
True Crime is Samantha Kolesnik's debut novella, and I'm glad that I picked it up. It's grim, haunting, and well-written. I am not going to make a flat-out comparison to Jack Ketchum's writing in The Girl Next Door, but Samantha's has a similar quality in that she can write about terrible and horrendous things, but still have heart in the story.
Suzy, the main character, is kind of a monster, and yet I still felt for her. She is layered, and there's more to her than the being a murderer, and the bad things that have happened to her. She is still a likeable character (she loves dogs!). I appreciate the depth of this character within this short book.
There were a couple small aspects of the storyline that were a little confusing, and I wish they would have been more fleshed out, but it still worked out well enough as a complete story. As usual, I could have done without the animal stuff in this story, but I knew what I was getting into with this one.
This story is very bleak, and it's more on the side of extreme horror, so just be prepared if you read it. True Crime is a difficult and uncomfortable read, but it's very good, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Samantha Kolesnik does next.
CW - sexual abuse, animal cruelty, child abuse, termination of pregnancy, rape
Suzy, the main character, is kind of a monster, and yet I still felt for her. She is layered, and there's more to her than the being a murderer, and the bad things that have happened to her. She is still a likeable character (she loves dogs!). I appreciate the depth of this character within this short book.
There were a couple small aspects of the storyline that were a little confusing, and I wish they would have been more fleshed out, but it still worked out well enough as a complete story. As usual, I could have done without the animal stuff in this story, but I knew what I was getting into with this one.
This story is very bleak, and it's more on the side of extreme horror, so just be prepared if you read it. True Crime is a difficult and uncomfortable read, but it's very good, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Samantha Kolesnik does next.
CW - sexual abuse, animal cruelty, child abuse, termination of pregnancy, rape
Review from www.nightworms.com
"Well. So are you a friend, or are you a foe?"
"How can I know that yet? We've only just met."
Suzy and her brother, Lim, live with their abusive mother in Morris Grove. The events that take place in their home are absolutely horrific and evil. Their mother needs to be stopped, but none of the terrible people in their lives will stop her. So Suzy and Lim have to kill her and burn down the house. While they flee the murder scene, they leave a trail of bodies and destruction behind them.
True Crime is a riveting read, and I am blown away that this is a debut novel. Samantha Kolesnik and Grindhouse Press should be incredibly proud of what they have accomplished here. The weight of the subject matter is immense, there is physical, sexual, and mental abuse both described and alluded to. There's also murder, rape, severe mental illness, animal cruelty and more. True Crime is an uncomfortable book to read, but I could not stop reading it. There were moments when I wanted to set it down and take a break from it. However, I continued to read because the story is so well crafted and well written that despite all of that terrible stuff is happening, I still have this immense empathy for Suzy and Lim. It is astonishing that a new author could craft characters that do such terrible things but are not truly irredeemable. Suzy is a victim, she hates herself for it and for what she's done, but the reader, at least this one, felt nothing but compassion for her. The real horror in this book is not what Suzy and Lim do, but what made them do it in the first place.
I give this book a full 5 stars for it's bleak, brutal descriptions, totally broken and believable characters, emotional and accurate accounts of the aftermath of abuse. Please put me on the list of fans of Samantha Kolesnik; she is a talented writer to keep your eye on.
"Well. So are you a friend, or are you a foe?"
"How can I know that yet? We've only just met."
Suzy and her brother, Lim, live with their abusive mother in Morris Grove. The events that take place in their home are absolutely horrific and evil. Their mother needs to be stopped, but none of the terrible people in their lives will stop her. So Suzy and Lim have to kill her and burn down the house. While they flee the murder scene, they leave a trail of bodies and destruction behind them.
True Crime is a riveting read, and I am blown away that this is a debut novel. Samantha Kolesnik and Grindhouse Press should be incredibly proud of what they have accomplished here. The weight of the subject matter is immense, there is physical, sexual, and mental abuse both described and alluded to. There's also murder, rape, severe mental illness, animal cruelty and more. True Crime is an uncomfortable book to read, but I could not stop reading it. There were moments when I wanted to set it down and take a break from it. However, I continued to read because the story is so well crafted and well written that despite all of that terrible stuff is happening, I still have this immense empathy for Suzy and Lim. It is astonishing that a new author could craft characters that do such terrible things but are not truly irredeemable. Suzy is a victim, she hates herself for it and for what she's done, but the reader, at least this one, felt nothing but compassion for her. The real horror in this book is not what Suzy and Lim do, but what made them do it in the first place.
I give this book a full 5 stars for it's bleak, brutal descriptions, totally broken and believable characters, emotional and accurate accounts of the aftermath of abuse. Please put me on the list of fans of Samantha Kolesnik; she is a talented writer to keep your eye on.
Brutal and disturbing as hell. This one got under my skin, and will most assuredly be in my top 10 for the year.
I was a little afraid of this book once the comparisons to Ketchum’s THE GIRL NEXT DOOR and J.F. Gonzalez’s SURVIVOR were made. I’ll be honest here and admit that I barely made it through the first and the second was a struggle. There’s one scene in SURVIVOR that I would like scrubbed from my brain, please. But, in my opinion, for whatever that is worth, this book reminds me more of Lynda Barry’s CRUDDY [b:Cruddy|29015|Cruddy|Lynda Barry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442887874l/29015._SY75_.jpg|1170873], and that book was never a struggle. It is filled with devastation and horrible events but it doesn’t feel like it's ever too much to bear because the young protagonist is telling her story and she is carrying on. You feel as if you need to carry on because the character continues to do so. Such is TRUE CRIME. These two books would make excellent companion pieces if you’re up for the agony. You can blame me when you’re done. I’ll own this one, haha.
Much like Cruddy, this book digs deep and exceptionally well into a broken adolescent’s mind. The emotions and the thoughts are realistically raw as the child is forced to endure and carry on in a world that is unbearably cruel and abusive.
Suzy and her older brother have experienced nothing but horror in their young lives. Their mother is human trash and exposes them to sexual abuse their entire lives. It has changed their patterns of thinking and behavior, made them lose faith in everything. Helplessness and anger brew until they eventually boil over and events take a turn past the point of no return. Be warned, this book likely has all the triggers and it’s best knowing beforehand what you may be getting yourself into. I knew, so I was ready. There’s some cruel animal abuse here as well and it will break your heart. Who am I kidding? All of this will break your heart. There’s no sense sugar-coating it. Life can be cruel and it can ruin people and this book doesn’t flinch away from that ugly fact.
Despite all of the above, this book was incredibly readable even as it took me into some of the darkest corners of humanity. There is so much phrasing here that simply devastates with its truth.
“Every girl in the world was taught not to trust her gut.”
So yeah, It’s fucking bleak and it is full of sorrow and if you’re ready I think you should read it. True Crime is the author’s debut novel and I am terrified to read what she’ll release into the world in the future but I’ll be here for it because having my heart shattered is my most favorite thing and she has done an amazing job of doing just that with this piece of fiction.
Much like Cruddy, this book digs deep and exceptionally well into a broken adolescent’s mind. The emotions and the thoughts are realistically raw as the child is forced to endure and carry on in a world that is unbearably cruel and abusive.
Suzy and her older brother have experienced nothing but horror in their young lives. Their mother is human trash and exposes them to sexual abuse their entire lives. It has changed their patterns of thinking and behavior, made them lose faith in everything. Helplessness and anger brew until they eventually boil over and events take a turn past the point of no return. Be warned, this book likely has all the triggers and it’s best knowing beforehand what you may be getting yourself into. I knew, so I was ready. There’s some cruel animal abuse here as well and it will break your heart. Who am I kidding? All of this will break your heart. There’s no sense sugar-coating it. Life can be cruel and it can ruin people and this book doesn’t flinch away from that ugly fact.
Despite all of the above, this book was incredibly readable even as it took me into some of the darkest corners of humanity. There is so much phrasing here that simply devastates with its truth.
“Every girl in the world was taught not to trust her gut.”
So yeah, It’s fucking bleak and it is full of sorrow and if you’re ready I think you should read it. True Crime is the author’s debut novel and I am terrified to read what she’ll release into the world in the future but I’ll be here for it because having my heart shattered is my most favorite thing and she has done an amazing job of doing just that with this piece of fiction.
When Grindhouse released the cover for True Crime by Samantha Kolesnik, it caught the attention of just about everyone in the horror community. Seriously, it’s a thing of genius. Go ahead, scroll back up and look. I’ll wait.
No matter how good the cover, the blurb from Brian Keene, and the synopsis are leading you to believe this book is, it’s better.
True Crime focuses on Suzy, and sets the tone for what she’s been forced to live with up to this point by page 5. It’s not easy to wade through, and it doesn’t get any more palatable as it goes. At its’ heart, this book tells the story of a broken human being. Two kids that have been driven to become monsters, and never had a chance.
At various points throughout the story Suzy, and her brother Lim, make choices that don’t make sense to the reader. Rather than try to put myself in the mindset it might to take to make a similar choice, I accepted that the characters I was following had been dealt a broken moral compass by circumstances in life, and this was not something I’d be able to understand. Honestly, comprehending this concept broke my heart. Littered throughout the book, Samantha Kolesnik provides some creative and telling examples and demonstrations of Suzy’s lack of self worth.
At 143 pages, this is hypothetically a book you could read all the way through in one go, but it’s simply so unrelenting, I needed to put it down around the midway point and digest. It’s fascinating to observe how Kolesnik deals with opportunities for redemption and change, and the character study contained within these pages is of the highest degree of quality.
I anticipate, and sincerely hope, that True Crime is going to be one of the most well-received books of early 2020. If you have not yet pre-ordered a copy, do so immediately. Despite the fact that this book has yet to officially come out as of this writing, I am champing at the bit for the next offering from Samantha Kolesnik.
I received a copy of this book from the author for review consideration.
No matter how good the cover, the blurb from Brian Keene, and the synopsis are leading you to believe this book is, it’s better.
True Crime focuses on Suzy, and sets the tone for what she’s been forced to live with up to this point by page 5. It’s not easy to wade through, and it doesn’t get any more palatable as it goes. At its’ heart, this book tells the story of a broken human being. Two kids that have been driven to become monsters, and never had a chance.
At various points throughout the story Suzy, and her brother Lim, make choices that don’t make sense to the reader. Rather than try to put myself in the mindset it might to take to make a similar choice, I accepted that the characters I was following had been dealt a broken moral compass by circumstances in life, and this was not something I’d be able to understand. Honestly, comprehending this concept broke my heart. Littered throughout the book, Samantha Kolesnik provides some creative and telling examples and demonstrations of Suzy’s lack of self worth.
At 143 pages, this is hypothetically a book you could read all the way through in one go, but it’s simply so unrelenting, I needed to put it down around the midway point and digest. It’s fascinating to observe how Kolesnik deals with opportunities for redemption and change, and the character study contained within these pages is of the highest degree of quality.
I anticipate, and sincerely hope, that True Crime is going to be one of the most well-received books of early 2020. If you have not yet pre-ordered a copy, do so immediately. Despite the fact that this book has yet to officially come out as of this writing, I am champing at the bit for the next offering from Samantha Kolesnik.
I received a copy of this book from the author for review consideration.