Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Medical content'
The Ghosts That Haunt Me: Memories of a Homicide Detective by Steve Ryan
2 reviews
daniellekat's review
challenging
dark
1.0
I am so angry about this book I don't know that I am going to be able to write clearly. There are 6 cases in this book and EVERY one of them is about the murder of a woman (one case also includes 2 male victims, but was still centred around the female victim; it was a jealous lover situation). 4 of the cases were about girls under 18 years old. It took the author until page 160 to name a single woman expert (police, crown attorney, medical professional, paramedic, etc.) by name, however he had no problem listing every male police partner, medical professional, etc that entered the story. This might have been saved if the author had an ounce of self awareness, but after the violence against women and misogyny, the general "police are heroes and are all great at their jobs" tone was too much. Finally the inclusion of a author's note just acknowledging literally anything (violence against women and girls, permission of used names, why these cases stuck with him...did he notice that they were all women and half were children?) would have helped BIG TIME.
* Also I know police work is an intense and necessary field and I don't want to discredit that work, but have some awareness.
* Also I know police work is an intense and necessary field and I don't want to discredit that work, but have some awareness.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, and Suicide
Moderate: Self harm, Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Pedophilia
Minor: Sexual assault
thesaltiestlibrarian's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Welp. This is the saturation point. I’ve hit my limit for the moment in true crime.
RTC
***
HUGE thank you to NetGalley for generously providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Those of you who follow my reviews will know that I have been an avid true crime fan since I was 14, nearly 20 years now. (Hoo-boy, that's not a great feeling typed out.) At first you get into it because there's something lurid and fascinating about the ways evil people kill their victims--and if you try to deny it, you'll understand when you're older. Hopefully most people evolve past the pearl clutching and end up looking for the stories of justice sought and wrought. (The cold case chapter here really scratched that itch for me.)
My personal journey went from pearl clutching, to trying to understand, to fascination with psychology, to the evolution of forensics, to terror (thank you, Michelle McNamara), to actively seeking out the people fighting back the tide. As casual consumers, it's easy to forget that there's lingering sadness and horror behind every case that comes to light. That's evident and frank in THE GHOSTS THAT HAUNT ME.
Steve Ryan always wanted to be a cop, and when he made it to homicide, his passion for helping people and bringing justice to killers came to the forefront. It's easy to assume that because he's a retired homicide detective and was at one point an eager cadet that Ryan's storytelling capabilities would be null or drab. But he writes with vivid imagery and deep empathy for the people that suffer from these crimes. It's that empathy that made this book worth the at times very difficult read. Let me reiterate that true crime is like a second skin for me. I've many times considered entering the field somehow, especially in the fields of forensics or psychology. Being an ME would be like...my Wednesday-Addams-heart's desire.
I had to take breaks from this book.
Every case Ryan covers is particularly brutal in some manner, not always physical. And every case is easy to find reported in the local Toronto papers. (I checked, just to make sure he wasn't exaggerating.) As you go further and further with him on his career journey, you as a reader become acquainted with the fatigue that seeps through every turn of phrase. You shouldn't read THE GHOSTS THAT HAUNT ME while in a bad emotional place; however, I suggest putting it on your TBR and getting to it when you have a sunny day and feel relatively stable enough to handle what essentially amounts to peeling back the curtain on humanity's pits and caves.
And just for clarification: with all the unrest and, well, issues within police departments that have made their way to the front of our minds, rest assured that Steve Ryan's book does not read like the average policeman's. I'm well aware that these problems have always existed, that they're simply REALLY bad and glaring at the moment. All of that and more was why I opened my little Kindle file in great trepidation. The amount of empathy and deep-seated hope that wrongs can be righted are what pulled me through the final pages of THE GHOSTS THAT HAUNT ME. The pessimist inside my head could win, or I could hold on to the hope that things can change. That battle is constant, but maybe we could band together and march toward a brighter horizon.
RTC
***
HUGE thank you to NetGalley for generously providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Those of you who follow my reviews will know that I have been an avid true crime fan since I was 14, nearly 20 years now. (Hoo-boy, that's not a great feeling typed out.) At first you get into it because there's something lurid and fascinating about the ways evil people kill their victims--and if you try to deny it, you'll understand when you're older. Hopefully most people evolve past the pearl clutching and end up looking for the stories of justice sought and wrought. (The cold case chapter here really scratched that itch for me.)
My personal journey went from pearl clutching, to trying to understand, to fascination with psychology, to the evolution of forensics, to terror (thank you, Michelle McNamara), to actively seeking out the people fighting back the tide. As casual consumers, it's easy to forget that there's lingering sadness and horror behind every case that comes to light. That's evident and frank in THE GHOSTS THAT HAUNT ME.
Steve Ryan always wanted to be a cop, and when he made it to homicide, his passion for helping people and bringing justice to killers came to the forefront. It's easy to assume that because he's a retired homicide detective and was at one point an eager cadet that Ryan's storytelling capabilities would be null or drab. But he writes with vivid imagery and deep empathy for the people that suffer from these crimes. It's that empathy that made this book worth the at times very difficult read. Let me reiterate that true crime is like a second skin for me. I've many times considered entering the field somehow, especially in the fields of forensics or psychology. Being an ME would be like...my Wednesday-Addams-heart's desire.
I had to take breaks from this book.
Every case Ryan covers is particularly brutal in some manner, not always physical. And every case is easy to find reported in the local Toronto papers. (I checked, just to make sure he wasn't exaggerating.) As you go further and further with him on his career journey, you as a reader become acquainted with the fatigue that seeps through every turn of phrase. You shouldn't read THE GHOSTS THAT HAUNT ME while in a bad emotional place; however, I suggest putting it on your TBR and getting to it when you have a sunny day and feel relatively stable enough to handle what essentially amounts to peeling back the curtain on humanity's pits and caves.
And just for clarification: with all the unrest and, well, issues within police departments that have made their way to the front of our minds, rest assured that Steve Ryan's book does not read like the average policeman's. I'm well aware that these problems have always existed, that they're simply REALLY bad and glaring at the moment. All of that and more was why I opened my little Kindle file in great trepidation. The amount of empathy and deep-seated hope that wrongs can be righted are what pulled me through the final pages of THE GHOSTS THAT HAUNT ME. The pessimist inside my head could win, or I could hold on to the hope that things can change. That battle is constant, but maybe we could band together and march toward a brighter horizon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Blood, Grief, Medical content, Bullying, Child death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Addiction
More...