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Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'
American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century by Maureen Callahan
10 reviews
kbennettj's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, Death, Gun violence, Stalking, Child death, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Animal death, Confinement, Torture, Rape, and Sexual violence
sarahhsullyy's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Kidnapping, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Torture, Murder, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Grief
Minor: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Abortion, Drug abuse, Mass/school shootings, Vomit, and Drug use
staceyisbooked's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Racism, Self harm, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death, Child abuse, and Gore
james7634's review against another edition
3.75
2/3 book 4.5 stars
Last 1/3 2.75 stars
Summary : an 18 year old is kidnapped, ransomed, dismembered, sa’d and buried under the ice. Plot twist - the killer claims to have multitude of victims across the United States. Story follows the police fbi and Texas rangers invested in capturing the killer.
The last 1/3 is repetitive claims of brilliance by the killer who strings the police along re future confessions that never come.
What I liked - the first 2/3 are soooooo good. There is a good depiction of how agencies work and the limitations they have which leave cold cases piling up. There was a lot of genuine frustration and emotional investment when hearing the narcissistic criminal talk and when you hear about failed police work.
What I didn’t like:
Oh my the author is problematic.
Eurocentric, homophobic, Christian centered, and without journalistic integrity.
Author wrote a expose in 2012- I feel this was the expanded 2/3- then she tried writing about the resolution of this case but without the help of thr police (she had to sue for records and hired a PI to call out redacted names)
So she supposes, proposes, and makes suppositions based on transcripts of interviews.
Investigative journalism often requires the use of multiple sources and occasionally and journalists is not able to get as many sources as they want. That’s why books like a perfect storm and into thin air and into the wild have sections which are suppositions and the author proudly and transparently writes about how biased the source of information may be. She does not do this in this book.
The killer spoiler alert is not meticulous and is questionably a serial killer. It sounds like he was an extremely violent impulsive burglar kidnapper murderer rapist necrophiliac etc. but not a serial killer. He admired Ted Bundy and strung the police along for months with the promise of a future confession which never came
The police called this man a master criminal when in reality they were more incompetent than the killer. This is a man who was a serial bank robber kidnapper and rapist. Because he happen to travel to a different county he was able to commit multiple crimes for 12+ years
Are narcissistic and repetitive killer bragged about hurting people of all different types. But the author only felt it important to talk about the white ones. Consider that the killer had white supremacist routes and lived in a Native American population but the suspicious disappearances of the Native Americans were completely ignored. At one point the author says that two victims both white did not look like the normal murder victim because they were polite kind and respectable… ok?
Honestly this book was a four-star for me until we got to the last third. And I’m struggling to keep it objectively fair
It feels like there were two different authors to this book. The sensitivity she writes about the first victim compared to the tabloid pulp descriptions of cold cases which are presumed to be related to this guy is offputting
We are told this man is the master serial killer because he’s his victims have never been found and they’re all over. But a we don’t have evidence to these multiple victims outside of this blowhard bragging about the possibility of confessing to this possible crime and the authors intent for us to believe that criminals don’t lie especially when they are given special privileges so long as they confess something new
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Murder
kels24's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual violence, Self harm, Racism, Murder, Rape, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Child death, Child abuse, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Drug use
keeganrb's review against another edition
2.5
Graphic: Murder, Rape, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Child death, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Child abuse
emilygcotter's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Death, Child death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Pedophilia
ezraaa's review against another edition
Graphic: Murder, Rape, Child death, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent
clawrence345's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence
ghoul_girl's review
4.75
Callahan is an amazing writer and the way she tells the story and the research she did for this is astounding. Israel Keyes will haunt my every nightmare now.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Child abuse and Suicide