Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

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

32 reviews

eldritch_flower's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

4.0

 Yet another true crime book. I promise I read more than just true crime. But this was just too good to pass up.

This book covers the crimes, manhunt, and interviews of Israel Keyes, an American Serial Killer and potential terrorist. Keyes toyed with his interviewers. And some of the interviewers were incompetent(and that's the NICEST) way I can put it.

This was an interesting read on a lesser known serial killer 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

chloenfp's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

2.0

Really unpleasant, poorly written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury

crosberg's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.5

This is an intensely well researched and very in depth discussion of a single man and the crimes he did (or claims to have committed).  Definitely not easy listening, but the threads the Callahan draws between white supremacy and prepper culture and what brought Keyes to commit such violence is the start of a very important conversation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, and Torture

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Torture, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Racism, and Sexism

jennifer_bush_73's review

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

mangofandango's review

dark tense medium-paced

3.0

This was an extremely scary and compelling read, and it was also frustrating. It read like fiction, the subject matter was horrific and terrifying, and while it didn't feel particularly...carefully presented in terms of respecting the victims, I didn't find it uncaring or exploitative. But I did find it a bit hollow. It's kind of an encyclopedic presentation - detailed and thorough, but reading more like a detailed overview than the writing of someone who engaged emotionally or personally with the work. I can definitely see that as an intentional choice, but it didn't work very well for me. I also found the repeated, ongoing, proud and toxic mishandling of the case by the police and prosecutors enraging, and while the book did acknowledge this repeatedly, I wished for a more scathing indictment of their failures. I guess I just wanted something different than what this was. I wanted a Michelle McNamara style presentation, and that's not what this book is trying to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, Gun violence, Suicide, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Child death, and Animal cruelty

This is definitely full of potentially triggering or upsetting information and that may extend beyond the tags I chose.

redwrapped's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

3.75

This is simultaneously a book the world needed and also could have (and probably should have) waited for. The world should be able to read a detailed account about Israel Keyes but also, the information in his case is still largely withheld, so many angles and points in the book fall to either 1) "We don't know for sure, but ..." or 2) complete speculation with almost nothing to prove or disprove their theory; it's just there.

The lack of evidence/withheld evidence that hasn't been released or unsealed from a deposition is not the author's fault. This is still an interesting and detailed book that's been as strongly researched as possible from the large amount that is missing/unavailable.

I'm not surprised there are so many gaps within the investigation as there is, between the Alaskan State Police and the FBI bungling and mismanaging the case at every turn. I have an idea that a large reason why so many recordings and other documentary evidence has been withheld is because it paints their agencies in a negative light. Just the more "flattering" evidence shows that they were often negligent and ignorant of how/where they were investigating and how they should have approached Keyes to wrangle more information from him.

Between the agencies and the prosecution, the case became a territorial pissing contest instead of focusing on the goal: determining how many people had been murdered and finding out if anyone else was in imminent danger (I say this because Keyes' FBI profile was later updated with the "terrorism" category).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

clawrence345's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

dorian_gray's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Grief, Death, Child death, Body horror, and Murder

ghoul_girl's review

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.75

This book is one of the most frightening things I’ve ever read. I’d definitely recommend for any true crime fan! 
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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse and Suicide