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confettimama's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
bookhoarder76's review against another edition
3.0
This is one that I'm going to be on the opposite side of I think. I didn't love this one like so many of my friends. I found it to be way too repetitive at times. I was also hoping for at least a third of the book to be about how she came about being found out and possibly their trial etc. It just didn't really wow me at all.
mmadamba's review against another edition
2.0
Although the subject matter is horrifying, I have always been drawn to the psychology of evil. By FAR the best (and most well-written) part of this book is the afterword by Dr. Katherine Ramsland. She explains the why and how lives like this are lived for so long, undetected and--even under suspicion--unchallenged.
Gregg Olsen's telling of this saga, while thorough and unflinchingly brutal, was annoyingly repetitive and somewhat circuitous. It seemed like he had enough information to have strung together a more linear timeline than the one he laid out.
While doubling back on the story can be helpful and sometimes necessary for laying out concurrent events, he frequently repeated his own sentences or passages word for word, as if we wouldn't remember that we just read them 3 chapters ago. Perhaps this could be blamed on poor editing.
Whatever the cause, I felt it distracted a bit from the tension. A story like this is frustrating to read, just from an emotional standpoint--you read the abuse these poor people suffered and you're practically screaming inside your head for them to save themselves--and that frustration was not helped by such lackluster writing.
Despite the book's faults, it was a relief to read that these young women made it through these houses of horror to a place of relative normalcy. And I would commend Mr. Olsen for giving them--and others, through them--a voice in this story, as it is only theirs to tell.
Gregg Olsen's telling of this saga, while thorough and unflinchingly brutal, was annoyingly repetitive and somewhat circuitous. It seemed like he had enough information to have strung together a more linear timeline than the one he laid out.
While doubling back on the story can be helpful and sometimes necessary for laying out concurrent events, he frequently repeated his own sentences or passages word for word, as if we wouldn't remember that we just read them 3 chapters ago. Perhaps this could be blamed on poor editing.
Whatever the cause, I felt it distracted a bit from the tension. A story like this is frustrating to read, just from an emotional standpoint--you read the abuse these poor people suffered and you're practically screaming inside your head for them to save themselves--and that frustration was not helped by such lackluster writing.
Despite the book's faults, it was a relief to read that these young women made it through these houses of horror to a place of relative normalcy. And I would commend Mr. Olsen for giving them--and others, through them--a voice in this story, as it is only theirs to tell.
mcpingeton's review against another edition
4.0
Disturbing but well written
Very disturbing content, but very well written. I wish the afterward was at the beginning of the book because it explains some of the psychology of Michelle.
Very disturbing content, but very well written. I wish the afterward was at the beginning of the book because it explains some of the psychology of Michelle.
samanthan0724's review against another edition
2.0
My rating is a reflection of the poor writing. And no reflection on the victims or their trauma