samwescott 's review for:

Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession by Rachel Monroe

5.0

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I have a lot of reservations about true crime media and its consumption, so this sort of thoughtful meta-commentary was exactly the sort of thing I like best. It’s self-aware and seems genuinely curious about why these sorts of stories are so addictive to our brains and weirdly soothing to our souls. The division into the four archetypal roles of Detective, Victim, Defender, and Killer was a really interesting structural device and really lent itself to the musings about how dwelling in crime and violence tickles our psychology in certain ways. Overall, I found the book to be really engaging and just the right balance of critically analytic and sympathetic.