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heyheycharly 's review for:
This was an interesting read, and kept my focus long enough to finish it (not easy to do in a pandemic). I finished listening to the podcast COLD a few months ago, and wanted to learn more about Susan and the Powell family so I picked this up. I will say that I think you learn far more from the podcast than you do from this book (most of the info in the book I already learned from the podcast), and the authors really sensationalize things at certain points. There is an obvious bias throughout the book, which is fine but just something you should know in case you're looking for a more clinical approach to the story. It's such a sad story, and you're not supposed to say so but it is good that most of the Powell's are dead. They were an evil family (with the exception of Jennifer) and it's pretty safe to say that they all suffered from some serious mental illnesses. Susan just happened to get caught up with Josh and his horrible family due to being young, naive, and mormon. Listen to the podcast first, then read the book. Also, one downside is the book was published in 2015 and since then Josh's father, Steve, has also died so that detail isn't included in the book.
Edit: I just wanted to add my armchair idea of what I think happened to Susan. I think Josh planned her death (cancelling his daycare check before Susan even went missing). He made her dinner, something he never did, and poisoned her. I don't think it was enough to kill her, likely just to incapacitate her. Once she was unable to fight back, he bludgeoned her to death with something- likely a quick hit to the head and perhaps suffocating her if that didn't completely kill her (it was his first time bludgeoning someone, but not his last). The drops of blood are from that hit. Maybe she bled more profusely or relieved herself upon her death, which explains the drying carpet and loveseat. Remember-- Josh is lazy. He is not going to cut her up into pieces or do anything that requires a lot of work. He wants as little work as possible. After she was dead, he left her body somewhere on her way to work, hidden enough so it would look like an accident. But he forgot simple details (remember, however clever he may seem, he was also really dumb), like leaving her purse at home and the house locked from the inside. So once everyone notices she's gone, he realizes he done fucked up. So he calls his brother Mike. The police confiscate his van, his kids are with Jennifer, so he takes the rental car, puts Susan in there, and drives halfway to meet Mike in Oregon. Mike takes Susan's body (which is why his car later smells of decomposition to the police dogs), then drives to the family property in Oregon and buries her somewhere on that 100+ acres. That explains Josh's 800 mile rental car trip. When Mike finds out police have his car and know about the property in Oregon, he panics and kills himself. I don't think Steve ever knew anything. I think he is too much of a loudmouth to be able to keep anything to himself. And Josh may have had quite a bit of loyalty to his dad for who knows why, but I also think he was disgusted by his dad's sexual obsession with Susan (I think sex with Susan grossed Josh out, or seeing her as sexual grossed him out anyway. It's possible he had all kinds of other sexual ideas/desires but Susan was not part of that) and he had no plans of "giving" Susan to his dad or anything like that. I feel like the title of the book is misleading. Josh wasn't an "If I can't have you, no one will" type of person. Josh eventually had no feelings whatsoever to Susan. No love, but no hate either. No jealousy. He literally could not have cared less if she was sleeping with half the town. He "nothing-ed" her. He only wanted her as someone to raise his kids and bring home money. Once she no longer wanted to do that, he had no use for her and decided to dispose of her because she was more trouble than she was worth.
Edit: I just wanted to add my armchair idea of what I think happened to Susan. I think Josh planned her death (cancelling his daycare check before Susan even went missing). He made her dinner, something he never did, and poisoned her. I don't think it was enough to kill her, likely just to incapacitate her. Once she was unable to fight back, he bludgeoned her to death with something- likely a quick hit to the head and perhaps suffocating her if that didn't completely kill her (it was his first time bludgeoning someone, but not his last). The drops of blood are from that hit. Maybe she bled more profusely or relieved herself upon her death, which explains the drying carpet and loveseat. Remember-- Josh is lazy. He is not going to cut her up into pieces or do anything that requires a lot of work. He wants as little work as possible. After she was dead, he left her body somewhere on her way to work, hidden enough so it would look like an accident. But he forgot simple details (remember, however clever he may seem, he was also really dumb), like leaving her purse at home and the house locked from the inside. So once everyone notices she's gone, he realizes he done fucked up. So he calls his brother Mike. The police confiscate his van, his kids are with Jennifer, so he takes the rental car, puts Susan in there, and drives halfway to meet Mike in Oregon. Mike takes Susan's body (which is why his car later smells of decomposition to the police dogs), then drives to the family property in Oregon and buries her somewhere on that 100+ acres. That explains Josh's 800 mile rental car trip. When Mike finds out police have his car and know about the property in Oregon, he panics and kills himself. I don't think Steve ever knew anything. I think he is too much of a loudmouth to be able to keep anything to himself. And Josh may have had quite a bit of loyalty to his dad for who knows why, but I also think he was disgusted by his dad's sexual obsession with Susan (I think sex with Susan grossed Josh out, or seeing her as sexual grossed him out anyway. It's possible he had all kinds of other sexual ideas/desires but Susan was not part of that) and he had no plans of "giving" Susan to his dad or anything like that. I feel like the title of the book is misleading. Josh wasn't an "If I can't have you, no one will" type of person. Josh eventually had no feelings whatsoever to Susan. No love, but no hate either. No jealousy. He literally could not have cared less if she was sleeping with half the town. He "nothing-ed" her. He only wanted her as someone to raise his kids and bring home money. Once she no longer wanted to do that, he had no use for her and decided to dispose of her because she was more trouble than she was worth.