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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
This is a fun “light” true crime book by the one and only Homicide Hunter. This book runs on the more numerous, sassy side which is nice considering most true crime is for shock value. Definitely a great read for anyone interested in true crime.
In his follow-up book, Joe Kenda, of Homicide Hunter fame, details several of his cases where he describes each one's trigger - sex, drugs, or money. Kenda goes into intricate detail on his case but also how police in his employ reacted to the murders and his family. Along with sharing the details of his career, he shares how his family felt about his sudden departures and his long nights on crime scenes.
I loved Joe Kenda reading his own book. He has a voice that is uniquely his and no one can tell his stories as he can. His straightforward demeanor comes across in every story and you know that this is precisely how he is in real life. In the last chapter of this book, Kenda explains his decision to end "Homicide Hunter" and then shares memories of working with the crew and it is clear that he has nothing but respect for those who helped him down the new journey he was on.
It is a well-known saying in my house that if one of us gets murdered, we need to ask Joe Kenda to come out of retirement to help solve our murder and this book only reaffirms that thought.
Joe Kenda is a brilliant cop and an equally brilliant human. His direct style, dry wit, and refusal to let asshole murderers get away with it makes everything he produces excellent. I love Homicide Hunter and American Detective, but the books reveal much more of Kenda's personality, which I appreciate.
I love Joe Kenda's TV show Homicide Hunter. It was very sad to hear there would only be 9 seasons. I picked up his last book and loved it, so of course I had to read this one as well. The audiobook was definitely worth it. It's narrated by Joe Kenda himself, and his dry humor makes the book really pop. All in all, very interesting and a great read, especially if you love Joe Kenda and true crime.
Joe Kenda is one of the most successful detectives in the country (with something like a 92% case solved success rate, if I remember right), but he also has to be one of the most amusing to listen to. I first got hooked on his style of storytelling from watching Investigation Discovery's Homicide Hunter, which ran for 9 seasons in which he recounted some of his worst and most puzzling cases. In that show, you very quickly will realize that this guy has one of the driest, wittiest senses of humor that you will ever encounter. At least once every episode, I found myself laughing, no matter how awful or confusing the case itself may have been.
(Touching on the show, though - if you are a fan, you'll likely know the outcome of most of the cases covered in this book. All of them that he goes over in this were cases he also featured on the show; I only realized this because I'm currently going through a rewatch of the show with my grandmother. Anyway, the book does go into more detail than the show does, purely because he's not being interrupted by the reenactment, other detectives, reporters, etc. So even if you've watched the show, this book is still worth picking up! Not only are the cases more detailed, but he's also far more uncensored in this book than he can be on a network television show.)
I know that most of this book was likely ghostwritten - his first one was as well, and in this one he acknowledges someone at the end who helped him tell his story, or something along those lines - but just based on how downright funny so much of this book is and how much insider information is included (like the fact that a lot of K9 unit commands are in German so that suspects can't easily call them off or confuse the dogs, and as someone with a German minor, this fascinates me and I want to know more), it definitely feels like he sat there with the person who wrote it all down just chatting and laughing about these old, puzzling cases and that a lot of it had to be verbatim to what he was saying aloud. Even if he didn't physically sit down and type out this book, it reads 100% in his voice.
Honestly, I'll read any books or anything that Kenda puts out. He's just such a true delight to listen to. I hope this second book isn't the last we get from him!
(Touching on the show, though - if you are a fan, you'll likely know the outcome of most of the cases covered in this book. All of them that he goes over in this were cases he also featured on the show; I only realized this because I'm currently going through a rewatch of the show with my grandmother. Anyway, the book does go into more detail than the show does, purely because he's not being interrupted by the reenactment, other detectives, reporters, etc. So even if you've watched the show, this book is still worth picking up! Not only are the cases more detailed, but he's also far more uncensored in this book than he can be on a network television show.)
I know that most of this book was likely ghostwritten - his first one was as well, and in this one he acknowledges someone at the end who helped him tell his story, or something along those lines - but just based on how downright funny so much of this book is and how much insider information is included (like the fact that a lot of K9 unit commands are in German so that suspects can't easily call them off or confuse the dogs, and as someone with a German minor, this fascinates me and I want to know more), it definitely feels like he sat there with the person who wrote it all down just chatting and laughing about these old, puzzling cases and that a lot of it had to be verbatim to what he was saying aloud. Even if he didn't physically sit down and type out this book, it reads 100% in his voice.
Honestly, I'll read any books or anything that Kenda puts out. He's just such a true delight to listen to. I hope this second book isn't the last we get from him!
Fans of Kenda's show, Homicide Hunter, will fall just as deeply in love, if not more, with his book. Kenda's voice was in my mind as I read. His ability to weave a story, no matter how disturbing, with an equal mixture of facts and humor left me wishing the book was twice as long.
Joe Kenda never disappoints! I watched the series that he had out, but this book was amazing and full of great information! I could not put it down! I had to read through this in one sitting!
What pushes someone to murder can be hard to ascertain sometimes, especially if that person is unknown to the victim. But Joe Kenda and his team never gave up, working each case to find a solution, and give answers to the families of the victim, giving them a little closure.
This book sure does not disappoint, and if you are a true crime fan, then you have to get this book. Lt. Kenda walks you through the investigation, and you get the frustrations, the good, the bad, and the outcome. I read through his first book and really enjoyed it, and this one did not disappoint either. The humor and the witty remarks are peppered through the story, making you feel as though you are sharing a drink with a good friend, listening to the case from their perspective, and picking their brain a bit more on the details and people involved.
Get this on your read list now, you won't regret it!
What pushes someone to murder can be hard to ascertain sometimes, especially if that person is unknown to the victim. But Joe Kenda and his team never gave up, working each case to find a solution, and give answers to the families of the victim, giving them a little closure.
This book sure does not disappoint, and if you are a true crime fan, then you have to get this book. Lt. Kenda walks you through the investigation, and you get the frustrations, the good, the bad, and the outcome. I read through his first book and really enjoyed it, and this one did not disappoint either. The humor and the witty remarks are peppered through the story, making you feel as though you are sharing a drink with a good friend, listening to the case from their perspective, and picking their brain a bit more on the details and people involved.
Get this on your read list now, you won't regret it!
dark
funny
informative
medium-paced
Kenda is at his corny best in this recollection, mostly cases featured on the Homicide Hunter TV series. Nothing particularly new or innovative and he tends to wander, but it's a quick read and true crime lovers will enjoy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Murder