Reviews

Behold the Monster: Confronting America's Most Prolific Serial Killer by Jillian Lauren

kindlebabe's review against another edition

4.0

Book : Behold the Monster
Confronting America's Most Prolific Serial Killer
Author : Jillian Lauren
Pub Date : 18 Jul 2023

Thanks so much NetGalley for an advance read in exchange for this review!

Let’s start with the cover! This cover is very eye catching. I love a good cover that is going to start off the books journey.

I am a massive true crime junkie and when I was given the opportunity to read and review this book about the #1 most prolific serial killer I was anxious. I knew baseline information about Samuel Little but this book outlined the details and went into the lives & stories further of the cares and victims. Thank you to the author for taking so much care and time to piecing it all together for this.

This book will be sought after by true crime and crime junkies throughout and I feel as though this book should be on every crime junkies shelf. These women’s stories need to be heard as hard as they are to hear. They heartbreaking and I always sit and wonder if he gave up all of his victims. I am happy to see that hundreds of cases can be laid to rest and families have answers. This man was a very terrible man.

Solid four stars from me! This book is a must read for those who follow true crime and unsolved crime alike.

kindlebabe's review

4.0

Book : Behold the Monster
Confronting America's Most Prolific Serial Killer
Author : Jillian Lauren

Thanks so much NetGalley for an advance read in exchange for this review!

Let’s start with the cover! This cover is very eye catching. I love a good cover that is going to start off the books journey.

I am a massive true crime junkie and when I was given the opportunity to read and review this book about the #1 most prolific serial killer I was anxious. I knew baseline information about Samuel Little but this book outlined the details and went into the lives & stories further of the cares and victims. Thank you to the author for taking so much care and time to piecing it all together for this.

This book will be sought after by true crime and crime junkies throughout and I feel as though this book should be on every crime junkies shelf. These women’s stories need to be heard as hard as they are to hear. They heartbreaking and I always sit and wonder if he gave up all of his victims. I am happy to see that hundreds of cases can be laid to rest and families have answers. This man was a very terrible man.

Solid four stars from me! This book is a must read for those who follow true crime and unsolved crime alike.

basil_plant's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

a read about someone i’d never heard about before, samuel little. informative and told in a unique mix between nonfiction and fiction recreations of what might have played out in the lead up to the death of some of his victims. 

felt like it jumped around a bit and i didn’t always feel eager to pick it up as a result. i also felt like it centered the author quite a bit, which was a weird vibe to add to the book. 

cosmicmamallama's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative

3.5

hollyrebeccasmith's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

Yet how did this murderer kill for over thirty years unsuspected despite multiple arrests for other crimes? Lauren dives into Little's entire life from birth to death, not shying away from the brutality of his egregious crimes--so readers be aware that sexual assault, strangulation, and murder are all discussed.

While Lauren takes a narrative swing in writing portions of Little's story like a novel, it will not be a hit with all readers. Although it adds dimension to the story, it can feel as though readers are witnessing the final awful moments of Little's victims in a voyeuristic manner. Additionally, there are some outdated terms, phrasing, and thoughts used throughout that detract from the arc that Lauren is trying to tell.

Ultimately, Behold the Monster shares a vital story in an imperfect manner. 

adleekay's review

dark informative medium-paced

2.0

superstormnora's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

book_lizard42's review

3.0

It's good, I guess. I gave it 3 stars because I felt like the author was a little TOO into the killer. That part disturbed me. It bounced around in time, and there were times where lists of locations and victims were repeated. Like, three times. As an audiobook, that was sincerely annoying.

booksadoodle's review

4.0

Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer.....names we are familiar with, even if we don't know all the details. However, told from the author's account of her interviews and research over several years, she brings to life the world of Samuel Little, the most prolific serial killer in US history, in horrifying detail. As a fan of some true crime stories, I found this subject interesting, and the story was so much more horrifying and shocking than I ever anticipated. Confessing to about 93 suspected victims (some near my home region!) and over half of those confirmed by FBI documentation is astounding, mesmerizing, and incredibly disturbing. Jillian Lauren did a fabulous job of bringing this little-known gruesome story to light. Definitely one to check out for fans of true crime. Thank you to Jillian Lauren, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this e-arc.

sam556889's review against another edition

5.0

I cannot rave enough about this book which does an amazing job of taking the reader through the brutal history of the serial killer Samuel Little. If you are not a usual reader of nonfiction but often read thrillers I suggest this book. I had to remind myself multiple times that this book contained a very real history and real people. If you find this book at your local bookstores pick it up, it took me through many emotions and deserves for people to read it.