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Cruel Sacrifice

Aphrodite Jones · back to the book

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24 books with the same feel

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True CrimeTortureInvestigative JournalismDark
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Columbine

Dave Cullen · 417 pages

On April 20, 1999, two boys left an indelible stamp on the American psyche. Their goal was simple: to blow up their school, Oklahoma-City style, and to leave "a lasting impression on the world." Their bombs failed, but the ensuing shooting defined a new era of school violence-irrevocably branding every subsequent shooting "another Columbine." When we think of Columbine, we think of the Trench Coat

True CrimeTeenagersInvestigative JournalismDark
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Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

Jon Krakauer · 399 pages

Jon Krakauer's literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. In UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN, he shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders. At the core of his book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they receive

True CrimeTortureInvestigative JournalismDark
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Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders

Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry · 676 pages

Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial, Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider's position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the twentieth century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four of his followers. What motivated Manson in his seemingly mindless selection of victims, and what was his hold over the young women who obeyed his orders? H

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismTortureViolent
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In Cold Blood

Truman Capote · 343 pages

On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues.

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismDarkViolent
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True CrimeTeenagersInvestigative JournalismViolent
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The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town

John Grisham · 360 pages

John Grisham's first work of nonfiction, an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet. In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A's, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismDarkSmall Town
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Pretty Little Killers: The Truth Behind the Savage Murder of Skylar Neese

Daleen Berry, Geoffrey C. Fuller · 347 pages

"Including over 100 pages of new material, [this book] shares the latest theories and answers the questions that have left many people baffled [about the Skylar Neese murder]. After killer Shelia Eddy pled guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison and Rachel Shoaf was sentenced to thirty years for second degree murder, family, friends, investigators, and other key sources r

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismTeenagersNonfiction
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True CrimeInvestigative JournalismDarkViolent
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The Lost Girls: The True Story of the Cleveland Abductions and the Incredible Rescue of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus

John Glatt · 352 pages

"The Lost Girls tells the truly amazing story of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, who were kidnapped, imprisoned, and repeatedly raped and beaten in a Cleveland house for over a decade by Ariel Castro, and their amazing escape in May 2013, which made headlines all over the world. The book has an exclusive interview and photographs of Ariel Castro's secret fiance who spent many roman

True CrimeTortureInvestigative JournalismNonfiction
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Small Sacrifices: A True Story Of Passion And Murder

Ann Rule · 494 pages

the mesmerizing story of Diane Downs, a beautiful, brillient, sociopath, who commits the ultimate evil when she shoots her three children to gain the love of a married man. Anne Rule's insight into the personality of Downs is as horrifying as it is disturbing. She never confesses to shooting her children, but her conduct at the trial is sickening. She taps her foot and smiles while listening to "H

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismDarkViolent
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True CrimeInvestigative JournalismDarkViolent
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The Man With The Candy: The Story of The Houston Mass Murders

Jack Olsen · 256 pages

The mass murder of almost thirty young boys in Houston may well have been the most heinous crime of the century. How could such a series of murders go undetected for almost three years before being exposed? *The Man with the Candy* is a brilliant investigative journalist's story of the crime and the answer to that question.

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismDarkViolent
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In Broad Daylight: A Murder in Skidmore, Missouri

Harry N. MacLean · 428 pages

True story of a man who terrorized residents of Skidmore, MO and got away with crimes for years until he was finally shot down "in broad daylight" in the middle of town. Despite numerous witnesses, no one would talk and no one was ever charged with killing him.

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismSmall TownViolent
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True CrimeInvestigative JournalismDarkViolent
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The Family: The Story of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion

Ed Sanders · 415 pages

"Ed Sanders gained access to every material witness to the Tate-LaBianca murders. He corresponded with Manson and visited the family many times in their quarters at the Spahn Ranch, and in Inyo County and Death Valley, their desert hideaways. He interviewed members of motorcycle gangs whose paths crossed that of Manson and his family. He covered the trial for the Los Angeles Free Press and develo

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismViolentNonfiction
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One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway

Asne Seierstad · 530 pages

"On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring Breivik detonated a bomb outside the Norwegian prime minister's office in central Oslo, killing eight people. He then proceeded to a youth camp on the wooded island of Utøya, where he killed sixty-nine more, most of them teenage members of the country's governing Labour Party. In [this book], the journalist Åsne Seierstad tells the story of this terrible day and i

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismDarkViolent
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Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original "Psycho"

Harold Schechter · 274 pages

From “America’s principal chronicler of its greatest psychopathic killers” (*The Boston Book Review*) comes the definitive account of Ed Gein, a mild-mannered Wisconsin farmhand who stunned an unsuspecting nation—and redefined the meaning of the word “psycho.” The year was 1957. The place was an ordinary farmhouse in America’s heartland, filled with extraordinary evidence of unthinkable depravity.

True CrimeSmall TownDarkViolent
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Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed

Patricia Cornwell · 387 pages

"Between August and November 1888, at least seven women were murdered in London's Whitechapel area. The gruesome nature of their deaths caused panic and fear in the East End for months, and gave rise to the sobriquet that was to become shorthand for a serial killer - Jack the Ripper.". "For over a hundred years the murders have remained among the world's greatest unsolved crimes, and a wealth o

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismNonfictionDark
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True CrimeTortureDarkNonfiction
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True CrimeTortureViolentNonfiction
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The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective

Kate Summerscale · 384 pages

In June of 1860 three-year-old Saville Kent was found at the bottom of an outdoor privy with his throat slit. The crime horrified all England and led to a national obsession with detection, ironically destroying, in the process, the career of perhaps the greatest detective in the land, Jonathan Whicher of Scotland Yard. Whicher quickly believed the unbelievable--that someone within the family was

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismSmall TownNonfiction
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While They Slept: An Inquiry Into the Murder of a Family

Kathryn Harrison · 290 pages

From the bestselling author of The Kiss comes a riveting account of true crime-- the murder of a family in a small Midwestern town-- and the gripping exploration of its haunting aftermath. The Gilley family murders ended a lifetime of physical and mental abuse suffered by Billy and Jody at the hands of their parents. And it required each of the two survivors-- one a convicted murderer, the other s

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismNonfictionDark
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The Monster of Florence

Douglas Preston, Mario Spezi · 345 pages

Marshal Guarnaccia feels out of his league when he is assigned to help track down a serial killer, especially when he assigned to work under Simonetti, a man so dedicated to achieving a conviction that he is blinded to the consequences.

True CrimeInvestigative JournalismDarkNonfiction

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