Behold the Monster

Confronting America's Most Prolific Serial Killer

By: Jillian Lauren

Narrated by: Nikki Zakocs

Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Jillian Lauren had no idea what she was getting into when she wrote her first letter to prolific serial killer Samuel Little. All she knew was her research had led her to believe he was good for far more murders than the three for which he had been convicted. While the two exchanged dozens of letters and embarked on hundreds of hours of interviews, Lauren gained the trust of a monster. After maintaining his innocence for decades, Little confessed to the murders of ninety-three women, often drawing his victims in haunting detail as he spoke. How could one man evade justice, manipulating the system for over four decades?

As the FBI, the DOJ, the LAPD, and countless law enforcement officials across the country worked to connect their cold cases with the confessions, Lauren's coverage of the investigations and obsession with Little's victims only escalated.

New York Times bestselling author and lead of the Starz docuseries Confronting a Serial Killer Jillian Lauren delivers the harrowing report of her unusual relationship with a psychopath. But this is more than a deep dive into the actions of Samuel Little. Lauren's riveting and emotional accounts reveal the women who were lost to cold files, giving Little's victims a chance to have their stories heard for the first time.

©2023 Jillian Lauren (P)2023 Tantor

Just okay

I was very interested to read this book, especially given the access the author had to little. However, I struggled to finish listening this book and overall found it very boring. The writing style was very stream of consciousness. Maybe it would be different if you read the book instead of listening to it but I found it hard to tell when she was switching point of view from herself, little or the victims. There were a lot a lists which were redundant. I understand if her goal was to try to remember the victims but by calling them by the name little gave them, it didn’t feel like they were being remembered for who they were. It felt like the book really struggled between presenting the victims as people and presenting little’s versions of events. I also did not care to hear how he described his penis so much, it was very unnecessary.

Misleading title...

The book's title is really misleading. Instead of "Behold the Monster: Confronting America's Most Prolific Serial Killer," it should be "Behold the Journalist: Her Experiences While Interviewing America's Most Prolific Serial Killer." Given the access Lauren had to Little, and how voluminous and heinous Little's crimes were, this should have been an interesting read. But it was a boring story about Lauren trying to do interviews with Little to write a book that would make her money (as Lauren claims in this book that she told Little). I'm also not sure where the "Confronting" was. Biting her tongue in order to keep getting a story seems like the opposite of confronting -- particularly given how Little apparently regarded Lauren given the end of the book (I won't spoil it here). In addition to the substance, I didn't like the writing style: if you consider this a work of art, any writing is fine because art is subjective; but if you consider this a nonfiction account of something, I think the writing is slightly worse than suboptimal.

I thought that Zakocs was a good narrator, but was a poor choice for this book. Mostly because almost all of the characters in the story (aside from Lauren) where either written in an attempt at African-American Vernacular English or otherwise from the south (including Texas). In fact, I applaud Zakocs for reading the words as written but not attempting to do a southern accent on top of the language the was written.

Terrible

I’m not sure how one can mess up something this intriguing, but somehow this book pulls it off. It is really bad.

The forward talks about the author’s editor telling her that she needed a hook or angle. That was really bad advise.

Not impressed

It would have been nice to hear you give the victims more time than you gave yourself.

A Crime Junkie's Dream

It feels as if I've held my breath for 2 years in anticipation. I pre-ordered "Behold the Monster" months ago, already being infatuated with @jillianlauren 's writing. I've read her book, "Everything You Ever Wanted" and fell in love with her writing style. ✍️

I already posess this wicked obsession with serial killers and after exploring other work she may have done,
I didcovered she had a documentary on STARZ called Confronting a Serial Killer. I thought, wow, me and this woman would be best friends. 🤣 Holy hell was my crime junkie heart in for it!!! this was THE best crime documentary I have ever seen. Samuel Little is the most prolific serial killer and has killed over 90 women over the last few decades. But, this documentary took telling a crime story to new heights as this man had formed an eerie love, if you will, for Jillian, unleashing his darkest secrets to her which helped law enforcement solve so many murders, putting identity to several women who were strangled by this evil man's hands. But, the toll this correspondence took on her is fascinatingly haunting.

I did more research on Jillian after watching this documentary and discovered she was, at the time, writing this book.
I have looked forward to this book release for 2 years...
I cannot imagine the tears that poured onto these pages, the torture she endured obtaining this information and then the agony it took to type out every single word inside this masterpiece.

Go purchase this book TODAY!!!! 📖 "Behold the Monster."

Excellent!

Well told and kept my interest the whole way through. I listened to this book in a 24 hour period. I did end up fast forwarding through the names and towns of the deceased, after the first 4-5 times they were mentioned in chapter after chapter. Otherwise, I highly recommend and look forward to more from this author.

Love her writing style

A very different perspective on a story I knew a lot about. love her writing, descriptions, thoughts and work. I loved the narrator. She was great!