By the River's Edge

A True Story of Identity and Serial Murder

De: Gregg Olsen

Narrado por: Karen Peakes

The decades-long manhunt for a serial killer takes a stunning turn in a haunting and harrowing true crime shocker by Gregg Olsen, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of If You Tell.

In 1990 in Washington state, the bodies of Yolanda Sapp, Nickie Lowe, and Kathy Brisbois were found on the banks of the Spokane River. They were part of a close-knit alliance of sex workers whose oath to protect each other was, in the end, hopeless. For twenty-two years their brutal murders went unsolved.

In 2012, a DNA cold hit pointed to Douglas Perry. A repeat assault offender, Douglas was currently incarcerated in Carswell, Texas. But there was a twist: The facility was for female prisoners. The man authorities hunted for decades was now Donna Perry. Her gender reassignment not only helped to mask the evil deeds of the past, it ended a life of childhood traumas and a pent-up rage unleashed on nearly thirty victims, according to Donna herself. Through total reinvention, she believed she’d finally slayed the monster within.

By the River’s Edge is the astonishing true story of an elusive serial killer, an escape plan like no other, and the women who lived and died on the fringes of the Lilac City for whom justice was at long last served.

©2026 by Gregg Olsen. (P)2026 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

How well the author wrote about a tricky subject.

Enjoyed listening while I worked
Speaker was easy to understand and told the story well.

It was very different

I felt like there was a lot of going in circles, cool story line very different but backtracking , still recommend

Karen Peakes’ excellent as always performance!

I appreciated the thorough research and presentation of the results we have come to count on from all of Gregg’s true crime novels!

Well made narrative

The book was very thorough/ detailed. Certainly a complex topic that could have played out bias undertone, but did not. Reader did a good job distinguishing voices of the characters.

The Interview Re-enactment Wow!

I’m from Spokane so I found this incredibly interesting when locations were given. Most of which still exist in 2026. I’ve heard of this case but had no idea how complicated it was. I love the way the victims were portrayed with such humanity and respect. And while childhood abuse isn’t an excuse for one’s grown up actions, it was certainly explained well in this book. I was surprisingly intrigued with this story more than I expected. I powered through this in three days because I couldn’t stop listening. Very well done!