Beautifully Cruel

By: M. William Phelps

Narrated by: Jonathan Yen

Iowa housewife Tracey Pittman Roberts seemed to have it all: natural beauty, three loving children, and a fairy-tale second marriage to a wealthy, handsome businessman. But beneath the happy façade was a woman who used lies, manipulation, sex, ugly allegations, blackmail - and even murder - to serve her own selfish ends.

On December 12, 2001, police rushed to Tracey's home after a shooting left her vulnerable young neighbor dead. Tracey claimed it was an act of self-defense. Nine gunshot wounds - and a decades-long trail of extortion, fabrication, fraud, and intimidation - said otherwise. Ten years after the crime, Tracey's case finally went to trial in an explosive courtroom showdown. In a searing exploration of the criminal mind, best-selling investigative journalist M. William Phelps traces the saga of a psychopath who hid in plain sight - until her wicked ways caught up with her.

©2017 M. William Phelps (P)2017 Tantor

Not bad...

The story was okay but the swearing by the author (not quotes of individuals) was unnecessary. Another pet peeve, he kept referring to himself as "me" as opposed to "this author". Additionally, the overwhelming amount of quotes was very annoying. It felt like every paragraph was 50% quotes.

The narrator did a great job with the material and I would definitely listen to more of his work.

Overall, not bad but definitely not good.

Difficult to follow

The narrator was difficult to follow. spoke too fast with an exaggerated pitch. I repeatedly restarted to get what was being said l.

Insane manipulation and murder

This woman is out of control and relentless
Feel sorry for her son
Not her mother she is brainwashed too

She is where she belongs

Book was well done
Narrator takes getting used to he switches voices “conversationally” which can take a little getting used to
Overall well done

Excellent!

Another excellent TRUE CRIME book by this author! He becomes so knowledgeable about the case and explains it so well...one of the best I've read--and this has excellent narration too!

A startling departure for M. William Phelps

I've listened to a few of M. William Phelps's books and have enjoyed them. He does misuse certain words in a way that irritates me, but overall he writes a good story and comes across as honest and straightforward. However, in this book I increasingly sensed a tendency to emphasize Tracy's dishonesty and other negative traits in a way that felt biased. Don't get me wrong: I think the evidence demonstrates that Tracy Roberts is a piece of garbage as a human being, but I like being able to draw my own conclusions from a book that presents the facts as fairly as possible. I didn't feel that this book quite achieved that.

My other gripe about this book is Jonathan Yen's narration. He's a beautiful narrator, except when it comes to women characters. He makes all of the women sound like total idiots, which is absolutely aggravating.

Best of all, though, the epilogue where the author goes into detail about correspondence with the convicted criminal's mother gives great insight into the whole family dynamic that Tracy lived in and thrived on. It was absolutely mind-blowing and very worth listening to.