Behold the Monster

Confronting America's Most Prolific Serial Killer

By: Jillian Lauren

Narrated by: Nikki Zakocs

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.

A wild Ride

Intense, gross, interesting. A great insight into how the human mind comprehends the most terrible acts from the outside, and what makes a serial killer tick.

Not impressed

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

Disappointed

I wish I could return the book. I started the book 5 days ago and am on Chapter 5 and can't go on. Perhaps if it was written as a fiction book based on some facts, I'd have a different frame of thought as I listen. It's a loss of a credit, but oh, well. I should have read reviews. It's on me for the disappointment.