Deadly American Beauty

Beautiful Bride, Dark Secrets, Deadly Love

By: John Glatt

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

Greg DeVillers was a top biotech executive, and Kristin Rossum was embarking on a career in toxicology at the San Diego Medical Examiner's office. They seemed to be happily married, living the American dream. But only months shy of their second anniversary, Kristin found her handsome husband dead from a drug overdose - his corpse sprinkled with rose petals. By his side was their wedding photo. The scene was reminiscent of American Beauty, one of Kristin's favorite movies. Authorities deemed it a suicide.

Until they discovered that the rare poison found in Greg's body was the same poison missing from Kristin's office. Until they discovered the truth about Kristin's lurid affair, about her own longtime drug addiction, and about the personal and professional secrets she would kill to keep hidden - secrets that would ultimately expose the beautiful blonde as the deadly beauty she really was...a deadly American beauty.

©2004 John Glatt (P)2022 Tantor

Did not like the narrator

Narrator was choppy and sometimes blended one sentence into the next so I had to go back and listen again. Also didn’t enunciate clearly. The story was the same as other crime stories and not more interesting. If you’re a fan of true crime it’s not terrible but don’t expect too much. That’s probably why it’s always in sale😉

Interesting TRUE CRIME

Amazing story, even more amazing because it is true! well researched and well written. Fnarration a c little had to follow at times.

Straightforward and good

I liked this a lot, story direct and to the point. I like a British narrator regardless of the locality of the book.

THIS is what true crime is!!

I enjoy this author, for the depth that he goes into telling us the story. It isn't the quick overview you get from a podcast or a n article. This is what "true crime" really is. You get the whole story.

Absolutely fascinating

If I hadn't started it so late in the evening I would have listened straight thru to the end. Great story with enough details to really let you know what happened. Very good book.

Crazy Story

Good listen overall, riveting story about a manipulative woman who looked out for herself and herself only.

Very detailed.

Reader was a bit robotic, good to fall asleep to. In the end I got use to the melodic rhythm.

A different writing style than I've seen before

First, as others have mentioned, having a British narrator was a bit bizarre. Because it's an audio book, your brain typically creates it's own visual version of the story it's hearing... making up what it thinks the victim might look like, the perpetrator, the crime scene, etc., etc., especially if it's a story/persons/places you've never heard of/seen before. Having said that, all I could picture was the crime scene in some bungalow type house somewhere on the outskirts of London. lol Crazy, I know, but it's the risk you run when choosing a British guy to narrate a story that took place in California!

Secondly, and even stranger than asking a British guy to narrate your book, the author thought it would be a good idea to reveal the outcomes, the mindset of detectives & prosecutors, the motive of the murderer(s), etc., in the first couple of chapters in the book! After listening to the first 3-4 chapters, I already knew that she would be on trial, she would be found guilty, the arguments that would be made by prosecutors, the opinions of the detectives at the time of her arrest, etc., etc. This is even before I knew anything about the crime itself, the victim, the perpetrator, etc! I now own countless books on Audible, all of which are of the "true crime" genre and I've never heard an author let go of so much information right at the beginning of the story! Unfortunately, the decision to write the story this way made me very uninterested in the rest of the book. (I listened to the whole thing because these credits are expensive, but still....)

Storyline

I thought this book was ok, a few repeated items but overall a good story of addiction and betrayal.

It was sad

good listen

the book kept up a steady pace of intrigue, suspense and a malicious relationship. I highly recommend it