Guilty Creatures

Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida

De: Mikita Brottman

Narrado por: Leon Nixon

From critically acclaimed author Mikita Brottman, a true “psychological thriller as intricately organized as a Hitchcock movie” (Madison Smartt Bell, author All Souls’ Rising) about sex, religion, and murder in the deep South.

Mike and Denise Williams had a tight knit, seemingly unbreakable bond with childhood friends, Brian and Kathy Winchester. The two couples were devout, hardworking Baptists who lived perfect, quintessentially Southern lives. Their friendship seemed ironclad. That is, until December 16, 2000, when Denise’s husband Mike disappeared while hunting on Lake Seminole.

After no body was found, everyone assumed that Mike had drowned in a tragic accident, his body eaten by alligators. But things took an unexpected turn when, within five years of Mike’s disappearance, Brian Winchester divorced his wife and married Denise. Their surprising romance set tongues talking. People began wondering how long they had been a couple, and whether they had anything to do with Mike’s death. It took another twelve years for the truth to come out—and when it did, it was unimaginable.

Now, the full, “richly atmospheric, deeply researched, and terrifying true crime” (Betsy Bonner, author of Round Lake) tale is revealed as never before. Through tenacious research and clear-eyed prose, Guilty Creatures probes the psychology of a couple who killed and explores how it feels to live for eighteen years with murder on the soul.

Normalizing spousal murder???

The story was very interesting except for the author’s interpretation of the murderers’ motivations and intentions. For some reason, the author attempts to convince us that all of us can be tempted by lust (which she somehow equates to love in her mind), motivated by malignant selfishness, greed, and blatant hypocrisy to plan and execute the most horrific of crimes. Denise is not a victim of misogynistic social mores as the author would have us believe. Both perpetrators are manifestations of the worst case scenario of religious zealots who are able twist “the word” to feed their own base desires. To minimize the grief of the victim’s mother is utterly unconscionable. The story and facts are well-written and interesting, but I feel the behavioral analysis is totally off the mark. A toxic dynamic this extreme IS an aberration contrary to the author’s belief.

Excellent

Excellent pacing, excellent narration. Shades of a lurid R Rated version of crime and punishment. I finished listening to this very quickly. .

Great!

So good, you won't want to turn it off. I felt like I could picture the sceens and characters.

Excellent Recitation

The voice, inflection, and overall recitation was excellent. My only complaint, which is really being picky, was the pronunciation of some places that a southerner would definitely cringe over…hence, my dilemma. So you can just ignore me on that, if you wish.

More detailed

As a true crime content consumer, I was familiar with this story prior to reading this book. This book was well researched and the story is told in a concise manner. I did, however, crave more heart in the telling. It felt like a dissertation of facts than a torrid story of love, money, and betrayal.