True Crime

Homicide & True Crime Stories of 2016

By: Jack Rosewood, Rebecca Lo

Narrated by: Thomas Stone

Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Almost every year, we believe that nothing can top the abject horror of the last 12 months when it comes to true crime stories, homicides, execution-style murders, or serial killers that are still on the prowl, leaving behind a trail of blood, tears, and sorrow.

Then, of course, the New Year begins.

And so, too, begin the murders, bodies dumping beneath the snow, behind dumpsters in the worst parts of town, or left just where they fell, killed by a madman with a gun.

Unfortunately, terrible, barbaric things have happened since the beginning of time, when medieval torture devices included the iron chair (a victim was forced to sit in a chair made of iron spikes, while restraints were tightened so the spikes would slowly, painfully penetrate the body) and the pear of anguish (device with four sections that stretched outward after the instrument was inserted into any orifice of a victim's body - vagina, anus, or mouth - and stretch, causing permanent damage, while the Catholic Inquisition gave us the rack, which essentially tore its victims limb from limb to elicit a confession. When one inevitably came, the broken confessor was set on fire for his or her crime. So why should we be surprised to learn a serial killer is stalking Alaska, shooting people in the dark at the city's peaceful parks, while another makes his home in Phoenix, randomly shooting his victims, leaving residents looking over their shoulders with nervous anxiety wherever they might go?

People have been capable of terrible things since the beginning of time, and they seem in no hurry to put an end to their sadistic actions.

©2016 LAK Publishing (P)2017 LAK Publishing

Not much insight....a list

Not a lot of details, list of crimes for 2016 very few "interesting" points. Not much insight to why....lots left incomplete mostly due to upcoming trial or "suicide"
not my favorite. Narrator was okay....

Crimes For Each Month (except December)

Any additional comments?

The audiobook narration was very good - the tone and pacing weren't distracting and complemented the content of the book.

This audiobook featured a selection of true crime stories for each month of the year, which is why it's given a title of 'Annual True Crime Anthology' in the Amazon title. However, December isn't included in the book. The author notes at the beginning of the book that this is because of publication time constraints - understandable timeliness, if the objective is to publish an annual anthology as early as possible in the next year. However, I think it's a bit weird to deliberately organize the stories into monthly sections and omit the final month of the year entirely. By dividing the book into monthly sections, the omission of December becomes more glaringly obvious. So my suggestion would be to include all of these stories chronologically by month, but don't divide them into specific sections named for each month. Either that, or in future annual anthologies, delay the publication for another few weeks so that at least one story for December can be included in the volume.

As with any anthology or short story collection, some stories are bound to resonate more with individual readers than others. I felt that some stories fell a bit flat, while others were riveting from start to finish. All sorts of crimes and all sorts of motives were represented in this volume, which was refreshing; if all stories are the same theme, then they start to get confusing for readers like me because it gets harder for me to differentiate and remember specific stories.

The stories in this anthology that I enjoyed the most were the ones that contained an element of mystery (e.g., Why did the person commit the crime? Which of the suspects was the killer? Why would a killer wait so long to kill again? Why did it take a long time for the case to be solved? How can police catch a killer when there's little or no physical evidence?). The stories that I enjoyed the most were the ones where I learned about the backgrounds and personalities of the people involved (the victims, the families, the coworkers, the investigators) , in addition to focusing on the killer him/herself. The stories that I enjoyed the most were the ones that included some sort of informative takeaway (e.g., the thought processes of people with paranoid schizophrenia). Also, the stories that I enjoyed the most were the ones where there was a conclusion to the case - the suspect was arrested, charged, went to trial, there was an outcome, and possibly also an aftermath for the victims and/or their families.

Conversely, the stories that I enjoyed the least were missing the elements I mentioned above. Especially stories where the case is cold or where a suspect has been arrested but hasn't gone to trial so we don't know about things like motive or outcomes. It's like watching live sports on television and the last five minutes of the tied game gets cut off because it's the top of the hour and the next show is scheduled to start. There are, unfortunately, hundreds and hundreds of criminal events to choose from, and so my preference is to read about events that have an ending. Having said that, perhaps a cool way to address this would be to provide a digest-length update of the unfinished cases from the previous year's anthology in the subsequent year's volume. So that would encourage us to get our hands on next year's anthology to find out what happened in the stories that weren't concluded during the previous year. (Of course, I could simply do an internet search of the cases a few months from now and get an update, but if I were an author or publisher, I'd see it as an interesting way to build a base of loyal readers over the long run.).

Since I'm reviewing the audiobook, I can't speak to the presence of typo or editing errors in the print version of the book. I can easily see how that would distract readers of the print edition. Things like grammar or typo errors jerk the reader out of their emotional domains and into their cognitive domains, and detract from the experience of enjoying the book. So, none of that type of distraction for me as an audiobook listener. However, the distraction that I DID experience numerous times was how the narrator read sub-section titles within each story. I don't know how it visualizes on a printed page for this book, but every few minutes the narrator would stop the flow of the narrative and read the title of the next sub-section of the story. I personally think that these sub-section titles could have been left out of the narrative. The writing is well done, so I can easily follow the change in topics within the story - an extended pause by the narrator is enough to signal that we're switching to a different theme within the story. Anyway, it's quibbling, but it's something that disrupted the flow of the story to me as a listener.

My final little quibble, from an audiobook listener perspective, is that the chapter breaks in the audio file occurred between each month rather than between each story. So when I wanted to slide back to re-start a story if I got distracted, I had to manually hunt and peck to find the start of the story. (If I hit the rewind button, it brought me back to the beginning of the month, not the beginning of the story - because in this anthology, most months contained multiple stories.).

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely! The narration was quite good and there were enough compelling and satisfying (a bad choice of words, but you know what I mean) stories that I have no regrets investing my time listening to it.

I provided an honest review in exchange for a complimentary copy of the audiobook.

Exactly What it Should be

Any additional comments?

True crime is my favorite genre to listen to and sometimes I'm in the mood for a series of short stories instead of one, extremely detailed, long one. For this purpose, this book is perfect! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys true crime (and anyone who doesn't want to make a big commitment to a very long story!)

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Not My Favorite

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No probably not. Not enough detail to stories.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

More detail. Different narrator.

What aspect of Thomas Stone’s performance would you have changed?

Not as monotone sounding

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

Any additional comments?

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audio book by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Spelling and Grammar

Any additional comments?

I received this audiobook for free in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this anthology a lot less than other Jack Rosewood novels. It was rather vague, with a lack of insight into some of the cases. The major issue with this book was spelling and grammar, which was seriously lacking.

Gripping, True Crime with good narration

What did you like best about this story?

The narration and stories which were gripping and impactful and great listens.

Any additional comments?

This review copy audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost."

great stories about true events

There are a bunch of short stories about different crimes committed in the recent past. Very interesting stories!

Wonderful anthology.

Wonderful anthology. Well written and interesting. Definitely worth it for any true crime fan.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Great Book

Any additional comments?

This is a very good book with a lot of cases that I hadn't heard of before. Well written and the narrator did a great job. Looking forward to more books by Jack Rosewood!

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Very informative !!

Another great, informative, and well written collection of true crime stories. There were many cases included in this volume that I had never heard of and each was full of interesting information about the criminals, and victims when available. If you're a lover of true crime, be sure to get this one.

fantastic 😍

I really love it. it kept me hanging on every word I just couldn't put it dne very well written
can't wait for my next read I learned so much me about the horrible people that did these crimes