howlinglibraries's reviews
1803 reviews

 

Maybe it's just because I listened to three of these consecutively, but I think this was the least interesting of the Bloodlands collection. It's just hard to imagine all of these teens following this dude so blindly when it sounds like they all pretty much viewed him as a tryhard liar, based on the things they said in their testimonials after he was caught. I'm not doubting the validity of it; it's just one of those moments where I guess truth is stranger than fiction.

 

 

The fact that this man outlived the family members of his victims is downright nauseating.

 

 

I know the overall theme is about this widespread "sex offender panic" that struck major cities in the late 30s, but what I took away more than anything from this is how longstanding the issue has been that our justice system completely fucking fails sexual assault victims of all ages.

 

 

It had been a while since I picked up a Terry M. West story and I forgot how fun they are! I wouldn't mind a longer version of this story because Billy's character was pretty intriguing.

 

 I don't always rate DNF titles, but when I do, it's because there's something irredeemable about the book. Plots change as a book progresses; writing does not. In the first four chapters (~50 pages), characters and events have contradicted themselves multiple times, and there have been more anti-sex worker insults thrown around than I could keep track of.