Review: The King of True Crime!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 21, 2012
I've been reading true crime novels for over fifteen years.  I've always been interested in the psychological aspect of everything.  Why do they do it?  What happened to them to make them do it?  Who were the victims and why were they chosen?King took true crime to a whole new level for me with his novel TO DIE FOR.  Instead of slowing down part way through the book, like I do in most true crime novels when it came time for the trial, I kept reading full throttle.  Instead of half a book about the courtroom, he goes deeper into the POV's of the killer, the victims, the victim's families, and the detectives working the case.You get to listen in on the clues and sighting of the serial killer Darren O'Neall as he goes on a full out killing spree.  He makes you fee like you're working with the detectives to find this animal and help put him away.  Upon saying that,  this is not a novel for the faint of heart.  King doesn't hold back the details of the crimes, nor the heartache of the families left behind.The parts that really hit home for me were the families devastation.  Especially the mother of one of the victims, Edna Smith.  I could never imagine what she went through losing a daughter in this way, but throughout the novel I felt her despair, frustrations and even a few triumphs.  The relationship between this mother and her daughter who was taken in such a vicious way was beyond powerful.I highly recommend this author to anyone who not only reads true crime novels, but who writes crime fiction.  I'm definitely going to be reading a lot more of Gary C. King.  True crime books are not only about the killers and the victims, but the families left behind.On a side note, I'm in now way related to Gary C. King, I just follow him on twitter.  He does have a great last name though!!