Cruel Heart: The True Story of a Beautiful Co-ed, a Vicious Murder, and the Trial that Tore Apart a Town
Praise forCRUEL HEART“Characters and events alike in Van Meter’s harrowing and mesmerizing account of a Kentucky coed’s murder are etched with photographic clarity as the narrative moves toward its end with a sort of doomed inevitability.” —William Gay, author ofI Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down“A keenly observed, nearly meditative examination of the crime and its rippling aftereffects, the book does what the best true-crime literature almost always does—it shines a light on the spookily arbitrary and always-inexplicable nature of violence. It’s the kind of book that will have you looking over your shoulder on a dark walk home.” —The Fader  “Van Meter’s narrative style reads like a classic novel. There was so much rich material, he was careful to avoid any embellishments.” —Metro“Van Meter recounts the drama and intensity of the ensuing trials. Reminiscent of Truman Capote, this young journalist returns to the south of his roots to write about this violent crime, and in doing so, paints a vivid portrait of the town, the characters who fill it and the simmering class conflicts that polarized the town.” —WisconsinStateJournal“William Van Meter’sCruel Heartis not just a story of ‘murder’ but one of race, class, gender, and region. There are many layers of moral universality in this small-town murder case that far outreach the suburbs of southern Kentucky in their magnitude. . . . This is narrative nonfiction packed with the overpowering magnetism of a sensationalist page turner.” —Porochista Khakpour, author ofSons and Other Flammable Objects