Anne Hart

Should the names of killers be excluded so we don’t empower serial killers? In A Killer By Design by Ann Burgess, she makes a point that solving crimes is about the victim, not the killer.  I had read about Ann Burgess in John Douglas’ Mind Hunter.     I did like   John E. Douglas ’ “ Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit ”.   I loved that A Killer by Design was from Ann’s perspective.   The FBI unit relied on Ann’s research yet as a non-agent she had an interesting relationship with the agents.   Ann found “sexual violence was more about power and control than the act of sex itself.” She didn’t come to this all by herself and also gave credit to Candace Delong.   This book was hard to read at parts because it felt like the serial killers wanted to talk about the crimes, specifically their thoughts, actions, sexual preferences, likes, etc. It freaked me out how they were almost bragging.   While I enjoyed getting Ann’...

The admission of guilt from the outset of Helena (Lena) Gereghty set the stage for this creepy book.  Often when a book calls itself “gothic”, I find myself disappointed by the lack of darkness.  When I first started reading Lena’s story, I was worried I’d be disappointed.  I was not disappointed, I was blown away.  Lena descends into a darkness that was mesmerizing and inspirational at the same time.  She becomes a “physician’s assistant”  for the famous Verdeaus family empire.  Although she’s supposed to be helping care for the sickly son  Jonathan, her real job is to help the self-destructive party guests at Arrow’s Edge.  I loved the spooky aura created at Arrow’s Edge.  The secrets Lena learns not just about what occurs at Arrow’s Edge but also about the patriarch, Martin, help the darkness engulf Lena.  It makes Lena perfectly flawed, lovable, and frustrating.  The tie-in of Lena’s work with her Aunt in botany was...