When the Moon Turns to Blood

Title: When the Moon Turns to Blood : Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and a Story of Murder, Wild Faith, and End Times
Author: Leah Sottile
Publisher: Twelve Books
Release Date: June 21, 2022
Page Count: 320
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

If you read this book as a true-crime story, expecting a trial and verdict and neatly tied-up resolution, you will be disappointed. If you are looking for an in-depth study of the factors that created this bizarre case, Leah Sottile's fascinating well-researched account provides it in spades. 

"At first, the story of Chad and Lori and the missing children looked like a complicated version of a stock true-crime trope: a love affair gone wrong ... [...] but the story is so much more complicated than that. This is a story of faith, and of all the things we allow ourselves to believe." 

Sottile takes us down a dark path of LDS history and theology and carefully shows how extremism has been "bred in the bone" of the church of Latter-Day Saints. Chad and Lori were part of the AVOW movement ("Another Voice of Warning") that encouraged preparation for the coming apocalypse and the subsequent survival of the chosen 144,000 in tent cities somewhere in Idaho. AVOW was full of preppers with a purpose and they devoured Chad's "novels" about the coming upheaval. 

Chad was a star in the movement, and Lori his eager follower. And why wouldn't she be - when Chad told her she was a goddess in a former existence and destined to save their people? Lori's parents were firm believers in "sovereign citizenry" and not paying taxes, Lori's relationship with her brother Alex Cox was very unhealthy and Lori had an unfortunate heritage of mental illness from her father. 

At first I was skeptical, but Sottile makes a strong case that Daybell was a leader in the Warren Jeffs' mold (soft spoken and very manipulative) and that Lori was suffering from mental illness. Sottile offers a unique perspective and rich background with much boots-on-the-ground research into this complicated case. 5 stars. 

I received an ARC from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

A Taste for Poison : Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them

Title: A Taste for Poison : Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them
Author: Neil Bradbury
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Release Date: February 1, 2022
Page Count: 304
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

Bradbury blends solid scientific details with violent murders by poison, and the result is a fascinating book.  Bradbury gives us detailed information about the history of a poison, explains how this poison works, and then ties it all together with a historic case using the poison, as well as a modern-day poisoning. 

I went into the book looking forward to the true-crime elements and was surprised to find myself actually understanding Bradbury's explanations of the nature of the poison and how it works to destroy human cells.  For example, here's his explanation of how cyanide kills:

"Once in the body, cyanide can stick to hemoglobin in red blood cells and hitch a ride, to be rapidly distributed by the blood. However, cyanide binds quite poorly to hemoglobin, and causes its devastating effects not by affecting the blood but by hopping off hemoglobin and entering the cells.  Once inside the cells of the body, cyanide disrupts their ability to generate the energy needed to live.  Located deep within each of our cells are mitochondria, small rod-shaped structures that act as tiny power plants to generate the chemical energy adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which keeps us alive."

Cyanide kills by stopping the production of ATP in the central nervous system, brain and heart. And don't get me started on how the heart's intricate system of sodium and potassium channels and pumps regulate the heart in 1/5th of a second and does so over 3 billion times in an average life span! He also explains how a substance can be used as a poison and alternately as an effective treatment. " .... such toxins are inherently neither good or evil; it is the purpose to which they are put that makes them poisons."

I found Bradbury's book absolutely fascinating and would highly recommend to anyone interested in true-crime, as well as someone (I'm raising my hand here) who enjoys learning more about the amazing human body and how all its intricate systems are designed to work together.  5 stars.

I received an ARC from the Publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Written in Bone : Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind

Title: Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind
Author: Sue Black
Publisher: Arcade
Release Date: June 1, 2021
Page Count: 304
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

I absolutely loved this book. Internationally renowned forensic anthropologist and human anatomist Dame Sue Black details the human skeleton from the top of the skull to the tiniest bones in the feet. She explains how the various bones are formed, how they function together and how they leave clues to the attentive about how an individual lived .... or died. 

The author educates us laypersons and then delves into the finer details by using criminal cases to illustrate, and writes in such a way that it appears to clear and understandable, which is a real gift. Highly recommended. 5 stars. 

I received an ARC from the Publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Trial by Fire

Title: Trial by Fire
Author: Scott James
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: October 27, 2020
Page Count: 320
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

I was only familiar with The Station nightclub fire in a very peripheral way.  But, from the very first page, author Scott James grabs your attention and brings home this tragedy hard.  He makes you understand the horror of the fire - the lives lost, the lives forever changed - in a very relatable way:

It takes ninety seconds to sing "The Star Spangled Banner." Human beings, on average, can hold their breath for up to ninety seconds. A typical person needs ninety seconds to read one page of this book. [...] in ninety seconds nearly everyone inside The Station nightclub was dead or dying. 

Rhode Island - at 37 x 48 miles in size - is the sort of place where everyone has only a few degrees of separation. Scott James, a New England native, knew several of the people involved in the fire, and many people later learned just how many friends and acquaintances were affected by the tragedy. For a country only 500+ days past the horror of 9/11, this tragedy opened fresh wounds and memories. 

The story is meticulously researched, but on the most basic level, James writes of gut-wrenching moments of heroism, cowardice, and courage; of death and loss and heartstopping pain.  I had a hard time reading parts of the book, first because of sorrow and then anger as the blame game starts. The owners are immediately vilified, the soundproofing foam ordered for use in the club was actually another - flammable - foam, Great White's lead singer Jack White acted despicably and in the end there was a resolution, but the devil is in the details.  

The author skillfully details the fire and its aftermath, as well as the personal loss, and I highly recommend this book. 5 stars for "Trial by Fire."

I received an ARC from the Publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Trial by Fire

Title: Trial by Fire
Author: Scott James
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: October 27, 2020
Page Count: 320
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

I was only familiar with The Station nightclub fire in a very peripheral way. But, from the very first page, author Scott James grabs your attention and brings home this tragedy HARD. He makes you understand the horror of the fire - the lives lost, the lives forever changed - in a very relatable way:

It takes ninety seconds to sing "The Star Spangled Banner." Human beings, on average, can hold their breath for up to ninety seconds. A typical person needs ninety seconds to read one page of this book. [...] in ninety seconds nearly everyone inside The Station nightclub was dead or dying.

Rhode Island - at 37 x 48 miles in size - is the sort of place where everyone has only a few degrees of separation. Scott James, a New England native, knew several of the people involved in the fire, and many people later learned just how many friends and acquaintances were affected by the tragedy. For a country only 500+ days past the horror of 9/11, this tragedy opened fresh wounds and memories. 

The story is meticulously researched, but on the most basic level, James writes of gut-wrenching moments of heroism, cowardice, and courage; of death and loss and heartstopping pain. I had a hard time reading parts of the book, first because of sorrow and then anger as the blame game starts. The owners are immediately vilified, the soundproofing foam ordered for use in the club was actually another - flammable - foam, Great White's lead singer Jack White acted despicably and in the end there was a resolution, but the devil is in the details. 

The author skillfully details the fire and its aftermath, as well as the personal loss, and I highly recommend this book. 5 stars for "Trial by Fire." 

  I received an ARC from the Publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. 

The Perfect Father : The True Story of Chris Watts, His All-American Family, and a Shocking Murder

Title: The Perfect Father: The True Story of Chris Watts, His All-American Family, and a Shocking Murder
Author: John Glatt
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: July 21, 2020
Page Count: 304
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

I was familiar with the Chris and Shanann Watts' murder case prior to reading John Glatt's book "The Perfect Father," and had read another book on the subject. I give Glatt top marks for pulling together all the information into a very readable, cohesive book that does an excellent job of presenting the case without a lot of editorializing.

Some people may have the impression of Shanann as a great mother with a boatload of less-than-desirable traits and qualities, but Glatt gives us a full range of perceptions from family, friends, coworkers and lets us draw our own conclusions. And he gives Chris the same treatment. He also offers up Nichol Kessinger's actions in a similar manner without making any judgment.

The Cold Vanish

Title: The Cold Vanish
Author: Jon Billman
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Release Date: July 7, 2020
Genre(s): Non-Fiction
Page Count: 368
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

Buy it on Amazon

Jon Billman has written an exceptional book about people who simply vanish in the wild, often without a trace (a "cold vanish"), from around the world, from Olympic National Park in Washington state to Israel. Pauline Boss, researcher and family therapist claims that "a family member missing to the unknown is the hardest thing a human being ever has to face" - she has coined the term "frozen grief." I just cannot imagine the sheer terror of never knowing what happened, or wondering if the missing person is off living their life somewhere else in TROTW (the rest of the world).

Billman introduces us to Randy Gray as he searches for his son Jacob who simply disappeared near the Sol Duc River in the Olympic National Park, leaving his bike behind. Bilman befriends Randy and travels with him as Randy searches for his son, and along the way Billman shares other stories of the missing including Amy Bechtel, who disappeared while running through the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming. Dale Stehling missing from Colorado's Petroglyph Point Trail about 1 mile away from the gift shop, 19-year-old Joe Keller who took a run one afternoon and never returned to his aunt's dude ranch in the San Juan Mountains in SW Colorado, as well as cold vanishes in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.