Real RAD Reads

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So, I’ve had a weird couple of weeks. It’s a pretty regular occurrence for me to go down a rabbit hole over a minor post or an article. I’ll dive into whatever subject peaks my interest and not stop until I’ve had my fill. So when I saw a post about a religious leader who recently died and their participation in covering up crimes – I knew a rabbit hole was in my future. A few hours later, I had gagged and heaved once, gone through a half a box of tissues and yelled at no one about how much I hate this timeline. I then proceeded to disassociate for the last two weeks – playing video games and watching cute animals on the internet. I also hid all my social media apps cause I don’t want to be online right now.

Also, for the last several months, I’ve been wanting to do a list of my favorite true crime books. It seems fitting because when it comes to spooky – nothing scares the shit out of me more than true crime. It also seems disingenuous to write about a subject that has also sent me down a ‘I hate this world’ spiral. More than all of the political books I read – random.

I was going to go into the stories and talk about what fascinated me about the story, but for my own sanity, I’m skipping a lot of detail here. That being said, I’m also a total pansy when it comes to true crime. Before I read any true crime book, I quickly google the case – for spoilers. Seriously, I need to make sure the case is solved before I even start it.

Call me sensitive, an empath (though I hate that term!) but I can’t go down the road if the villain is walking free evading any sort of justice for the victims. So, while there might not be justice for the victims or their families, the below have some finality to the story. There is a lack of real justice in this world – so I’ll take some sort of justice where I can find it.

When A Killer Calls (John E. Douglas)

John E. Douglas is a former FBI special agent and one of the first criminal profilers. Mindhunter on Netflix is based on his story. He’s written several books about cases he’s been involved in and this is one of those cases.

This is the story of young girl abducted from her front yard about a week before she is to graduate high school. If that isn’t totally fucked – this guy relives his crimes by calling the family regularly and using their religious ideology (prayer, second coming etc) to justify what he had done, manipulate and torment the family.

The Road to Jonestown (Jeff Guinn)

Probably one of the most notable cases of death cults in the world. Jim Jones has fascinated me for years. I couldn’t understand how such smart, caring people could fall for this to the point of suicide. Having grown up in a religious cult, I understand that now. I have such empathy for those who lost loved ones to this cult.

This is the before story, Jim’s upbringing, his intro to religion and his political ideology. It’s fascinating to see the before especially when we all know the after. I think what startled me the most was that I really admired what he did in his early years. His political and religious ideology was rooted in liberation of all people and socialism; which would have easily pulled me in as it did so many of these followers. But by the time the writing was on the wall – it was too late to get out. Absolutely heart-wrenching.

Evidence of Love (John Bloom & Jim Atkinson)

Okay, so I know I said that I only read true crime if there was some sort of justice. This might be the exception to the rule. Quiet, church-going southern town in Texas in the early 80’s and a woman attending a summer bible study where she is helping out with the kids and leaves and kills another mother from the church and comes back to the bible study. Come to find out she’s sleeping with the victims husband. It’s a roller-coaster. I think the craziest part for me was even with all the evidence stacked – she is found not guilty (she pleaded self defense – the trial was wild). Crazier still, she went on to work in the mental health field as a counselor.

There are two recent-ish series done about this case: 2022’s Candy which is a Hulu series starring Jessica Biel; and 2023’s Love & Death on Max which had Elizabeth Olsen as lead. Both are really entertaining but would suggest reading the book first so you can pull out what is true and what is just good story-telling.

I was going to go into both of these – I enjoyed the books but after the last few weeks – I don’t want to talk about anything to do with young kids. I just can’t.

Boys Enter the House (David B. Nelson) – this is the story of John Wayne Gacy; the trial was super interesting here!

and

The Perfect Father (John Glatt) – This is a tough read – but super interesting. It’s the Chris Watts case – so yeah, fuck that guy.

I’m still disassociating – still so angry at this world. But also still trying to find my own place in it. An odd statement for such an old lady.

Stay RAD and take care of yourself.

Byeeee!