It is so hard to review a true crime book because no matter how flawed the writing is, this is something horrible that actually happened to real people. The way the book told the story was so plodding and full of heavy handed foreshadowing that it made me wonder why it was even being told. There just isn’t much of a story here. So many “she didn’t know that today would be her last day” type foreshadowing comments and weird sidelong tangents made the story and the real people in it flat and cliche. This book didn’t do the tragedy justice and seemed to be trying to create a sense of drama and suspense that just didn’t exist out of thin air. Perhaps some serious editing (such as the multiple references to the O.J. Simpson trial which appeared to be nothing more than an effort to create drama) and removal of purple prose would have made this a direct and honorable tribute to the people who were changed forever by this crime.
The narrators steady, droning tone only reinforced the feel of the story. He didn’t do a 100% horrible job but it sounded like he could have been reading a car manual most of the time.