Lori D. Reim

Juvenile writing and narration

Revisado: 02-17-23

I buy and listen to hundreds of audiobooks a year and chose this one because it was a deal of the day book and was deeply discounted. I am very happy that I didn’t pay full price as this one really was difficult to listen to. The narrator affected an accent and tone that was nearly unbearable. Within the narration there were also different voices that the narrator used when reading dialogue from different characters. The modulation, the tone, the pitch and the speed were all very distracting from the actual book. It put me in mind of “valley girl“ speech from the 80s. The writing itself was also not good. It was extremely repetitive and felt more like a young adult murder mystery than an actual true crime story. If you are looking for case detail and facts, this is not the book for you. This is much more like a teenagers version of how they felt about a crime and a final scene that felt like it came from a after school special. I strongly recommend listening to the sample before buying.

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A different type of true crime book

Revisado: 11-29-22

As an avid true crime listener, I chose this book based on customer reviews. This story is told from the perspective of a distant family member who didn’t know the victim personally. The author has a great way of describing scenes and settings and has a wonderful prose and story writing ability. On the flip side though, I felt like the author used a story that happened near her and attempted to inject herself into the story. The victims actual family members asked that she not write the book in this way and she really appeared to be justifying having written it as a search for the truth. The narrator did a good job but at times I felt like I was listening to an essay that was just trying to meet the word count requirements. I would advise against this one if you are looking for a crime story with transcripts and details and facts. It’s more a memoir with a crime aside.

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Terrible tragedy, book worth the credit

Revisado: 05-21-22

As an avid true crime listener, I was interested in the story from the first few minutes. It was a good listen and a heartbreaking tale. Occasionally the narrator read things in a shrill, screaming and breathless manner. These screams scenes while reading dialogue were jarring and took me out of the story and I would have preferred to have just heard them read rather than acted out. I also felt as if overall there was never any clarity about what exactly happened the night of the crime. Because it is true crime. I know there are often cases where the real story is never known but this one just kinda left me wondering about the most basic questions. Overall, I would recommend but be aware that you don’t leave with a full understanding of the story. My heart breaks for the author.

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Interesting but too long

Revisado: 12-02-20

This was a good book. The narrator did a wonderful job of reading the story and it was written very well. A lot of interesting information and detail made the book easy to listen to and it was worth the audible credit. On the flip side, I felt like it went on for 6 hours longer than was necessary. The names jumbled together and made it hard to follow along and there were portions of the book that didn’t seem to have any relevance to the story. As an aside, I really don’t want to hear any more books detailing FBI agent John Douglas’ collapse and illness. It seems like all of the true crime books talk about it.

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I really wanted to enjoy this but...

Revisado: 06-15-20

Oh boy! This book was one of the hardest to finish out of all of my true crime library. The author has either a great vocabulary or a great thesaurus but doesn’t use either very well. I have long been curious about the Elisa Lam story but this book did nothing to further my understanding of the death. By the end, I realized that the author really just needed a vessel to speak about his own mental health issues and Elisa’s death became that vessel. At least half of the book is about his struggle with bipolar disorder and if I’d heard him use the word “synchronicity” even once more, I would have just hit stop and requested my money back from audible. Read the Amazon reviews rather than the audible reviews on this one before you use a credit. I, for one, am just relieved that it’s done and have been considering how I was going to write this review for the last 5 hours of the book. I hate to leave a bad review because I recognize that considerable work has gone into it, but this one is just not worth the money.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Average true crime book

Revisado: 05-21-20

I loved the narrator and thought that the audio quality was excellent in this book. The story did feel a little underdeveloped while the descriptions of buildings and places seemed overly detailed. I love when a book makes you feel like you know the characters and this one left me feeling like I didn’t know the victim or the killer well. On the other hand, the descriptions of the jury members and their actions were more in depth than the main characters. I probably will avoid this author in the future.

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Interesting listen but lags at times

Revisado: 03-16-20

I liked the premise of this book and thought it was worth using a credit. As a true crime junkie, I listen to most of the highly rated stories in the genre. This one lagged a lot and I thought the narrator was tough to get used to early in the book. His intonations and emphasis on certain words and syllables grated on me. Especially when he did the Hispanic accents and women’s voices. Rather than making the voices relatable, I found them to be whiny and fake. Also, the actual crime and injuries were glossed over and there is a ton of time spent on how the kids felt throughout. Overall, I am glad to have learned the story but am relieved to be done with the book.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

What a great book!

Revisado: 05-06-18

I really didn’t think that this book would be as impactful as it was to me. I listen to true crime all the time and, as much as I enjoy the books, I rarely rate anything this high. Initially I thought the accent was going to annoy me but I found that it actually enhanced the story. The writing was excellent, the word usage was perfect and the sentiment was raw and honest. I really hope that her family finds peace after this nightmare.

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A Different Angle on True Crime

Revisado: 04-01-18

This was a great story with excellent plot and dynamic twists. I really liked a lot of things about this book. The characters were fascinating and the mysterious circumstances held my interest. There were some problems with the editing and word usage. A few times, the word that the author chose was not used correctly in the sentence. For example the author used “Intent” when the correct word was consent.” I only noticed a handful of things but “all of the sudden” and “for all intensive purposes” really grate on me. He also switched from first person to third person and said things like “one would’ve thought that one would like to go to the park” rather than “I would like to go to the park.” Nit picky, I know, but I expect an editor to catch things like this. One last complaint was that the author said “the time I took my parents to court” so many times. It felt as if that was more the story he wanted to tell.

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Good story, not exactly true crime

Revisado: 04-01-18

I thought this was a good book despite it not being what I expected. It is more about the miscarriage of justice than true crime. It was well written and nicely narrated. The story did seem to drone on longer than I expected in certain areas. The author really made sure that the reader/listener would distrust the doctors involved. I do enjoy this type of book also so I thought it was a smart read and I’m glad that I listened.

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