Are there any true crime books you’ve read where you’re like “No way is this non-fiction!”
I really like true crime but I’ve read so much that it’s becoming formulaic (an adulteress murderer, killing for money, Deadly Women or Chris Watts etc).
Surprise me please.
by KieranWriter
11 Comments
Ann Rule writes good True Crime. Maybe try Small Sacrifices, it’s pretty hard going, and hard to believe.
Many, many years ago I picked up a book off the shelf of a laundromat called “The Girl in the Box”. I couldn’t believe it was true. It was.
It doesn’t look like that book is in print anymore (it was pretty lurid) but there are other books about the kidnapping of Colleen Stan and it is an unbelievable story.
Capote’s *In Cold Blood* is a non-fiction novel and an excellent book. It’s also a bizarre tale, besides being creepy.
Ice Man: Confessions of a Contract Mafia Killer by Philip Carlo (warning: the ice man has been known to embellish, but I think that makes the tale so crazy – what’s proven is already so crazy, so you’re not sure if the unproven crimes are real or not)
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer (it’s true crime but also the history of Mormonism!)
A Libertarian Walks into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling (so the phrase “true crime” is used very loosely here as the crimes committed are more….local town ordinances but I promise this one is also too good and fun to be true)
Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy (had to read an excerpt for a criminal justice reform class and it was incredibly influential on me)
The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream by Patrick Radden Keefe (and honestly, check out anything him)
Killers of the flower moon! It is non-fiction, but it reads like a thriller. And the movie just come out now.
“The Adversary” by Emmanuel Carrère. A very fascinating story about a liar who became a murderer because he couldn’t get away with his lies any more.
There’s an entire true crime subgenre exploring what our government is *really* like:
*The Politics of Heroin* and *A Question of Torture* by Alfred McCoy
*Killing Hope* and *Rogue State* by William Blum
*Endless Enemies* and *The Crimes of Patriots* by Jonathan Kwitny
*The* Real *Terror Network* by Edward S Herman
*CIA Diary* and *On the Run* by Philip Agee
*Decent Interval* and *Irreparable Harm* by Frank Snepp
*The Devil’s Chessboard* by David Talbot
*Spooks* and *Secret Agenda* by Jim Hougan
*Deep Politics and the Death of JFK* by Peter Dale Scott
*Bitter Fruit* by Schlesinger and Kinzer
People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry is brilliant – about the disappearance of a British woman in Japan that leads the author into the underbelly of Japanese culture.
Devil in the White City. The author blends quotes from newspapers and other sources so it really feels like you’re listening to people talking. Also learned a ton about the Chicago World’s Fair
Death in the city of light by David King. When I first started reading it I thought it had to be fiction, but the way it was written was more like nonfiction. When I looked it up and found it was all true I was shocked.
Any book about the FBI mole named Robert Hanssen. I think I read “Master Spy”, but there are quite a few. That story is absolutely wild.