The killing kind

The killing kind

M. William Phelps

Book - 2014

She was seventeen years old, a beautiful girl with a Hollywood smile and luminous brown eyes. Sprawled in a culvert just off the gravel road like an abandoned doll, she wore only toe socks, a sweatshirt, and a necklace. She was not the killer's first victim. Nor would she be the last. The lush, green hills that mark the border of North and South Carolina are home to a close knit community. When the savaged remains of high spirited Heather Catterton and sweet natured Randi Saldana were found and a local man was linked to their murders, residents were forced to face an evil in their midst. The killer was one of their own. Danny Hembree was far from being an upright, law abiding citizen. But he was part of the fabric of the local sce...ne, devoted to his mother and sister. No one saw him as a remorseless killer who preyed on those who trusted him. When questioned by police, Hembree didn't just play cat and mouse and then confess. He bragged. Taunted. Laughed about his merciless deeds.

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Subjects
Catterton, Heather.
Saldana, Randi.
Hembree, Danny Robbie.
Murderers > Case studies.
Teenage girls > Crimes against.
Murder > North Carolina > Case studies.
Murder > South Carolina > Case studies.
Published
New York : Kensington Books 2014.
Language
English
Main Author
M. William Phelps (author)
Edition
[1st Kensington hardcover ed.]
Physical Description
401 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm
ISBN
9780786032488
9781617734458
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

In this workmanlike true crime book, Phelps (I'll Be Watching You) focuses on unrepentant killer Danny Hembree, who taunts the families of his victims from his prison cell. The discovery of 17-year-old Heather Catterton's semi-naked body, discarded by her killer, foreshadows what is to come. In short order, 30-year-old Randi Saldana's half-burned corpse signals to York County (S.C.) Sheriff's Office investigators that they are looking for a serial killer. For all their dissimilarities, the lives of the two victims intersected in a world of drugs and exploitation, a world where Hembree preyed on vulnerable women. The narcissistic killer seizes the chance to take center stage with lurid confessions of a decades-long career of violent robbery, assault, rape, and murder, convinced that cunning and lies will save him from death row in the trial that follows. Fans of the author's Discovery TV series, Dark Minds, will be rewarded. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review by Library Journal Review

In this real-life story of Danny Hembree's trial for the murder of two Gastonia, NC, women, true crime writer and star of Investigation Discovery's Dark Minds, Phelps (Perfect Poison) presents in-depth research and interviews that allow for vivid descriptions of characters and events. Unfortunately, the author's obvious, though justified, contempt for Hembree detracts from what one expects to be an impartial narrative. Similarly, Phelps's occasionally overly conversational style is distracting and creates an, at times, amateurish tone more appropriate to Internet comment threads (this is not a criticism of his reproduction of local speech, which he explains in an author's note). He generally succeeds in avoiding the temptation to delve overmuch into the personal and family histories of all the players in this drama and in keeping the story focused on Hembree and the investigation of his crimes. VERDICT Fans of true crime, forensics, and serial killer activities will all find something of interest here. This standard, by-the-numbers courtroom drama will pass the time sufficiently for readers who enjoy such books but will neither impress current readers of the genre, nor convert new readers to it. Ricardo Laskaris, York Univ. Lib., Toronto (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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