True Crime Thursday: True Crime Addict by James Renner

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

This is one of those books that when I received an ARC, I'm pretty sure I actually squealed out loud. I had been looking forward to reading this book since I first heard about it on the Missing Maura Murray podcast. I found the case fascinating, but the podcast rambled too much for me, and I was looking forward to reading a more straight forward account.

While Renner does ramble some in the book, it's all for a purpose. When he goes off on tangents about his family, they do all tie back to his obsession with the case. And that's what makes this book work. Renner admits right in the title that he is obsessed with this case. If he hadn't just laid that out right away, you might find yourself questioning his perspective throughout the book, but he states it up front and then both you and he can move on.

This is a fascinating case. There are so many twists and turns, so many possibilities, so many little clues to stumble upon. You can see why Renner would want to write about it, and why so many people on the internet would spend their time trying to solve it. I know there are a lot of people online who strongly dislike Renner and what he is doing, but I personally chose to avoid reading any threads online and just read the book for what it was.

The only thing I don't like is the "secret epilogue". Both at the end of my ARC copy and on his website, Renner states that there is a secret epilogue with 10 more pages of new revelations on the case, but that no reviewer copy has it. You have to buy the book when it comes out to read it. This bugs me, to be honest. If someone is taking the time to read and review your book, feature it on their blog, you shouldn't withhold a part of your book from them. It seems like a bit of a publicity stunt that I honestly don't appreciate.

That said, this is a fascinating gripping book that I couldn't put down. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fellow true crime addict. I was planning to buy this book anyway once it comes out (May 24th), so I'll get to read the secret epilogue then.