"I seriously can't recommend this novella enough. Horror fans need this. It's a brutal and unflinching story about psychotic siblings that will leave you gasping for air and wanting to look away. But you won't look away because you can't. This book demands your attention in a way that the best books do." @gowsy33
Full review HERE
5/5
"Samantha Kolesnik's debut hurts like unrelenting thumb pressure on a fresh bruise. An ugly, dark account of severe victimhood informing a young girl's lasting identity. Readers will endure much tragedy. Watching light & love trying to break through are the big payoffs here. Brilliant." @Mother.Horror
Full review HERE
5/5
"True Crime is an exceptional book. It’s filled with abuse, brutality, murder, and psychosis. This is the type of book that sits with you long after you finish. If reading about sexual abuse isn’t something that you can stomach, this may not be for you, otherwise, I’d highly recommend True Crime." @steelrainreviews
Full Review HERE
5/5
"Well. So are you a friend, or are you a foe?"
"How can I know that yet? We've only just met."
Suzy and her brother, Lim, live with their abusive mother in Morris Grove. The events that take place in their home are absolutely horrific and evil. Their mother needs to be stopped, but none of the terrible people in their lives will stop her. So Suzy and Lim have to kill her and burn down the house. While they flee the murder scene, they leave a trail of bodies and destruction behind them.
True Crime is a riveting read, and I am blown away that this is a debut novel. Samantha Kolesnik and Grindhouse Press should be incredibly proud of what they have accomplished here. The weight of the subject matter is immense, there is physical, sexual, and mental abuse both described and alluded to. There's also murder, rape, severe mental illness, animal cruelty and more. True Crime is an uncomfortable book to read, but I could not stop reading it. There were moments when I wanted to set it down and take a break from it. However, I continued to read because the story is so well crafted and well written that despite all of that terrible stuff is happening, I still have this immense empathy for Suzy and Lim. It is astonishing that a new author could craft characters that do such terrible things but are not truly irredeemable. Suzy is a victim, she hates herself for it and for what she's done, but the reader, at least this one, felt nothing but compassion for her. The real horror in this book is not what Suzy and Lim do, but what made them do it in the first place.
I give this book a full 5 stars for it's bleak, brutal descriptions, totally broken and believable characters, emotional and accurate accounts of the aftermath of abuse. Please put me on the list of fans of Samantha Kolesnik; she is a talented writer to keep your eye on. @teamredmon
5/5
"Deceit is really the true crime of humanity."
How is True Crime a debut??? This book is a bombshell. Brutally powerful. From the moment I saw the cover reveal I knew I had to have this book. I'm so glad the contents lived up to the beautiful cover. 2020, watch out. True Crime is bound to be in your top reads of the year.
Go into this one carefully though, there are a lot of intense topics. Within the first 10 pages, I felt the nod to Ketchum's The Girl Next Door. If TGND was an uncomfortable or triggering book for you, I'd like you to know that True Crime might be a similar experience. @bookishmommy
5/5
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