I'm currently down to just a handful of requirements left to read in order to complete my 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge. I chose this book to fulfill my need for a memoir. But despite what the cover of this graphic novel says, I don't think I can truly call this book a memoir.
Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell examines our society's obsession with true crime. When I say 'our society', I'm really talking about the good ol' U.S. of A. Sure, England has its obsession with Jack the Ripper. But, I think that's more because nobody has yet to truly solve the crimes. So when it comes to murder and how it's literally become an artform, no other country leads the pack than America.
Campbell explores the explosion of true crime by reflecting on her upbringing while examining a trio of killers- the Zodiac Killer, Ted Bundy, and Tom Capano. Zodiac is essentially what got Campbell's mother interested in true crime as she lived within striking distance of the areas that this unknown serial killer prowled. Ted Bundy is really the figure that first gained national exposure as a serial killer. Thanks to Bundy's friendship with Ann Rule, that relationship essentially created the term 'true crime' with her groundbreaking novel, The Stranger Beside Me; though the unnamed genre had been around for centuries. Tom Capano is really just a small blip on the true crime map. But it's the first case that really peaked Campbell's interest in the subject and thus his murder of mistress Anne Marie Fahey is explored in length. (By the way, Fahey was just one of at least 3 mistresses that the wealthy, powerful and demented Capano had that readers are informed of!)
Throughout this graphic novel, Campbell explores TV, movies and now podcasts which have become fixtures of true crime. Things like Law & Order, Forensic Files, Making of a Murderer and much, much more. The whole thing with the true crime podcasts is unlike anything I've ever seen as there are seemingly hundreds of amateur detectives out there examining every aspect of both popular and under-the-rug murders, posting their work to millions of listeners and getting rich from it, as well sometimes solving murders or helping innocents receive justice.
Without the pandemic, I really don't see these podcasts becoming so quickly ingrained in our society like they have. Its like the lockdown created a need to find solace in the pain of others and murder podcasts filled that gap. I appreciate that Campbell alluded to this. But there are so many other crimes and serial killers that the author didn't even touch upon. Ed Gein. The Son of Sam. The Menendez Brothers. OJ! And what about how both John Hinkley Jr. and David Berkowitz were so influenced by Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye that they both carried out deadly plans to varying degrees of success?
I smell sequel! And I am completely okay with that. Though if you do, Hilary, could you make the font a little bigger??? Some of those book titles were extremely hard to read.
O other thing I am not okay with is how insecure I feel after reading this book. Yes, I have really bad anxiety. But I'm not suddenly terrified of being another notch on a serial killer's belt. Instead, I found myself today starting to worry that every woman I passed at the grocery store, coffee shop and post office was fearful that I was a secret killer from every odd look I got in my Indiana Jones Fedora, black sunglasses and blue COVID mask. Maybe they just thought I was weird. I'd be okay with that. But I'm not a serial killer.
I eat cereal... But that's a different type of cereal killer...
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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