Did you know there's something called CrimeCon? Where people gather together in convention center hotels and talk about true crime? It's a real thing - and women flock to it every year.
What is this obsession with true crime? Women are less likely than men be victims of crime, perpetrators of crime, investigators of crime, prosecutors of crime and adjudicators of crime. Yet, networks like Oxygen thrive with female viewership. When the network initially changed a block of programming to true crime, ratings in that daypart went up by 42%. They rebranded the whole network - and it's one of many.
I learned that fact from this fascinating book, which explores the female fascination with crime from four unique perspectives: an heiress-turned-dedicated investigator before her time; a woman so obsessed she moved into the guest house at the old Sharon Tate estate, then intertwined herself in Tate's family's life; a woman who fell in love with an inmate; and a young woman obsessed with mass murder who nearly carried out one herself.
It explores every angle of that obsession. Why do women flock to this? To feel like we have control? To feel prepared? To feel safe? To feel scared?
I'm the daughter of a woman who reads voraciously about crime. Once, I brought home court files from the Green River Killer and she read them like a novel. I believe she once said she read The Shining while I was in utero. Still, I don't get it. I'm not a Dateline girl. Monroe's book peers into why many women are - and, why that obsession can be both liberating and debilitating.
This is a fascinating exploration of four unique stories and the women who found themselves in deeper than they ever would have expected to go. At times, each section got a little more into the minutia than was probably necessary. Still, if you find yourself fascinated by the people fascinated by other people's crimes, it's an interesting look behind the curtain into their world.
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