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zitahawthorne's review
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
5.0
I was so lucky to get ahold of this book. It was well written, direct, with no meandering into fantasy like some true crime books can do. Also the author has a great and subtle sense of humor that I appreciated. I'm glad that she included info about the crematorium and other local crimes and connected that the local outsider artist received his message at the same time. She doesn't draw any conclusions about any connection but lets the facts speak for themselves.
It's such a heart breaking story. My opinion is that Charles clearly went to serious magical lengths to protect that home and it nearly saved the both of them. So close. And the ongoing events show that it wasn't just superstition at work with the locals. She doesn't glamorize the murders as some TC authors can. She merely depicts them as the lonely, foolish, and violent young men that they were. I can't stop thinking about Joseph and Charles. It was really such a short time that they were able to live there.
rackncheese's review
1.0
DNF - 1.5 Stars Frankly, this book is so poorly written I couldn't even make it through more than a third. It reads like a high school research paper written the night before the deadline - there's just a bunch of unrelated information all stuffed in to fill up a word count. While I appreciate the author understanding that the murders were most likely the result of bigotry and didn't have anything to do with the men being predatory Satanists, that's basically the only positive thing I have to say about it.
whalechief's review
2.0
fair warning: pics of the crime scene (including the two dogs' bodies) 2 stars for the research put in, not any further because it felt disrespectful to the victims and also i dont need to know anything about the murderers, let alone their life stories. that's just my personal opinion.
trulybooked's review
3.0
I first heard of the Corpsewood Manor Murders through this book and I won't deny that I was drawn in by the macabre nature of it all. Two men who were lovers in a time when it wasn't considered "right" for same sex couples to be together, practicing Satanists in a heavily religious South, were murdered in their own home. The culprits blamed the men, they blamed drugs, they blamed everything but themselves for the murders.
Amy Petulla lays out a very factual recollection of the crime. If you're a true crime buff who likes having a straightforward view of what happened, then this is the book for you. As for me? I like it more when my non-fiction reads like fiction, so the book got bogged down in a couple chapters for me, but I liked it.
If you've never heard of Corpsewood Manor or the murders that happened there, it's definitely worth a look.
Amy Petulla lays out a very factual recollection of the crime. If you're a true crime buff who likes having a straightforward view of what happened, then this is the book for you. As for me? I like it more when my non-fiction reads like fiction, so the book got bogged down in a couple chapters for me, but I liked it.
If you've never heard of Corpsewood Manor or the murders that happened there, it's definitely worth a look.
magicalkat's review against another edition
2.0
In more capable hands, this story could have rivaled Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Unfortunately, the writing throughout is as clunky as the title, and some of the connections are far-fetched.
danielharding's review against another edition
4.0
At times self incriminating - helpful for this book. Smoothly arranged with few distractions. Far fetched in connections at times.
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