A review by juliezantopoulos
In the Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce

dark mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I loved Camilla's You Let Me In and had super high hopes for this book. This is a really hard one to review as it's not the same writing style as her first book, topic, or genre. This is a fictionalized tale of a real life serial killer. I rarely read historical or true crime so I can't compare to many books like this but I DO think that Bruce succeeded in doing what she set out to. Which was to humanize Belle Gunness and to let you see inside the mind of a famous female serial killer. She also explored (fictionally) her relationship with her sister and what it would be like to love your sister even if you suspected her of horrible things. It's about men who broke Belle and drove her to atrocious lengths. 

This book was slow, the writing was repetitive and I anticipated more dramatic fictionalization of the story. There were placed that I thought Bruce could have really pushed the narrative but I understand her desire to stay true to the facts. And she did! This is almost an exact recounting of what we know of Belle and the murders. The only true fictionalization is her inner thoughts and conversations with others. However, those inner thoughts were very repetitive. The POV of her sister Nellie was very repetitive. I swear, if I had to hear about her back ONE MORE TIME. Still, I enjoyed the audiobook and if you like true crime or books about serial killers this may be your perfecct book! 
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