Well … this was hard to read. I’m thankful it was short because I don’t think I could have gone on reading it for much longer.

This book first got on my radar after watching a docuseries about the case of the missing college student, Maura Murray. In the series, James Renner, was interviewed and he mentioned his book, “True Crime Addict.” I enjoy most anything true crime related, and since Murray’s case is still unsolved, I wanted to see what else Renner had learned while researching the mysterious disappearance. The premise of the book was intriguing, and it did lay out the case coherently, follow potential leads thoroughly, and ask appropriate questions in the hunt for the truth, but unfortunately, that’s where my compliments end.

Renner has a serious ego, and it seeped from his poorly written words like grease. This book is a failed attempt to show how deranged his life is because of his obsession with Maura Murray’s case and the murder of another girl, Amy Mihaljevic. Throughout the book, Renner whines about his therapy sessions, psychotic episodes, disobedient son, and “fucked up” life. He claims to be the craziest bastard on planet earth, but I found him to be narcissistic and attention-seeking. His writing is so lifeless and monotonous, when he first throws a swear word in the mix, it is a shock to the reader. His use of “fuck” is so blatantly out of place, it is comical. It’s as if he is only using it to prove just how edgy he is. His use of fuck and other swear words are unnecessary and only make him look desperate to find a way to make his story engaging. After a while, all I could do was laugh at how awkward and dumb his writing was. His life is not as interesting, sensational, or fucked up as he wants to believe. He’s just an average suburban white dude, a bad father, and a childish writer. Try again, Renner.

The Murray story is interesting, but there are so many better ways to learn about it than from this book.

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Created Apr 07, 2019 at 7:27pm • Submit your own review...