18 books like Nutcracker

What to read after Nutcracker — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

The private diary of Lyle Menendez Lyle Menendez · 1993 · ★ 4.6 · 263p · ≈ 8h · Moderate The personal story of Lyle Menendez is based on a four-and-a-half-year intimate correspondence with the author and covers the murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez by Lyle and his brother Erik and the court trials that ended in hung juries. Shares Case studies, Criminals, True Crime, Murder

Crimes of Passion Howard Engel · 2001 · 239p · ≈ 7h · Moderate The very term "crimes of passion" evokes deep-seated, atavistic responses in everyone's heart. These are the crimes that are born in the emotional core of women and men who are pushed to do the unthinkable. There are never - well, hardly ever - any of the crass considerations of financial gain, no taint of reward; only release. These crimes are direct responses to betrayal, to broken hearts and… Shares Case studies, True Crime, Murder, History

Echoes in the darkness Joseph Wambaugh · 1987 · ★ 3.5 · 415p · ≈ 13h · Moderate On June 25, 1989, the naked corpse of schoolteacher Susan Reinert was found wedged into her hatchback car in a hotel parking lot near Philadelphia's "Main Line." Her two children had vanished. The Main Line Murder Case burst upon the headlines--and wasn't resolved for seven years. Now, master crime writer Joseph Wambaugh reconstructs the case from its roots, recounting the details, drama,… Shares Murderers, Case studies, Criminals, True Crime

A rip in Heaven Jeanine Cummins · 2004 · ★ 4.2 · 302p · ≈ 10h · Moderate It was a headline story in the New York Times and USA Today. It was covered by Court TV and profiled on the Ricki Lake Show. Now, here is the intimate memoir of a shocking crime and its aftermath...one family's immediate and unforgettable story of what victims can suffer long after they should be safe. Shares Case studies, True Crime, Murder, Biography & Memoir

Blind Faith Joe McGinniss · 1981 · ★ 3.7 · 448p · ≈ 14h · Moderate The Marshalls were the model family of Tom’s River, New Jersey, living the American dream of all that money could buy. Rob Marshall was the big breadwinner, king of the country club set. Maria Marshall was his stunningly beautiful wife and the perfect mom to their three great kids. Then one night Rob, his head bloodied, reported Maria had been brutally slain. Sympathy poured in—until… Shares Case studies, True Crime, Murder

Deadly Angel Fred Rosen · 2009 · ★ 3.2 · 227p · ≈ 7h · Moderate An astonishing true story of bizarre love and lethal obsession in America's last frontier. Mechele Hughes came to Wasilla, Alaska (pop. 4200), looking for a new life and easy money. As an exotic dancer at the Great Alaskan Bush Company in nearby Anchorage, she was soon earning thousands a night—and getting expensive gifts from admiring male clients. Three in particular fell under her spell. Each… Shares Murderers, Case studies, Criminals, True Crime

Life Means Life Nick Appleyard · 2009 Shares Murderers, Case studies, True Crime, Murder with this book.

Dead by Sunset Ann Rule · 1995 · ★ 4.5 · 555p · ≈ 18h · Moderate The first 464 pages of this book are standard Ann Rule. A beautiful, brilliant attorney marries a psychopath and suffers dreadfully for her choice of mate. She bears him three beautiful, brilliant little boys while Brad runs through her money, accumulates girlfriends, and is never home when she and the boys need him/ Finally, Cheryl can't bear his abuse any longer. She files for a divorce, and… Shares Murderers, Case studies, Criminals, True Crime

Torches Together Emmy Arnold · 1964 · 220p · ≈ 7h · Moderate **Not many people talk about "joy" these days.** Emmy Arnold's memoir radiates just that - an enthusiasm for life and an unflagging optimism grounded in faith. In a genre awash in sordid sex and dysfunctional relationships, she offers a refreshing account of a hard life lived victoriously, of people brought together, despite their own weakness and turbulent times, to experience new levels of… Shares Biography & Memoir, History

Last Yakuza Jake Adelstein · 2017 · ★ 4.4 · 408p · ≈ 13h · Moderate Shares True Crime, Biography & Memoir with this book.

Severed John Gilmore · 1994 · 237p · ≈ 7h · Moderate The Black Dahlia murder hit post-War Los Angeles like a bombshell . . . an impenetrable mystery—the haunting crown jewel of LAPD’s “unsolved” murders. Even before her savage death, beautiful 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, an aspiring starlet and nightclub habitué, was known as the Black Dahlia—now a magnetic icon in American pop culture, an almost mythical symbol of noir Hollywood. In this expanded… Shares Case studies, True Crime, Murder

The only living witness Stephen G. Michaud · 1983 · ★ 4.5 · 348p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Michaud and Aynesworth are a reporter and an investigator team who interviewed serial killer Ted Bundy while he was on death row in Florida. This volume chronicles his activities throughout several states but is at its best in a long section of transcripts from the interview in which, while he never admits his quilt, Bundy offers vivid details of the crimes and commentary on the mindset of a… Shares Murderers, Criminals, True Crime, Murder

Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade Walter Kirn · 2014 · 272p · ≈ 9h · Moderate In the summer of 1998, Walter Kirn - then a young novelist struggling with fatherhood and a dissolving marriage - set out on a peculiar, fateful errand: to personally deliver a crippled hunting dog from an animal shelter in Montana to the New York apartment of one Clark Rockefeller, a secretive young banker and art collector. Thus began a fifteen-year relationship that drew Kirn deep into the… Shares Murderers, Case studies, True Crime

Smaldone Dick Kreck · 2009 · ★ 2.0 I never thought it would end.—Clyde SmaldoneStarted by Italian brothers from North Denver, the high-profile Smaldone crime syndicate began in the bootlegging days of the 1920s and flourished well into the late twentieth century. Connected to such notorious crime figures as Al Capone and Carlos Marcello, as well as to presidents and other politicians, charismatic Clyde Smaldone was the crime… Shares Case studies, Criminals, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

The killer department Robert Cullen · 1993 · ★ 4.0 · 258p · ≈ 8h · Moderate The spellbinding true tale of the discovery, chase, capture, and execution of Andrei Chikatilo, a serial killing madman who sexually assaulted, mutilated, and killed at least 53 women and children near Rostov-on-Don, Russia, between 1978 and 1986. The story is told by Colonel Vicktor Burakov, Soviet Militia, a brilliant, tenacious investigator who would be the very last man I'd want pursuing me… Shares Murderers, Case studies, True Crime, Murder

Killer Clown Terry Sullivan · 2000 · ★ 4.5 · 400p · ≈ 13h · Moderate He was a model citizen. A hospital volunteer. And one of the most sadistic serial killers of all time. But few people could see the cruel monster beneath the colorful clown makeup that John Gacy wore to entertain children in his Chicago suburb. Few could imagine what lay buried beneath his house of horrors—until a teenaged boy disappeared before Christmas in 1978, leading prosecutor Terry… Shares Murderers, Criminals, True Crime, Murder

Mob star Gene Mustain · 1988 · ★ 4.3 · 269p · ≈ 8h · Moderate John Gotti is terminally ill; when he passes on to that great Mafia in the sky, co-author Capeci will be in great demand for interviews and will the plug the book.As he battles terminal cancer in a federal prison in Illinois, John Gotti, still the acting head of the Gambino Mafia family, is constantly in the news. Once Mr. Gotti ascends to Mafia heaven, he will be worldwide news-and Alpha will… Shares Case studies, Criminals, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

The unicorn's secret Steven Levy · 1988 · 352p · ≈ 11h · Moderate The harrowing tale of Ira Einhorn, who was Philadelphia’s leading 60′s hippie and 70′s New Age activist — supposedly a beacon for pacifism and good feelings. This all changed in 1979, when a search of his apartment for evidence related to the disappearance of his girlfriend 18 months earlier yielded her body, mumified in a trunk in his closet. Einhorn claimed frameup, and the powerful friends he… Shares Murderers, Case studies, Criminals, True Crime

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