JT HunterRessenyes

Just. Not. Good. Very flat. It started out like a lot of True Crime stories do...at the point of capture. I was waiting for the author to go back and develop the character of the murderer, what was his childhood like, where did he come from, who was he, but there was only about a paragraph about that:
"He had a happy childhood". No conjecture as to why he did it. No psychological theories of how someone with his background could become the monster he did. Then I was expecting some development of the victims but only got very little information (again a couple paragraphs) about just one of the victims, the final one. From there it quickly went right into the trial and the aftermath and never really discussed the other victims other than their names and how they were murdered. A lot of it was just reprinted transcripts from the trial and news paper reports, so the writer didn't really do much of the work. Pretty much a disappointment and honestly a disservice to the families of the victims. This author had the opportunity to tell their stories and didn't. This might have just been a long news paper story for what it contained. Just the facts ma'am, just the facts.

This true account of the serial killer vampire rapist was the most different true crime book I have ever read. Very in-depth account of the crimes and the conviction of the killer. This book is not for the faint of heart as it is very graphic as it goes into the descriptions of the crimes and there are detailed photos. The author, J.T. Hunter, draws you into the story giving a background on the killer, his crimes, and the conviction. Giving it 4 stars.

The purpose of my reading this book was two-fold. I am extremely interested in what made Israel Keyes the way he was and I am currently taking a psychology course covering serial killers.

JT Hunter goes into intricate detail into the multiple crimes committed by Keyes as well as the ways in which he was a person living two lives. The case that ended Israel's life of crime was the abduction and murder of Sarah Koenig in his home state of Alaska. After burying Sarah, Israel went on a trip to Texas where he was ultimately caught by very attentive Texas Rangers. Once imprisoned, Keyes attempts to control his destiny by giving information to the FBI only under certain circumstances - he wants to ensure that he receives the death penalty and that all information regarding his crimes is kept out of the media while he is alive to ensure that his daughter is not affected. Israel Keyes was a prime example that evil is not always a learned behavior - sometimes people are just born with psychopathic tendencies. Keyes expressed no remorse for his crimes and stated that he only wished he could have killed more people before being caught.

Hunter goes into Keyes killing sprees, his interviews with the FBI, and Keyes controlled ending of his own life. In taking his own life, Keyes forever took his secrets with him. Some of his victims will never be known - and that was exactly how he wanted it.

Horrifying true story of Israel Keyes. After killing close to his home in Anchorage, Alaska, he is finally caught with the help of the Texas Rangers. Does Keyes have kill kits stashed all over the United States? How many of his victims will go unknown after his suicide? Truly scary that such evil walks among us!

In Tortured With Love, author JT Hunter takes the reader behind the scenes of a riveting true crime thriller for an in depth look at the tragic story of the serial killers called the Lonely Heart Killers.

Martha Beck met Raymond Fernandez through a correspondence club called the "Lonely Hearts Club." Raymond used the club to meet and scam lonely women like Martha of their savings. Martha falls in love with Raymond, who has a powerful influence over her, and she pledges her loyalty and devotion, and will do anything for him.

From 1947-1949, their spree of scamming lonely women takes a sadistic turn towards murder, until they are caught and put on trial for first degree murder, and ultimately given the death sentence, and electrocuted on March 8, 1951 in Sing Sing Prison in New York.

The media dubbed this infamous serial killer couple the Lonely Hearts Killers, and they made Time Magazine's list of Top Ten Crime Duos In US History, coming in number 4 behind (1) Bonnie and Clyde, (2) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and (3) Frank and Jesse James.

Tortured With Love is a riveting story that easily draws the reader in from the start, keeping them captivated as the author weaves a thoroughly intriguing and intricate recounting of serial killers Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez's horrific scam and murder spree, and highly publicized murder case.

The author provides the reader with a fascinating and richly detailed and in depth look into the back stories and lives of the serial killers and their victims. The author utilized his extensive experience as a criminal attorney and college professor to provide a thorough recounting of this heinous case with a critical eye towards the research of the serial killers' backgrounds, and the investigative and legal processes of the case; including a very detailed timeline of their crime spree throughout the book.

You can't help but get drawn into this complicated, fascinating, and multi-layered story, it is a gripping dark account of a truly horrific serial killing spree, and the mind boggling investigative and legal path that the justice system took to render justice for the unsuspecting victims.

Tortured With Love is a gripping and chilling true crime account of the Lonely Heart Killers that is a must read for all true crime fans.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours.

https://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2020/08/tortured-with-love-by-jt-hunt...

Tortured With Love by J T Hunter is my fourth true crime novel by him. That being said, the Lonely Hearts Killers is rated the fourth top ten crime duos in US history, according to Time Magazine. Whether it still holds that distinction in 2020, I do not know.

What turns a nurse supervisor at the Crippled Children”s Home into a killer? Tortured With Love strikes very close to home, seeing Martha Beck is from Pensacola, Florida.

Ray had a hard life. Family and friends felt like an accident he had changed his personality. It’ hard to care, seeing he embraced his new self and reveled in his hunt for women.

Evil can be found anywhere, including dating clubs. I don’t know about you, but it sure doesn’t surprise me. It seems like perverts have found a gold mine.

Tortured With Love is a perfect example of how someone can change so much, throwing their life away in the name of love. I have no sympathy or compassion for either one.

The Lonely Hearts Killers took place in the 1940s, so comparing them, and all that has come to pass since then, may make them seem tame.

Many records were lost or unavailable to J T Hunter, but he put together a story that is easy to read and I think leaves a lot to our imagination. They told so many stories, who knows where the truth lies.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Tortured With Love by J T Hunter.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com

This is the third book I have read by this author. The books are the right amount of pages...not too long or too short. Just enough to let the readers know who the subject of the story was and how he/she/they came to become a serial killer.

Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez were way before my time. I had never heard of them before. In fact, when I think back on it; I don't believe I have ever seen a movie based on these two. They were nicknamed by the media as the "Lonely Hearts Killers". Justice was found for the victims.

Their crimes were so notorious that they were rank fourth on Time magazine list of Top 10 Crime Duos in U.S. history. After Bonnie & Clyde, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, and Frank & Jesse James.

The lead detective, George Murtie has a varied and fascinating life story, but Israel Keyes, an Army veteran, loving husband and father, and small business owner turned serial killer is the star of the performance.

Information was cultivated from reports, videos, court documents, interviews, newspapers and Facebook postings..

We will be traveling from Vermont to Alaska, with some stops in between.

Samantha Koenig…bad luck and what ifs would plague me if I were her loving father. Israel Keyes didn’t choose her specifically, he chose the place. She just happened to be there.

IF his story is true, she was compliant, having many opportunities to try and escape, but Israel has convinced her not to. I always wonder how I would act and I can only hope it would be immediate and violent, a fight to the death, seeing he (?) would probably kill me anyway, might as well fight and go down on my own terms.

The more I read, the more I think I have seen this on TV.

Sounds to me like he was exactly what he wanted to be, the guy next door….but, no emotions. Everything he did was for fun. He played the authorities and took his own way out.

Devil in the Darkness by J T Hunter is written in an easy to read format. There is some repetition, but that is to be expected when gathering information from people and places at different times, being true to the facts as J T knows them.

All in all, a well written, grimly told story of evil that walks the earth in the guise of a man.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Devil in the Darkness by J T Hunter.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com

My apologies to the author, but this book, for me, is a train wreck. Some of my thoughts:

While the research seems solid, the book reads like summaries of various newspaper articles, with occasional author input along the way. The details are repetitious and could easily be condensed to half this book's length.

Yes, these are rapes and murders, sex crimes, but at times I felt like I was reading a bad porn fantasy. I suppose this was the author's attempt to get us into the killer's head, despite having absolutely no input from Crutchley or his victims. We're told one rape victim's thighs are "silky," which made me cringe. There is an absolute disrespect for the victims, in that the rapes are sensationalized in tone and detail. Dialogue is included, and yet it's clear that this is fiction coming from the author, not real words from Crutchley or his victims.

We're told what people are thinking at certain times and about certain situations, when the author couldn't possibly know what any of these people thought because he didn't interview anyone.

I got no real sense of Crutchley as a person. We're repeatedly told that he's brilliant, though I saw no evidence of such intelligence. We're told about childish tantrums and we're given an onslaught of his behavior regarding sex. By the end, that's all I knew about this man, who, in this book, is more caricature than intelligent killer.

Throughout the book, Crutchley is portrayed as cocky and self-assured, convinced, even after his arrest, that he'll be found innocent. And then suddenly he accepts a plea deal that keeps him in prison. But we don't know what happened that so abruptly changed his mind. Or maybe he was never really self-assured to begin with. I have no idea.

And, so, all I feel at the end is frustrated.

This is the second true crime novel I have read by this author. I am going backwards. I started with a more recent novel and now read this first one by Mr. Hunter. I did see a different from this earlier book to the more recent one.

While. I found this story to be very weird but fascinating at the same time; there were times when I felt like the pacing of the book got bogged down with too many details. In the beginning it showed the killer taking women and how his obsession started. Afterwards, it seemed that the story than took a couple steps backwards to talk about all of the details about the killer and everyone involved in the case. Don't get me wrong as I did find this interesting but I felt like I could have done without all details even the minor ones.

Yet, as I stated. I have read a more recent book from Mr. Hunter and he seemed to find that better balance between the details and the case. The cases he writes about are very fascinating. I had never heard of these cases. True crime readers who have not read a book from Mr. Hunter may want to do so.

I would think there is no one in Florida who hasn’t heard of Danny Rolling and seeing I live here, I wanted to know more. A book taking place in a familiar location has that little bit extra.

Serial killers….Nature? Nurture? Born evil? Made evil? We can beat the subject to death, but to me the plain truth is…they made the choice…and they need to pay the price for that choice.

J T Hunter covered all the basics and then some. I want to know what makes the bad guy tick, but will that ever really be known? And what makes a woman want to be his penpal, his fiancee, his wife? Now, that, I will never understand. And that raises the question of rights. Why should we make the criminal comfortable and be treated fairly, when he…did what he did. He didn’t give two hoots in hell, so why should we?

Facts don’t tell the whole story, but how can we believe what comes out of his mouth?

And what about the innocents caught in the crossfire…those accused…their lives ruined? The media has a big responsibility and, all too often, I feel they abuse it. I won’t got into a big rant about them, but just look at the shape of the news delivered to you today via radio and TV and tell me you believe what they say and feel they are covering all the things that are pertinent to your life or just splashing the ugly across the headlines.

A Monster of All Time by J T Hunter is a true story that riled up a lot of emotions and ethical and moral questions. We all have to figure out those answers for ourselves.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of A Monster of All Time by J T Hunter.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com

In A Monster Of All Time, author JT Hunter takes the reader behind the scenes of a riveting true crime thriller for an in depth look at a highly publicized murder case set in Gainesville, Florida.

In a span of four days, from August 24-27, 1990, thirty-six year old convict/drifter Danny Rolling terrorized the quiet University of Florida town of Gainesville with a series of three heinous and gruesome crime scene murders of five college students in their apartments. This is a horrific story of a narcissistic and depraved man's descent into madness with a lethal bitterness for the wrongs committed against him in the past, and a dark and twisted sense of revenge to make others suffer and ultimately pay the price by taking their lives, and the investigative and legal process that took sixteen years for justice to prevail.

A Monster Of All Time is a riveting story that easily draws the reader in from the start, keeping them captivated as the author weaves a thoroughly intriguing and intricate recounting of a highly publicized murder case. I remember seeing this case profiled on the television news outlets back in 1990, so when I saw that the author wrote an in depth true crime novel based on this case, it peaked my interest and I knew that I had to read it.

The author provides the reader with a fascinating and richly detailed and in depth look into the back stories and lives of the victims and the serial killer. The author utilized his extensive experience as a criminal attorney and college professor to provide a thorough recounting of this heinous case with a critical eye towards the research of the serial criminal's background, and the investigative and legal processes of the case; including a very detailed timeline, quotes that open each chapter, and crime scene photo inserts throughout the book.

You can't help but get drawn into this complicated, fascinating, and multi-layered story, it is a gripping dark account of a truly horrific serial killing spree, and the mind boggling investigative and legal path that took the justice system sixteen years to render justice for the five victims.

A Monster Of All Time is a gripping and chilling true crime account of the Gainesville Ripper serial killer that is a must read for all true crime fans.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours.

https://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2019/07/a-monster-of-all-time-by-jt-h...

Normally I read Crime Fiction. I'm used to descriptions of horrible things being done to people. Murder and mayhem on every page and gruesome stories in infinite variety being played out on the page for my entertainment.

At first, I was concerned my palate would be too jaded to appreciate a True Crime story but the murders of Sonja, Christina, Christa, Manuel, Tracy and the Grissom family and the everlasting effect these murders had on family and friends quickly moved me to tears.

The storyline wanders all over the place, it moves around in time and focuses on different people. If this were crime fiction I would complain about the lack of focus but the way the story flows it reflects real life. It shows how the police were desperate to find someone to blame for the horrific crimes and if the person they blamed was the wrong person so be it. It also showed the consequences of being blinded to the truth because of a belief in an alternate reality.

We also get a glimpse into the world of women who correspond with inmates and the outcomes of such relationships.

Danny is shown as both an evil monster and an abused child. While the damage inflicted on him by his abusive father is to be abhorred it in no way excuses or justifies the actions Danny took as an adult. The book clearly shows Danny as a wounded and tormented soul but it also clearly shows him as a beast who is unfit to live among the rest of us.

I enjoyed this book, I thought it captured the essence of what happened that summer so long ago but my enjoyment is tempered by the knowledge that these real events cost people their lives.

I was just a little girl when Danny Rolling murdered the five college students. As a fan of true crime stories, I really enjoyed this book. It was just right with the formula. Not bogged down with details but at the same time no little details were lacking either.

I will admit that the murders are very gruesome. It is no wonder that the detectives had nightmares. There was a few times reading this book that I almost put it down for a moment. While, I did not know any of the victims of Danny Rolling; I felt a strong emotion to all of the victims.

I agree that while it was good to see Danny be executed; his punishment did not fit the crimes he committed. This book was a one day read for me. A surprising fact was to learn that Kevin Williamson, creator of the Scream movie franchise found his inspiration from the Gainesville Ripper murders.

Bought this book, well the kindle edition a few days ago. It had raving reviews on amazon.
Probably because of that I was quite disappointed. Not because of the writing because that was good but because of what happened.

I hated that they suspected him of so many crimes and they did not do their job properly. Thanks to their mistakes he did not have a long time in jail as he should of have. That they were able to contain him is not thanks to the police work in this case.

I would give this book no more than a 3.5 but I would buy another book by this author because I did not like what happened but that is not the writer's fault.

This is take 2 on writing a review for this book. Take one sounded like a review of the man and not a review of the book. We will hope I can do better.

Hunter does an excellent job discussing the victims, their experiences, their feelings, and when lucky their escapes. He covers the crimes Crutchley is accused of, the trial, and the ravings, letters, and discussions of Crutchley.

He manages to convey without as much judgment as I feel regarding the fact that Crutchley is suspected of having killed 30 women but no murder charges were ever filed against him. Hunter is fair in his evaluations and a very good writer. I was very impressed by the authors ability to draw and color the picture of the lives of the families of the women lost and their need to bring them home.

If you enjoy true crime novels I would highly recommend this book.