‚In Savage Appetites, Rachel Monroe brings a rigorous and illuminating gaze to some of our most disturbing fascinations. Ultimately, she summons generosity and nuance for the discussion of hungers we might be tempted to dismiss entirely, asking revealing questions that are ultimately questions about the nature of desire itself: for intimacy, for freedom, for a sense of meaning. I read this book in a single day, but I know I’ll be thinking about it for years to come — especially its keen appreciation for the mystery of what drives us through this world.‘ —Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams and The Recovering ‚ Savage Appetites, Rachel Monroe’s study on ‘women; crime and obsession;’ can properly be described as brilliant. It informs, entertains, and leaves readers with new cultural perspectives that are long overdue. I’m now a Rachel Monroe fan and after you read this book, you will be too.‘ —Jeff Guinn, author of Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson and The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple “This is like high junk reading, both getting the information, snickering at the misinformation, stalking the stalkers and really brooding on the possibility that the dead female body at the top of the film is feeding a female appetite for death and malfeasance and not yawn more jerk off fodder for men. Our corpses, ourselves!” —Eileen Myles, author of Evolution ‚Rachel Monroe has long been one of my favorite writers at the intersection of crime and culture, and her first book, Savage Appetites, is the grand culmination of her reporting. It’s a standout, formally inventive, and refreshing examination of the way we consume true crime, and the way it consumes us.‘ —Sarah Weinman, author of The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World “I don’t know how Rachel Monroe wrote a book so vivid and perceptive, but I couldn’t put it down. Savage Appetites is an original: at once a thoughtful, beautifully written treatise on why women are drawn to crime stories and a gripping read to satisfy any murder obsessive. I’m not exaggerating when I say Monroe has written a new true crime classic, one that both adds to and challenges the genre.” —Alice Bolin, author of Dead Girls ‚Smart and seductive. In the tradition of Janet Malcolm, Rachel Monroe has turned our cultural hunger for crime stories back on itself, both evoking and interrogating the fascinations that grip us. I learned a great deal from this book, but what’s more, I couldn’t put it down.‘ —Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body ‚A deeply intelligent, intensely gripping work of metacrime. Rachel Monroe is a brilliant new journalist with a sparkly goth heart.‘ —Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Gold Fame Citrus and Battleborn “Getting pulled into a true crime story is like coming down with a fever — all at once it envelops you, then leaves you wondering what overtook you. Rachel Monroe dissects the nature of that obsession on both individual and societal levels in lucid and beautiful prose. You’ll find this book as engrossing as any true crime wormhole on the internet.” —Michelle Dean, author of Sharp: The Women Who Made An Art of Having An Opinion ‚A brilliant book, laced with a perspective that’s long been missing from the world of true crime. Rachel Monroe holds up a mirror to our fascination with illicit tales—and her own—all while deftly unspooling four unforgettable stories from the other side. Savage Appetites is wholly unique and utterly riveting.‘ —Evan Ratliff, author of The Mastermind ‚No one writes about crime like Rachel Monroe, who brings to her subject a profound emotional acuity, a piercing grasp of fixation and frailty, and a precise sort of beauty that never glamorizes but always illuminates. In Savage Appetites, she shows crime obsession to be an equally idiosyncratic, irresistible subject—full of treachery and full of thrills.‘ —Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror ‚I loved this book. I’m not a true-crime fan, but I am fan of brilliant reporting, nuanced cultural criticism, sparkling-clear writing, disarming wit, and the kind of courageous self-indictment that marks the best personal writing. Savage Appetites is a beautiful hybrid of a book that made me question my relationship to celebrity, media, and my own baser appetites.‘ —Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble and Poser “ Savage Appetites is a marvel of original reportage and cultural criticism, and could not be more timely. Like a first responder to a crime scene, Rachel Monroe methodically investigates every inch of America’s obsession with murder stories, unearthing more than a few discoveries, and showing that what makes us tick now has been there all along.” —Kate Bolick, author of Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own
ISBN: 978-1-5011-8889-3
