Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • The Millions

    Why I Read True Crime

    by Sarah Cords Jan 24, 2018 5 minutes

    For years I have been unsuccessfully recommending true crime books to friends. The second you tell someone you’ve just read a mind-blowing book about Jeffrey Dahmer that they simply must read, they start to back away from you. The first rule of reading true crime, evidently, is that you don’t talk about reading true crime.

    And yet I’m clearly not the only one reading (or watching) it. Books by Ann Rule and Harold Schechter are perennial bestsellers; the podcast Serial and the Netflix series Making a Murderer have led to a resurgence in true crime popularity, with more people reading it than ever before.

    The question is, why?

    Does true crime permit people to “ventilate their sadistic impulses…in a socially acceptable”?  Or does it serve as a “”? Or do these stories prompt us to “take a long, hard look at the contexts in which such atrocities arise” and “”?

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from The Millions

    The Millions6 min read
    Álvaro Enrigue Won’t Romanticize Mexican History
    "'You Dreamed of Empires' is at open war with the romantic representations of the Mexican past." The post Álvaro Enrigue Won’t Romanticize Mexican History appeared first on The Millions.
    The Millions7 min read
    Kate Briggs Isn’t Trying to Be Original
    "I’ve never been interested in making a claim to originality." The post Kate Briggs Isn’t Trying to Be Original appeared first on The Millions.
    The Millions5 min read
    In Alexandra Tanner’s ‘Worry,’ Illness Is the Status Quo
    In a novel where sisterhood entails constant conflict, illness provides an unexpected emotional salve. The post In Alexandra Tanner’s ‘Worry,’ Illness Is the Status Quo appeared first on The Millions.

    Related Books & Audiobooks