The Killing Kind

May 12, 2014
In this workmanlike true crime book, Phelps (I'll Be Watching You) focuses on unrepentant killer Danny Hembree, who taunts the families of his victims from his prison cell. The discovery of 17-year-old Heather Catterton's semi-naked body, discarded by her killer, foreshadows what is to come. In short order, 30-year-old Randi Saldana's half-burned corpse signals to York County (S.C.) Sheriff's Office investigators that they are looking for a serial killer. For all their dissimilarities, the lives of the two victims intersected in a world of drugs and exploitation, a world where Hembree preyed on vulnerable women. The narcissistic killer seizes the chance to take center stage with lurid confessions of a decades-long career of violent robbery, assault, rape, and murder, convinced that cunning and lies will save him from death row in the trial that follows. Fans of the author's Discovery TV series, Dark Minds, will be rewarded.

August 1, 2014

In this real-life story of Danny Hembree's trial for the murder of two Gastonia, NC, women, true crime writer and star of Investigation Discovery's Dark Minds, Phelps (Perfect Poison) presents in-depth research and interviews that allow for vivid descriptions of characters and events. Unfortunately, the author's obvious, though justified, contempt for Hembree detracts from what one expects to be an impartial narrative. Similarly, Phelps's occasionally overly conversational style is distracting and creates an, at times, amateurish tone more appropriate to Internet comment threads (this is not a criticism of his reproduction of local speech, which he explains in an author's note). He generally succeeds in avoiding the temptation to delve overmuch into the personal and family histories of all the players in this drama and in keeping the story focused on Hembree and the investigation of his crimes. VERDICT Fans of true crime, forensics, and serial killer activities will all find something of interest here. This standard, by-the-numbers courtroom drama will pass the time sufficiently for readers who enjoy such books but will neither impress current readers of the genre, nor convert new readers to it.--Ricardo Laskaris, York Univ. Lib., Toronto

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