The Perfect Father

May 18, 2020
On Aug. 14, 2018, Christopher Lee Watts announced to several Denver, Colo., news stations that his pregnant wife, Shanann, and two young daughters, Bella and Celeste, were missing, and he begged them to come back home. Within 24 hours, Watts, whom the police suspected was the killer, would fail a polygraph test and confess to heinous acts that sent shock waves through his community. In this gripping account, bestseller Glatt (The Family Next Door) exposes two conflicting realities: the idyllic public image of happiness and success, and the disturbing private disintegration of an eight-year relationship. Through investigative reports, interviews, and a cache of social media posts and text messages, the author pieces together the couple’s history from true love to tragedy, including physical abuse and infidelity. While his thorough reporting of repetitive patterns of marital dysfunction can border on the tedious, Glatt’s expert coverage of the investigation is riveting, especially his portrayal of the psychological approaches used to interrogate Watts, who finally admitted to smothering his wife and children and dumping their bodies in an oil tank. (Watts was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.) Police procedural fans will enjoy being immersed in the action at every critical moment. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

May 15, 2020

Social media paints a pretty picture of our lives, depicting perfect vacations, families, and relationships. Glatt (The Family Next Door) offers an account of what happens when that facade falls. In 2018, Shanann Watts, a businesswoman working for the multilevel marketing company Thrive, disappeared, along with her two young daughters, Bella and Celeste. The story swept the nation as her husband, Chris, used media interviews to broadcast his family's plight, but soon he confessed to killing his pregnant wife and his children. The media and public alike were fascinated by Shanann's social media feed, which told the story of this beautiful family with seemingly everything going for them, and how their lives were turned upside down in gruesome fashion. Glatt thoroughly describes every detail of the case, from the Wattses' doomed courtship to their finances to Chris's adultery. Favoring a straight telling of the facts over analysis of the crime, Glatt leaves readers to draw their own conclusions. VERDICT Fans of the Investigation Discovery show Nightmare Next Door are sure to appreciate this gripping read.--Ahliah Bratzler, Indianapolis P.L.

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