You Have a Very Soft Voice, Susan is NOT your typical book.

The story begins with Susan Fensten’s online search for her father’s family, a search that soon turns into a two-year frightening odyssey of internet stalking and threats when a posting on a genealogy message board brings her into contact with what she thinks are distant cousins, but what turns out to be a sociopath.

Through email correspondence with her new “family”, evidence of mental illness, dark family secrets, a struggle over wealth, and bizarre criminal histories emerge. She quickly becomes the focus of sexual obsession and suspicion, and her life is completely turned upside down. She soon becomes the target of dozens of frightening characters including real verifiable convicted sex offenders in an elaborate cyber-hoax that includes threats of kidnapping, murder, rape, torture, and cannibalism.

It may not be for everyone, but I must say it was very well written.

I really wanted to like this book but really? You are contacted via email full of craziness and you respond? Why? And you keep up dialogue via a computer with people that send u lunacy? Why? Trough out this book the more I read, I just kept asking myself Why? I had no sympathy for the author because it should have just been ignored. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

I had an interest in this because I have been stalked online myself, but this was something else entirely. Absolutely gripping, and terrifying.

Thanks to by Susan Fensten and WildBlue Press for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This... um... creepy book was exceptional. I couldn't put it down, as much as I wanted to! I might just close all of my online accounts down now.

This was such a crazy book to read. I was really surprised that all of this happened with so little law enforcement interaction. I have heard the stories about things like this but assumed they were sensationalized for readability. This book invokes emotion where you should feel and by the end, you are going to agree with everything that is said about each person involved. Well- written and very captivating

This had a lot of promise for me, I had high hopes and the hype was high. I really thought I was going to enjoy You Have A Very Soft Voice, Susan but I sadly didn't. I had lost interest while reading it but pushed through it to see if it would pick up my interest again but it didn't.

“You Have A Very Soft Voice, Susan” written by Susan Fensten with Brian Whitney, is an incredible terrifying true story of internet stalking that culminated in threats of kidnapping, violence, torture and death. Fensten,, an artist and book publicist, has studied Film and Art at Hunter College and lives in New York. This is her first book.

In 2003, the internet was a new innovative as people were learning the latest ways to communicate. Susan was thrilled to find her cousin’s on Genology.com. With a family history of mental illness, Susan had tragically lost her sister and father, and was eager to learn more about her father’s family history. Susan’s joy and excitement after finding her cousins was short lived-- her widowed cousin Sharon Barnes immediately falsely and viciously accused Susan of contacting the family for financial gain insisting she was merely an opportunist and grifter. Susan was horrified when her cousin Len, seemed to be obsessed with her and began emailing pornographic images, sexually explicit messages and graphic photos of himself dressed as a woman.

When her inbox was flooded with messages from Len and his kinky friends, Susan enlisted the help of her computer savvy friend who was knowledgeable of the newest technology to combat internet problems. When the situation worsened, Susan became severely anxious, depressed and worried constantly for her safety. There seemed to be no end to the strange and dark threatening messages-- many were linked to deranged cult members. This is also a story of Susan’s courage to report her ordeal to the NYPD and refusing to stop her fight for justice when she turned to the FBI and bravely battled the unseen forces that had become her frightening new reality. ~ With thanks to the WildBlue Press via NetGalley for the DDC for the purpose of review.

What the actual fuck did I read- in a good way. This kept me intrigued until the very end! I enjoyed this read.

This had plenty of promise and I really liked the beginning portion that set up the stalking aspect of the story and the background information. I kind of zoned out after awhile and was not interested in continuing with this. This had promise but I couldn't see this through. This could have been a better book in someone else's hands.

Truly shocking and creepy and the fact that it is a true story makes it all the more so.

What starts out as an ordinary and innocent genealogy search becomes something else entirely in this book by Susan Fensten. I was lured by the title and initially I had been expecting something like a thriller, however this soon became an obsessive, fascinating though rather horrific read for me. I have never had any inclination to find out any more about my own relatives so far and this true account of the author's experiences serves as a stark warning about internet security to me if I ever decided to.

The writing flows well and never lost my attention, throughout. Disturbing and unnerving, You Have A Very Soft Voice, Susan was certainly a worthwhile read.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from WildBlue Press via NetGalley at my own request. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

When I started reading this book, I thought it can’t be true, but it is. The level of malevolence and vitriol directed at the main character was quite difficult to read in the beginning, but it is a fascinating tale nonetheless. Halfway through, as the story proceeds, you begin to understand the motivation of the stalkers/stalker.
The level of deceit, and the ultimate betrayal is astounding. I read this book through the night, could not put it down, and it stayed in my mind for days afterwards.

Susan goes on a genealogy site to look for lost relatives and things really go down hill from there. She thinks she has made contact with a relative but things soon get really weird and continue on over a couple year period. This book gets really creepy and scary but I felt it could have been shorter. Thank you to NetGalley and Wild Blue Press for the opportunity to read this very engrossing book.

This was a fantastic read. It was gripping and chilling and held my attention. It creeped me out though and while even if it had been a work of fiction it still would have been creepy the fact that it was real upped the creepiness.

Thanks to the publishers for sharing this book. I found it fascinating, but ultimately very frustrating to read, which is why it has taken me quite a long time to finish. I kept wanting to shout at Susan "Just stop talking to/emailing these people!", though I recognise that beyond a certain point that wouldn't have solved the problem- you don't have to be present online for people online to cause trouble for you. Still, the book got a bit repetitive around the middle.

I love a good true crime story. I was instantly intrigued when I read the title of this book, You Have A Very Soft Voice Susan by Susan Fensten. This is the true account of Susan’s search for her father’s family and spirals into internet stalking and threats.

Here’s what you need to know:

The story begins with Susan Fensten’s online search for her father’s family, a search that soon turns into a two-year frightening odyssey of internet stalking and threats when a posting on a genealogy message board brings her into contact with what she thinks are distant cousins, but what turns out to be a sociopath.

Through email correspondence with her new “family”, evidence of mental illness, dark family secrets, a struggle over wealth and bizarre criminal histories emerge. She quickly becomes the focus of sexual obsession and suspicion, and her life is completely turned upside down. She soon becomes the target of dozens of frightening characters including real verifiable convicted sex offenders in an elaborate cyber-hoax that includes threats of kidnapping, murder, rape, torture and cannibalism.

Remarkable in its complexity, this story of Internet stalking is also a sinister and shocking journal of madness. Described by the FBI as a case “in a category by itself,” This book is a story about the Internet, the search for family, a friendship and a journey into the underbelly of American crime that raises questions about safety online and pushes the boundaries of our perceptions of what is real and what is not.

I like true stories because so often, truth is really stranger than fiction. I cannot wait to get started on reading this.

You can buy the book here, it’s been out for a few months!

This book dragged a bit for me but really picked up at the end. It was horrifying to read about what the author went through and was truly chilling. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.

Susan reaches out on the web to find family from her father's side. An innocent message. Not much different than signing on to an ancestry page. Little does she know the terror and madness and degradation that she will be subjected to for the next two years. Night and day, thousands of emails on her home computer and at work from supposed lost family members. The police can't do anything for her. Then it starts attacking her boyfriend. Someone that they shouldn't even know about. She is threatened with death, cannibalism, torture, all kinds of sadistic pictures and poems. The only ones she can escape to are her friends. Hey best friend Bob, that knows his way around a computer tries to help her solve the mystery of the deranged and psychotic people that are supposed to be her family.
Finally with an FBI investigation instigated on her behalf, she may be able to find the people that are stalking her on the internet and in real life. Hopefully to put an end to the nightmare that stalks her every moment.
Extraordinary! Compelling, and just plain scary!!

This book was so weird!

You Have A Very Soft Voice Susan is a true story and the story was so bizarre that I kept shaking my head and thinking, "whatt?!"
The beginning of the book was a struggle to get through as you must read through all this background that doesn't add much too the story and just tries to build suspense by telling you soon the story will get wild ...
"like a carnival of cracked mirrors with a quicksand floor with phantoms reflected in the glass"
...okayyyy.
There's a ton of just boring day to day stuff, blah blah Susan really wishes her dad wasn't a fuckup, blah blah she really likes her job, etc. And I just wanted to get to the creepy stuff already!

Finally, it gets creepy as fuck really fast about 70% through the book. More descriptive writing happens....
"I was like a bull who had stumbled into a shuttered, cobwebbed china shop. Every step I took knocked over some precariously placed urn."

What happened to Susan is freaky, but I kept thinking "damn lady, don't you know how the internet works?!" and "geeez, stop being so nice!" And then she had to go and describe people as "sex ghouls" and "geisha goth" and I couldn't help but laugh and picture Susan looking like that 'Can I speak to your manager' meme.

Everything wasn't as shocking as I hoped, but it was a fascinating story and good for a laugh.

Creepy, screwed up, twisted - should I keep going?
I love the fact that these are events that actually happened (as unfortunate as it is to the author) - it goes to show people are seriously f’d up.
And can we talk about the title and cover?! It’s perfect. And gives me chills. And it’s what drew me to read this book in the first place.
If you’ve ever had a weird experience online, give this book a read - it’ll make you think twice about even the most innocent gestures.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks NetGalley!

soo.. the title huh? I truly didnt' know what to expect of this book based on the title alone. the first part of the book was a TAD slow, but the second half? made it all worth ti. i'm glad i held on through the first half.

stalking is a crazy real thing, and this book sheds some light onto how easy / often it happens.