I remembered hearing about this case on the tv and when I saw this book go up on NetGalley I felt like this was a good time to get a book based on a true crime. I use to love reading true crime but kinda gotten away from it and this was a good book to start back up. I felt we got a lot of information. I devoured it in just a few hours. I felt like I learned a lot more about the case then what was told to the public. I still don't feel like we are getting the true story of what happened and we will never but this book gave me more of a perspective of who Chris was before the murders. Huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this opportunity!

I may not be the best person to review this book, as I followed the case from the very start when Shanann and her children were missing. I guess already having so much prior knowledge of it, I was hoping to learn new details from the book. The book gives a great timeline to the events leading up to this tragedy. I found the verbatim recounting of social media posts to be a bit annoying though. I’d recommend the book to readers who aren’t familiar with the case.

Riveting. Like many others had been following this story as it unfolded, but it is difficult to know the facts with the sensationalism occurring in which people aren’t always honest. This author did an awesome job with this as his work of non-fiction read like a work of fiction. The people were well developed characters leaving you feeling as you knew them. There were enough background facts to set the stage without being boring. The one issue I had was how unlikeable the victim was made to be - whether or not that is who she was in real life I felt some sort of victim blaming as though her behaviors towards and treatment of her husband, couple with the product she was pushing him to do was the reasoning behind what he did; regardless the senseless way in which he murdered his children is unthinkable. The book laid out the type of father and husband he was until he wasn’t. Was all of this to be with another woman or much more and I still don’t understand why no psychological evaluation was completed in court. I was up long after finishing this book just looking at my own kids and wondering how anyone could do something so horrific and then go on to show absolutely no emotion. For me, this is one book that will stay with me for a long time to come.

Very well written, interesting to read even though this case has been covered and covered. The author is smooth and concentrates on the family dynamics while following the timeline to.....the end that we already know. Very good writing as I say. Problem is no matter how many times we view the known facts and watch the videos and listen to the podcasts of the actual people involved, we can't really get a handle on Chris Watts' thinking. We just can't. What he did was so stupid, i.e., he had to know it couldn't have worked.
But let me not digress. I'm supposed to evaluate the writing and for the third time, it's good.
Although it's not my job I have to wonder what the market is for this book, as there's so much already out there.
I guess a final chapter by a good forensic psychologist would have raised this book higher than others because what everyone still doesn't understand is what motivated Watts to do something beyond diabolical. Personally, I have to believe another person spurred him on to do it.

I read this book in a day because once I began reading I didn't want to stop. Chris and Shanann both seemed utterly normal, although he was quiet and she was the opposite. The author meticulously documents their life before meeting and during their marriage and also the crime itself and the trial afterwards. The crime is of course horrific but the story of how this couple got to that point is fascinating in itself and well laid out. What also intrigued me about this book was how much of Chris and Shanann's lives and the murder itself played out on social media and how the case against Chris was largely built by reclaiming data from email, internet and webcam.

Thank you #netgalley and #stmartins for the e-review copy of this book.

An informative look at this horrific act a man who killed his pregnant wife and two young children .An act so horrific in a act that is almost impossible to think about..I had read about this sad act in the newspapers and on tvthis well written book really Steph by step tells us what this evil man did .#netgalley#st.martins,

I read this in under 12 hours because I was so excited to read more about this case. Unfortunately, I didn't learn anything knew. I wasn't someone who followed this case closely but somehow I still don't feel like I learned anything that I didn't already know except the background of Chris and Shanann. With that being said, it would still a good and informative read for someone who didn't know anything. The writing made it easy to understand and I never felt confused because the author told this story wonderfully.

I have read a couple of books regarding the Watts murders. This one didn't have any revelations,but it was an accurate account of the incidents. Such a sad event . Why didn't he just divorce Shanann? There is no stigma to getting a divorce. Killing your entire family though? Yeah,that one is hard to get over.

I absolutely adore true crime books, psychology & what makes a seemingly normal person commit such a heinous crime. Chris Watt, doting husband & amazing father & Shannann doing everything she could to look after her family....what was going through his head when he strangled his wife & his two young girls...the terror the younger ones must have felt at the hands of this man whom they were supposed to trust. Started off slow & to be fair It was all the talk of 'thrive' that was putting me off, I actually began to think the author himself was a thrive consultant. Couldn't put the book down in the end.

It’s an all too familiar story. A wife and children disappear and the tear stained, devastated father and husband makes an emotional plea for their safe return. Sadly, this family will never return and the man asking for help knows that because he’s the one who killed them. This story is based on the Watts family specifically Chris Watts, (who has been coined a family annihilator), the man who killed his wife and two daughters. Neighbors and friends were shocked, the man they knew could never have done something like this, but a closer examination revealed a man on the edge, more than capable of committing the most unforgivable of crimes. Do we read true crime to assure us that we are safe in out own little worlds? If so, then there is little reassurance here.