You might’ve heard about the Slenderman case, which happened in 2014 and was alllll over the news. Two preteen girls, Morgan and Anissa, became obsessed with the online fictional character of Slenderman, leading them to commit a heinous attack against a classmate, Bella.

Most news reports skimmed the surface or sensationalized the crime; this book does a deep and detailed dive into what lead to the attack and what came after. The author has researched extensively and interviewed Morgan and her family, although the other girls and their families declined to participate. The result is a highly readable true crime piece that is empathetic to mental illness and shines a spotlight on the abysmal state of the judicial and prison systems for minors with mental illnesses.

Some readers felt that the narrative comes across as excusing Morgan’s crimes as not being her fault, and although I didn’t view it that way, I can understand that perspective. While Hale does not minimize the horrific nature of what happened to Bella, the book is heavily focused on how adults, schools and the prison system failed the perpetrators, particularly Morgan. The fact that Hale had access to Morgan but not Anissa and Bella surely shaped her somewhat lopsided approach.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me an advance copy of this book.

This book was absolutely amazing. I loved the fact that the author really did their research and really dug into everything. I live in Wisconsin and watched a lot of what was going on with this but there was so much behind the scenes that I didn't know. My thought processes actually changed a little while reading this book and I am glad for that. I hope this author stays on this path and really writes more books like this as I believe this is her calling. She gave fair time to each side and I believe a fair rendition of each side with really no opinions but just statements of facts. Great Job!

I didn’t know much about the Slenderman case except the basics: two twelve-year-old girls stabbed their best friend because Slenderman told them to do it (or something like that). As the book points out in the beginning, many wrongly believe that the victim died – I can’t remember if I knew this before reading.

This is a very readable account of what happened: before, during and after the crime. I’m sure there will be criticism for its bias (it mostly centres on Morgan Geyser, the principal offender). However, Morgan and her family were the only ones willing to talk to the author – the victim (Payton Leutner) is discussed sympathetically but however meticulously researched this book is, there is a limit to information available so any more would be speculation. Also, this is not just an account of the crime but of how two children (both diagnosed with mental illnesses) were treated within the justice system.

The writer shows Morgan and Anissa both as sympathetic characters here – and effectively so. Of course, Payton survived a horrific attack that could/should have been prevented, but in being treated as adults, the children who carried out the attack were denied access to services and medication that would increase their chances of rehabilitation and of growing into healthy adults.

Perhaps another account with a different slant would change my opinion, but after reading this I’m left thinking it was a tragedy all around.

Thanks, Netgalley and Grove Atlantic.

I've been fascinated by this story since it happened. It's tragic. I did not know much about this story but this definitely helped me to gain insight. The slenderman story is fascinating.

From the first page I was hooked. The book is very well written and tells the events in such a realistic and compelling way. Reading about what occurred caused me to feel truly heartbroken for all parties involved and pushed me to research the case myself. Well done!

It's sometimes difficult to realize just how impressionable young people are. Between the issues of adolescence, mental instability, and the power of the internet, two young girls are led into an arena of insanity and murder.

I remember hearing of the Slenderman, and of how the young seemed fascinated by his eerie presence. Two twelve year old girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, were convinced that they needed to murder their classmate in order to protect themselves and their family. It is a story of two girls who had obvious mental illnesses, being drawn into a web of lies courtesy of a website entitled creepypasta. The scary stories and the macabre drew the girls into a story that particularly fed the early onset schizophrenia that Morgan was experiencing, convincing her that she had seem the Slenderman as she convinced Anissa what must be done to protect themselves and their families.

They viciously stabbed their friend, who thankfully survived and both Morgan and Anissa were tried as adults for this heinous crime.

The author shows empathy for all in her telling. She depicts the decline of Morgan and how easily it is to believe in a myth when young minds are so convinced they are right. It also showed how undiagnosed mental illness leads to times that are violent and heart breaking.

Many details make this a worthwhile story for those who like true crime with a blending of urban myths.

Thank you to Kathleen Hale, Groove Press, and NetGalley for a copy of this intriguing story.

Very interesting read. I enjoyed learning about this case and it kept me up reading most of night. Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for chance to read.

A meticulous and harrowing account of the attempted murder of a 12 year old girl in Wisconsin by two 12 year old peers.

The book is well written and in chronological order. Much research was evidently carried out when the book was being written. It was interesting and engaging.

The attempted murder was horrific but also too is how young people with mental illnesses are treated by the American judicial system. So much horrified me with regards to the treatment of the girl with schizophrenia. The book demonstrates how flawed the American system is with its treatment of young offenders etc.

This was such a crazy yet sad story on how mean kids can be and then take it to the next horrible step! I’ve always been into true crime and this really hit it out of the park.

A really great expose on the true crime stabbing of the girls influenced by Slenderman. This is a book ala Krakauer!

This was a good book. I enjoyed reading it. My only complaint about the book was that in some spots it jumped around a little bit from different time periods and a bit jumpy when switching to giving information about cases that were discussed in the case of the girls. It got confusing a couple times with the switch and it not having a clear transition between the texts. But overall I enjoyed reading it and found it interesting because we got to see into the minds of some of the people involved, seeing what they were thinking/feeling was interesting.

Off the bat, I’m confused by some of the reviews I’ve seen about this book criticizing it for not being about the victim when that’s clearly not the focus of the account. This part of this incredibly sad, possible avoidable story is focused on the lack of mental health resources in the criminal justice system/lack of awareness in communities in general, and the book played its part perfectly.

So well researched, and so eye opening in so many ways. Some of its language gets a bit repetitive at times, but that didn’t take anything away from the overall writing of the book.

All in all, would highly recommend to any true crime folks who want more details on a case that was so publicized (and in a lot of cases, inaccurately publicized)

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Press for this ARC.

A great, extensive recounting of a truly tragic incident.

Kathleen Hale's meticulously researched account of 2014's "Slenderman stabbing" kept me up until 3 AM, but I don't regret my current sleep deprivation at all. I vaguely followed this case and was shocked at the grossly unjust treatment of the two child offenders, but before reading this, I had no idea how much of a legal and parental failure this case really is.

In Waukesha, Wisconsin, middle schoolers Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, driven by an obsession with Slenderman of creepypasta fame, stabbed their friend Peyton Leutner almost to death in order to gain the internet boogeyman's favor. Thanks to a passing cyclist and skilled surgeons, Peyton miraculously survived and is doing well, but she will clearly suffer the physical and emotional repercussions for the rest of her life.

This incident is the definition of a "perfect storm". The entanglement of Morgan's rare, childhood-onset schizophrenia, Anissa's desperate desire to please, and Peyton's loyalty and trusting nature resulted in a vicious attack that destroyed lives. I don't see this case in the black-and-white manner that many others do, and I don't blame the two attackers for their literally insane crime. I spent most of the book furious with the absolutely useless adults surrounding all three of these girls.

Peyton's parents knew that their daughter's friendship with Morgan was moving in an unhealthy direction, and did nothing. Morgan's father has schizophrenia, but when his daughter began having obvious hallucinations, he and his wife did nothing. Anissa's parents entirely ignored their daughter, and of course, did nothing.

The girls' teachers witnessed Morgan's bizarre behavior, and did nothing. The school principal and counselors caught Morgan in school with a weapon, and did nothing. After their arrest, the adults in the Wisconsin justice system knew that Morgan was severely ill, and allowed her to go unmediated for nearly 19 months.

That's right. The state of Wisconsin forced a schizophrenic child to go unmedicated for 19 months. Extended periods of psychosis cause brain damage.

Wisconsin, a Texan is calling your justice system insane. Think about that.

And don't get me started on a judge who was more concerned with pandering to his fanatical, vengeful political base than, you know, dispensing justice.

Kathleen Hale's book is a saddening, infuriating, and incredibly well-written account of a tragedy that could have been prevented long before it began. Highly recommended.

This whole case is absolutely horrific. It has the same feeling as Runaway Devil - the Jasmine Richards and Jeremy Steinke case of 2006 - in the sense that it is about the horrific acts of 12 year olds and the mental health issues that played a part in it all (not to excuse what these children did, they stabbed their friend 19 times. That’s fucked up.) This was written well, kept me captivated the whole time and gave a really great inside look at what happened before, during and after the crime was committed. Highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Extremely sad fact based account of the attempted murder of a twelve year old girl by her so called friends. Bella thought she was going to a routine sleep over with her two friends Morgan and Anissa, but what happened to her was anything but routine. Giving the reason that they did it to protect their families from “Slenderman,” Morgan stabbed Bella repeatedly almost killing her, while Annissa cheered her on. This book gives a history of the young perpetrators mental illness that went on untreated and largely unknown about by their families. While I believe these two girls should never be released from prison, this book gives an account of untreated mental illness and the effects this can have.

Let me start by saying, I feel guilty, when I asked fo review this book I was on guard to read something exploitative, and misinformed. This is the first time that I've seen Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weir truly empathized with as misguided children who did a terrible thing.

I was in my late teens when Slenderman popped up in the zeitgeist and as a young adult had fun watching the "found footage" videos. My niece and nephew are slightly younger than Morgan and Anissa, and I remember when they started asking me and telling me what they knew about Slenderman. I sat them down explaining Photoshop and urban legends, and how easy it was to make things up. My nephew in particular has always been into the strange and when I talked to him about other creepypastas in this book he was able to explain them all to me. I've worked with many kids in different jobs and it's amazing how impressionable they are.

The thing about Morgan and Anissa is that I feel like if they just had an adult like me around, everything would have been different. That sounds cocky, but you can't underestimate how isolating being a 'weird' kid is. It's easier to say a kid is creative or trouble than talk to them about what they're experiencing.

Hale never lessens the horror that the Victim Bella suffered, but doesn't demonize the other girls like most other reporting has. When this case happened I payed attention to everything and I never saw bad kids, I saw lonely and sad ones. I saw girls that looked like students I taught art to. What they did was terrible, but I am against the mindset of 'adult crime, adult time'. The prison system in this country is f***ked enough without deciding that a 12 year old offender has no chance of redemption.

I don't know if my opinion would change if Bella had been murdered. I'm just grateful she survived.

It was tough going through the years of trial information, mostly because it was infuriating and I knew from previous knowledge that they were denied over and over again in almost every motion. To be honest it's usually the aftermath and legal jargon that slows down my pace of reading in True Crime books. Despite that I must give credit for the author for being thorough instead of just listing all the failed arguments.

This is a good read for anyone wanting to know all the information. Kathleen Hale really got all the information she could and gave the human story and not just the horror of the internet.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Slenderman
by Kathleen Hale
Pub Date: August 16, 2022
Grove Press
* True Crime *Nonfiction
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
I read the author's notes before I read the book and found them to be helpful. Readers at our library enjoy true crime. The author states that this book is the result of seven years of research. She also relied on a police interview with the victim. This is a very one-sided view of this crime. Look back again at the author's notes and you will see why. Also if you look back at the author she has some questionable behaviors going on as well as stated by her publisher Grove Atlantic. The publisher's copy for the book begins: "Kathleen Hale has been known to stalk people from time to time. Not recently, of course, and only online. Well, mostly online."
Interesting book but I cannot recommend it.
3 stars

This was a fantastic read and I’m so grateful that I was approved to read it. This isn’t the read for people who solely like reading a victim oriented type true crime, although in saying that, there was quite a lot involving the victims. However, this is more focused on the two child (yes, there were children) offenders and a brief lead up to the event and then the court/legal/mental health goings on. It was thoroughly researched, from an outsider (Aussie) looking in, I find the laws of Wisconsin both backwards and archaic. I cannot believe they were tried as adults, and completely disgusted, as a psychologist myself, at the lack of care a mentally ill child was put through. As a worker in the system, it’s not a place for a mental ill adult, let alone a child. The crime itself is horrific, the poor victim and the horror she endured… I really enjoyed the updating throughout this piece as well as to just a touch of the struggle that she had to endure. There’s a lot there that we still don’t know in that aspect and while I would love for a book that would explore the victims side more, I can certainly understand her and family’s rights to privacy. Fantastic read, will definitely recommend to everyone!

Thanks again.

Slenderman by Kathleen Hale is the heartbreaking true crime story of two 12-year-old girls caught up in delusions created by online stories about Slenderman leading to the stabbing of their friend Bella. I originally heard about this case on the news when it first occurred, and I wondered how such a horrific crime could be carried out by two young girls. This book describes not only what happened, but also why it happened and what happened afterwards. What I took away from this book is that our mental health system, especially when it comes to offenders, is seriously lacking and inadequate.

In 2014, Morgan Weier and Anissa Geyser convinced their friend to go on a walk with them to the park where they stabbed her 19 times. Thankfully, she survived the attack and with time has been able to overcome her injuries. The story told in this book is an exploration of why two young girls would stab their friend, and the answer is complicated.

Morgan Weier started having visual hallucinations as early as 6 years old. She never talked to her parents about it but sensed that she was different than other children. She struggled with social connections and staying in the present. What she found out later was that her father had schizophrenia, and so did she, but by the time she found out it was too late. Her parents later admitted they had dismissed the signs because it was hard enough having one person with Schizophrenia in the family, they hoped by ignoring the signs it would go away.

After the stabbing, although they were 12 at the time, not only were they interrogated without an adult present and made to sign consent waivers, but they were also tried as adults. Morgan was clearly in the full-blown stages of psychosis but left without medical treatment for months. To me, in a society that prides itself on progress, this is barbaric and a symptom of the low status people with serious mental health issues hold in our society.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in true crime or issues surrounding mental illness. It’s not an easy read but one I still consider an important addition to the mental health library.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for allowing me to read an arc of this book!

I was interested in this book because I’m a licensed marriage and family therapist associate and this case has intrigued me for some time. I liked the book and I thought it was interesting that the other was able to view it through a slightly different lense then an average journalist because she is from Wisconsin and had conversations with Morgan herself. Overall, a good book about the case.

I do think it needs a lot of editing. Paragraphs were choppy and there were some that were broken up that clearly weren’t supposed to be. There was also weird numbers and words in between the paragraphs that was distracting. Finally, the author should focus on sequential order because many times she jumps way back in the middle of a paragraph and it’s confusing and disturbs that flow of the paragraph.