This is a great dive into the life of Jennifer Dulos before and after she met her murderer. ⁣
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Many true crime stories focus so much on the killer rather than the people they killed, so I appreciate the author doing so much research into Jennifer’s story.⁣
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Cohen paints a vivid picture of Jennifer’s privileged upbringing as well as the collapse of her marriage to a controlling, status-hungry man. ⁣
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This is everything that other true crime stories should be. The crime is important, but you can find facts of it anywhere. ⁣
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What you won’t find in news articles are the in-depth details Cohen provides throughout this book that remind us that Jennifer was a real person rather than a headline or a woman experiencing domestic violence. She was an accomplished writer, she had dreams and goals, she loved her family.⁣
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Jennifer also now has a law named after her, which “allows victims subject to coercive control by a family or household member to be eligible for civil restraining orders,” among other protections (Connecticut General Assembly, Public Act No. 21-78).

My gratitude to #netgalley, #macmillanaudio, & author #RichCohen for the opportunity to listen to #MurderInTheDollhouse on #audiobook (narrated by the incredible Edoardo Ballerini).

I was loosely aware of the Jennifer Dulos case back when details were emerging in May 2019 but never followed specifics beyond the basic info shown on the news. I learned, based upon the extensive information contained in this book, that a variety of case-related media had been created (print, small-screen) based upon the entirety of events. Even so, I would find it difficult to believe that any content could touch the thoroughness and intelligence with which this book was researched and compiled - that is the greatest takeaway from my reading experience. This compendium of facts, quotes, interviews, timelines, and relevant family/cultural background is expertly researched and well-written, A compelling and addictive account of a true and fairly recent tragedy..

The book is heartbreaking, frustrating, maddening, and deeply sad. The title is drawn from Jennifer Dulos' persevering childhood "dream" of the perfect family - a dollhouse family - based upon integral familial and cultural impressions (she is well-to-do and doted upon by her father). This is a story of a dream deferred and later - a dream (and the dreamer) destroyed - never to be located again (to date).

There were the repeated frustrations of delayed police work and less than thorough and timely investigations and the absolutely maddening role of the legal system - especially lawyers and judges - who only seemed to stoke the fires of bitterness and hatred between the estranged Dulos couple..

I finished the book with the feeling that nefarious and evil things were done - to Jennifer and to the Dulos children, especially - but that maybe some of it could have been avoided or at least not so aggressively provoked. Hate and fear make people do unthinkable and irreversible things and, without laying out specifics, I do believe that the perpetrators were especially narcissistic and had little to no compassion toward the Dulos children or their mother. I believe that they had deluded themselves into believing they were victims who were "owed" something and that became a blinding motivator for everything that followed.

I'm not a regular pursuer of true crime books but do have a background in criminology and sociology (and writing). Like most people I know, these cinematic, larger-than-life cases are so sensationally reported it is easy to get pulled into the story (aka 20/20 and Dateline). That said, this was NOT, in my opinion, a true crime book. It was clear from the beginning that Rich Cohen felt a personal connection to the people, places, and events which took place. I believe he did an excellent and thorough job in relating the tragedy of this lost mother and the legacy it will leave on all who knew and loved her (especially her children). I think it also serves as an excellent warning to those who travel down these bitter and acrimonious roads (esp with children involved). It's important, at various times, to stop and ask yourself what you are doing and - "Is it worth it?"

I strongly recommend the audiobook!!

I was so disappointed in this book. It sounded like such an interesting story that I had actually never heard about. Reading it, it included so many big names being connected to Jennifer that I would have thought this would have been a much bigger story. When I read the descrption it was an unputdownable edge of your seat story of her disappearance. Except the only part of this book that covered her murder and what happened was the last part of the book. The entire book was just back story on her and her husband and their life and divorce. Yes, it does give back story of what could have lead up to it but I didn't want to read a story about their lives. It was supposed to be about her disappearance, murder, and the after effects. Once it got to that it did interest me and how things played out but I almost DNF the book many times before that because it was just a life story about her.

Listened to the audio thanks to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio #partner

A great listen. Learned a few things I hadn’t known about this case. I’ve seen all the documentaries but didn’t remember the husband’s friend’s wife who Fotis had taken out to lunch/dinner and who he tried to get to go home with him. How creepy. Sounds like there would have been another victim had this other girl not listened to her instincts. It also throws a wrench into the potential planning of this murder and another person who could have stopped it - though that dude is a loser and wanted his own ex wife killed, I’m sure.

This broaches the issue of why so many men think it’s okay to kill women. The statistics are shocking, sad, and all around just horrible. Fotis was a spiteful man and his violence towards Jennifer was only escalating. More should have been done previous to her being killed. While her body has yet to be found we all know she is dead.

We need better resources for women in situations like the one Jennifer was in. More funding to programs like Women Care - who rebranded and are now called something else but I know them as Women Care. Restraining orders don’t save lives and are essentially useless in my eyes.

This was a comprehensive book that covers the early years of Jennifer’s life up until her disappearance. My heart breaks for her children. Jennifer had such a sad life towards the end. I wish she would have gotten to find her peace and happiness after her divorce.

Recommend.

This was interesting but not fascinating. More of a straightforward reportage of events than a book with an opinion on those events, it tells the story of Jennifer Dulos, who was in the midst of an acrimonious divorce and custody battle when she was killed by her husband. I was not familiar with the case before listening to the book; this may be of more interest to people who followed the news at the time and want more info on the backgrounds of the major players.

I listened to the audiobook but wasn't super impressed with the narration. I'd say if you're interested, either audio or print would be fine. I don't think the audio adds much (if anything) to the experience.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the audiobook.

*no rating because of how sensitive it is.
Dark, chilling, and utterly gripping.
The narrator did an excellent job telling the story.
Murder in the Dollhouse dives deep into the haunting true crime case of Jennifer Dulos. It paints a vivid picture of the world she lived in…privileged, controlled and a polished life that holds darkness. You get a good look into her life leading up to her murder/disappearance.
It’s the kind of story that lingers.

I remember every second of following the horrific trial of the murder of Jennifer Dulos. This audiobook covers the unfolding of the case in great, heart-breaking detail. How did this divorce turn deadly so quickly? Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Unfortunately this one was just not for me. I was expecting more of an exciting true crime story but this did not keep me engaged. There was a lot of backstory without getting to the crime. There were also a lot of people introduced briefly and it was hard to keep track of them. I love true crime but this one just seemed like a lot of facts written down and not much reflection of the events. I did listen to the audiobook and perhaps reading would have been more engaging because the narrator held a monotone voice the entire time. If you are interested in her life and the events leading up to her death I would recommend this book however if you are looking for a true crime story then I would skip this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC/ALC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars. This book was a slow start but once it got past Jennifer's younger years and into her marriage and divorce from Fotis Dulos it really held my interest. The contentious divorce in this book reminded me of reading "My Husband is Trying to Kill Me" by Jim Schutze, although this ends much more tragically.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

While the narrator has a really great voice, I felt that it distracted from the story. There is so much extra stuff leading up to the story itself that I had to remind myself what it was about. With the voice and the extra fluff, I found myself spacing out and realizing I missed moments.

I think a woman's voice would have been better suited to tell this woman's story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rich Cohen, Edoardo Ballerini and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to read Murder in the Dollhouse. I have written this review voluntarily.

This book was a tragic retelling about the life of an incredibly privileged woman, who was killed by her partner (soon to be ex). The writing was personal but balanced, and the narrative the author writes is engaging and thoughtful.

Even though we were living in New England when these events happened, we completely missed the reporting on the case. In the end, what happened to Jennifer was an incredible tragedy. But the ramifications for her children will last for generations.

I just want to start off by saying thank you to NetGalley, Rich Cohen, and Macmillan Audio for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Also the narrator Edoardo Ballerini was amazing! This book follows the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos. Is going through a nasty divorce with her husband and one day in 2019 she leaves her house to drop off her children to school and disappears. Not to be seen or heard from. This is intensive research about this case. If you are a fan of true crime you are going to find this story interesting. This is a pretty recent case and it was interesting to learn about and hear what happened. I haven’t read true crime in a while but this
One baffles me.

This book will give you nightmares. Coercive control is a real problem. I lived it while undergoing a divorce with my ex husband. My daughter looked at me one day and said she thought her dad could kill us all one day like on one of those true crime shows. I realized how abused I was by then but I had no clue how it affected my kids.
I feel so sad for these children who were left behind. And for this poor woman who our system failed. Women should be kept safe from this kind of abusive and terrorizing behavior. Bravo to this author for doing her story justice.

I didn't fall in love with this book as much as I was hoping. Normally when I read true crime I expect more of the crime to be explored however this book felt more biography of Jennifer Dulos. Which was very interesting, unfortunately it's not a biography I would normally read because I didn't find her life very relatable. It was quite slow and boring but I did my best to listen with respect because it's a very tragic case that may have been prevented had the red flags been seen or acknowledged by family/friends. This book was definitely worth reading and I hope the family likes it, the author mentioned that he tried to do right by them. I think I will recommend this title but towards more biography readers versus true crime readers although it did pick up on the crime/court details near the end of the book.

[5 stars] [https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7470843814]
Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC!

So, full disclosure, I somehow missed the nonfiction tag on this book when requesting it. I am not a fan of true crime - it feels extremely voyeuristic and dirty - and I had never heard of Jennifer Dulos’ story, despite its recency. I assumed that this was an excellent, detailed fictionalized “true crime” novel.

As a nonfiction true crime novel about an actual event that occurred in the last few years, it is still excellent.

A true story about the disappearance of a wealthy wife and mother in the middle of one of America’s wealthiest towns, while in the middle of a troublesome divorce: there are some caveats to that excellence, though. You need to enjoy a dry narrator. As another reviewer put it, it comes across as a Dateline episode. I, personally, found the dry delivery to enhance the read and give a better punch to the sparse comedic recounts in this book (though, much my enjoyment may come from the very well done audiobook narration) (though I mention humorous moments, this book does not take light of Dulos’ murder or the events leading up to it. Just, naturally, there are dry comedic moments taken by both the narrator and the quotes of people recounting Dulos’ life. I never felt as though they were hurting the tone or seriousness of the story).

You should also know if you enjoy reading an in-depth biography of a stranger, no matter how dull the details may get. This is especially true at the beginning, where we are introduced to Dulos’ life in segments. We see her very briefly as a young child, before being taken away and learning about her parent’s upbringings and meeting. Back to Dulos, we meet her again in highschool (an expensive NYC private academy), then college (Brown), then graduate school (NYU) and the playwright company she helps form. My attention was held fast at all of these moments as I loved the narration style. The amount of details was huge but rarely overwhelming. The author does a beautiful job combining Dulos’ friends’ recounts of her, the plays she wrote, as well as blog posts and essays by Dulos herself to not only give the facts about her time at these places, but examine her story and what was important to her. The central motif of the dollhouse she played with as a child, little blonde Europeans - that her father called “little Nazis” - that she modeled into her ideal future for herself as a wife and mother of three, is done extremely well. The author creates a tragedy that we know is coming from decades away through the bringing up of these desires of Dulos. This is not just a recount of the relationship and immediate actions surrounding a woman’s murder at the hands of her husband, but a detailed, devastating tragedy that we are all powerless to stop (or tear our eyes from).

Despite the almost character-study nature of much of this book, I never felt as though it went too voyeuristic towards Dulos. As stated earlier, this is my biggest detractor from real true crime accounts. Though I understand the appeal to many, I dislike what the “genre” (I hate calling it that) has become. I think the care handled towards letting us meet Dulos, how a lot of the study of her is based off of things that she published herself, and the much more minor part of the novel being focused on describing the crime itself, help this. The scenes of abuse and murder are done gruesomely, but with care. It speaks to the skill of the author that, even after realizing that this was a true story, I only felt a little dirty because of how engrossed I was in this.

The formatting of the book is done masterfully. Separated into acts (a reference to Dulos’ passion as a playwright) the book focuses on her life chronologically, but with tantalizing references to things happening in the future. The book itself opens with the general basis of the murder: A wealthy wife and mother in one of America’s wealthiest areas has gone missing and is assumed murdered by her husband during a troublesome divorce. This both acts as a wonderful hook leading into the story, but allows for the author to reference these things throughout the book as a kind of cursed foreshadowing. It helps break up the constant character study and biographical quality of the narration (which, again, I already loved) and bleed in details of the ultimate outcome. The overall tone and narration of this book is done unbelievably well.

This is a gripping but still devastating tragedy about a woman who wants a specific “American dream” wife so desperately that she ends up dead for it. The writing style may feel too fictional narrative based for some readers, maybe those who are used to a specific style of true crime literature especially, but I found it engrossing and utilized well by the author. I highly recommend it, even to those who are not generally true crime fans.

Thank you to @macmillanaudio for the ALC! I was excited to make my foray into true crime, but found that I need more narrative to become invested. This sounded very stiff and factual coming from the narrator. I recognize that because this is a true story that makes sense and may be necessary but I have read other non-fiction pieces that are more narrative and engaging. Unfortunately not for me.

Usually I give myself time before I write a review. Mainly because I procrastinate. I just finished Murder in the Dollhouse two minutes ago though so this review probably won’t be very well composed.

I’m very familiar with Jennifer’s story. That did not prepare me for everything I learned in this book. I am sure Jennifer was not a saint. Apparently that is something that was very important to her ex-husband Fotis, his lawyers, his new girlfriend, and the next girlfriend for everyone to know. Funny story though…. No one is. Whatever shortcomings she had, whatever flaws she had, had no bearing on the coercive, abusive, and control she had to live with. What’s insane is she didn’t want out of that garbage marriage. She was willing to stay on that ride until the wheels fell off even at her own expense.

Jennifer was a mother and an artist and she had more fight in her than she knew. I hate that she became another statistic. Another news story. Another woman whose spouse had to have the final word by silencing hers forever. Another narcissist with no regard for life. That had to maintain control. This story hits so many women so hard because it’s such a familiar tale. Her husband no longer wanted her, and she finally gave him what he wanted. She left with the kids secretly because you don’t just walk out in front of someone like him. This wasn’t enough though. He wasn’t going to be satisfied until he eviscerated her. She knew he was dangerous. She knew she wasn’t safe. She could afford body guards. She had body guards. Perhaps she was feeling a little more comfortable because she had scaled back on the bodyguards and now she’s gone. She’s never been found. Five kids without a mother. Her husband will do no time because he gassed himself while awaiting trial. His accomplices have been found guilty and are still awaiting trial.

As a woman what I took for this story is that when women leave or when they fight back or even when they don’t, you should never let your guard down.

Yeah, this one just wasn’t for me and I’m pretty bummed about it. It’s definitely true crime but it’s more of a biography than what I’m used to. It wasn’t a bad book but it definitely wasn’t for me. I think the author really focused on the wealthy and while it’s part of the story we didn’t get to the disappearance or the case until more than half way through.

This was a 4 star for me! I really enjoyed the narration by Edoardo Ballerini! Felt like I was watching a true crime series! I found it really easy to get into this and stay engaged! The narration made this a fast listen even on 1.5-175 speed it was still really easy to keep up with the story.

I was not familiar with the story of Jennifer Dulos but I felt like this was a great introduction to the story of her life and the crime that ultimately cost her her life. You could tell that this biography was well thought out and really well researched by the Author Richard Cohen. I highly recommend if you are a true crime junkie!

Overall a very intriguing story and im definitely excited to dive more into this true crime!

This was three stars for me. The narrator was good - it felt like watching Forensic Files, in a good way. As for the book, I thought it would be more about the murder/disappearance of Jennifer Dulos but it seemed to be more like a biography as the murder/disappearance didn’t happen until three quarters of the way through. Despite this, it was still a good book - it seemed well researched and was put together well.