Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

32 reviews

peterplaysguitar's review against another edition

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informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.75

Killers of the Flower Moon is a true crime story that almost feels like an old Hammett novel—not for the prose, but the drama of the content. There were many times while reading that my mouth fell open in quiet shock over what I was reading, and I'm still struggling to comprehend the brazen evil required of the perpetrators of the crimes. The story is told in three distinct parts (
a detective mystery, a courtroom drama, and a present-day investigation
) and each unravels more tangled knots of the Reign of Terror.

There are aspects of the story that I question the veracity of, namely the polished heroism of lead detective Tom White, whose only flaws it seems was that he was too moral and stoic. While reading, I did have a feeling that Grann might have taken some creative liberties with the minutiae of the events and actions of the people involved. But until I am able to read more about the Reign of Terror, I'll take Grann with a grain of salt and trust that he did his best to temper any dramatization with evidence and research.

Killers of the Flower Moon is thrilling and tragic, infuriating and engrossing. Highly recommended for anyone who wants (or needs) to face the sordid reality of the American spirit.
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issyd23's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

“‘the devil was standing right there.’…the missing panel: showed William K Hale, staring coldly at the camera. The Osage had removed his image, not to forget the murders, as most Americans had, but because they cannot forget.” 4🥀
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starcrossedsongbird's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.5

i understand why this book became a movie. a thrilling tale of a historical tragedy. right when i thought i knew what was happening, the last two chapters had my head spinning. 
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clarao's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.0

Powerful book. Very heavy. Written in true crime style and a little slow moving. 
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frenchpants's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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gsrath's review against another edition

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dark informative sad medium-paced

3.5

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joshkiba13's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious sad slow-paced

4.0

What a tragic story---a real story. I studied and did a project on the Osage nation for school, then saw Scorcese's film Killers of the Flower Moon, which inspired me to read the book. There was so much information; the way Grann was able to stitch everything together into a cohesive story was impressive. Getting to the end and seeing how many people came together to cover up crimes was heartbreaking. 
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psellars11's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

5.0

Full transparency, I read this book in the wake of the new movie released this year. That said, I’m so grateful I did! This book is incredibly detailed and the authors attention to every small fact from the original Osage nation’s history, to their forcible relocation twice to Oklahoma, makes it a very informative and interesting read. He also covers the murders, relationships and backgrounds of involved victims, investigators, and criminals. He also explains what happened at trials, and aftermath and lasting legacy very respectfully. 

I truly enjoyed this book. It was a little difficult to get into since it was so fact heavy, but overall he tells such a compelling narrative with thought and care going into the lasting impact on the Osage. I liked that he connected murders that occurred beyond the reservation and also explained the oil industry so it made more sense as to why the greed and murders would even happen in the first place.
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miggyfool's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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salesforce's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

Incredibly dark and disquieting. It's a very engaging book but also terrifying and extremely sad. I think it's an important book to read but would advise to be in a good headspace before starting because the details can frankly be rather traumatic.
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