Home sweet murder by James Patterson

Home sweet murder is one of a series of books written to tie-in with the Murder is forever television series.  Each book in the series includes two stories based on actual events that have been slightly fictionalised, but that doesn't take away from the stories covered.

Leo Fisher and his wife Sue are going through their normal nightly routine of preparing dinner when there is a knock at the door.  The man on their doorstep claims to be an SEC agent, but Leo knows that he's not and over the next few hours he proves that by restraining them and threatening them.  Leo may be the main target, but that won't stop Sue from facing her share of the torment.  Who has targeted Leo and why?

The death of a child is something no one should have to face - especially the gruesome murder of a child in their own home.  That is exactly the nightmare that Hunter family faces when their youngest son and their housekeeper are killed in the family home, but they are lucky enough to have Detective Derek Mois on their side, because over the next few years he is going to prove just how determined he is to solve the case and bring the killer to justice.  Piecing together a series of seemingly unrelated events will finally bring the killer to justice.

Like the stories covered in Murder, interrupted these are compelling stories are intriguing and disturbing in turn - shining a light on the people who have a twisted need for revenge against real and imagined slights.  I am not usually a fan of fictionalised real life stories, but this series is well written and Patterson has done an excellent job of remaining sensitive to the victims.  In many ways these stories are scarier than anything he could have dreamed up in one of his own stories because these are real murders with real motivations, and people that you can realise despise for what they have done.  

If you are interested in reading more real life reads and true crime stories then try some of the these books:

• Etched in sand: A true story of five siblings who survived an unspeakable childhood on Long Island by Regina Calcaterra
• Girl unbroken by Regina Calcaterra and Rosie Maloney
• Child C: Surviving a foster mothers reign of terror by Christopher Spry
• Punished by Vanessa Steel
• Parents who kill by Carol Anne Davis
• A child named It by Dave Pelzer
• Against their will by Nigel Cawthorne
• Daughter of Gloriavale my life in a religious cult by Lilia Tarawa
• Broken by Shy Keenan
• Damaged by Cathy Glass
• Behind closed doors by Ngaire Thomas
• When rabbit howls by Truddi Chase
• The little prisoner: A memoir by Jane Eliott
• Sickened: The memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood by Julie Gregory

Reviewed by Brilla