Review
An e-copy of the book has been provided by the publisher, Andrews McMeel Publishing, in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at p.202 (60%)
An interesting take to a memoir, Murder Book tells the story of how the author’s personal obsession with true crime began.
I started reading this graphic memoir with hunger for the reason as to what might be behind someone’s obsession with true crime. What I got was a glimpse of what it could be and a large chunk of stories on the criminals themselves. I would’ve mistaken this for another title fairly easily if not for the small part where the writer’s story actually were in.
The book was interesting, to say the least. It was curious to try and unravel the story on how someone could have fallen into the abyss of true crime. The stories of the criminals themselves were engaging, but the main point of the book was lost in it that even my interest came with it. The author fed too much information on the criminals that the story became more about them than about her. And, to be honest, I would’ve picked up a book on them instead of this if I wanted to know more of the criminals and not about the reason behind the obsession of true crime.
Art wise, this could have been the salvation of the book. The unique grungy and dated art style aided in evoking the sense of maturity within the story. It weaved well with the story as it provided a sense of agedness to the book. However, the off-putting execution of too much paneling added into my disinterest in continuing with this book. There were too much panels that a page became too noisy. Bombarded with plenty of dialogues and/or descriptions that were written in a stylized font that made it hard, if not impossible, to read. I would much prefer the book if it were thicker with less panel per page than have a million panel in a page with a font that is barely legible both in size and style.
Murder Book could have been more effective with a different execution and a little less crazy on the panels. Moreover, I feel like the story veered too far into introducing the characters of true crime than actually telling the how’s and why’s of the obsession. To be fair, it is a huge chunk of both, but it could have been better fleshed out. As it is, it did not work as well as I thought for myself. I see the appeal of the story, although sadly it was not for me.
Buy a copy here.
