Dangerous Ground: My Friendship with a Serial Killer
Written by M. William Phelps
Narrated by Tom Perkins
4/5
()
About this audiobook
In this deeply personal account, Phelps traces his own family's dark history, and takes us into the heart and soul of a serial murderer. He also chronicles the complex relationship he developed with Raven. From questions about morality to Raven's thoughts on the still-unsolved, brutal murder of Phelps's sister-in-law, the author found himself grappling with an unwanted, unexpected, unsettling connection with a cold-blooded killer.
Drawing on over 7,000 pages of letters, dozens of hours of recorded conversations, personal and Skype visits, and a friendship five years in the making, Phelps sheds new light on Raven's bloody history, including details of an unknown victim, the location of a still-buried body-and a jaw-dropping admission.
M. William Phelps
Crime writer and investigative journalist M. William Phelps is the author of twenty-four nonfiction books and the novel The Dead Soul. He consulted on the first season of the Showtime series Dexter, has been profiled in Writer’s Digest, Connecticut Magazine, NY Daily News, NY Post, Newsday, Suspense Magazine, and the Hartford Courant, and has written for Connecticut Magazine. Winner of the New England Book Festival Award for I’ll Be Watching You and the Editor’s Choice Award from True Crime Book Reviews for Death Trap, Phelps has appeared on nearly 100 television shows, including CBS’s Early Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s Today Show, The View, TLC, BIO Channel, and History Channel. Phelps created, produces and stars in the hit Investigation Discovery series Dark Minds, now in its third season; and is one of the stars of ID’s Deadly Women. Radio America called him “the nation’s leading authority on the mind of the female murderer.” Touched by tragedy himself, due to the unsolved murder of his pregnant sister-in-law, Phelps is able to enter the hearts and minds of his subjects like no one else. He lives in a small Connecticut farming community and can be reached at his website, www.mwilliamphelps.com.
More audiobooks from M. William Phelps
Murder in the Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sleep in Heavenly Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfect Poison: A Female Serial Killer's Deadly Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Dangerous Ground
Related audiobooks
We Thought We Knew You: A Terrifying True Story of Secrets, Betrayal, Deception, and Murder Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Body Parts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never See Them Again Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where Monsters Hide: Sex, Murder, and Madness in the Midwest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Killing Kind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Checklist for Murder: The True Story of Robert John Peernock Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cruel Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mad City: The True Story of the Campus Murders That America Forgot Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Kill For Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5William Bonin: The True Story of The Freeway Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Careless Whispers: The Award-Winning True Account of the Horrific Lake Waco Murders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Die for Me: The Terrifying True Story of the Charles Ng/Leonard Lake Torture Murders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Suspicion: Russell Williams: A Canadian Serial Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sins of the Son Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fatal Charm: The Shocking True Story of Serial Wife Killer Randy Roth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Deadly Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Betrayal in Blood: The Murder of Tabatha Bryant Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Burned Alive: A Shocking True Story of Betrayal, Kidnapping, and Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Every Move You Make Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Watching You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear No Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sleep My Little Dead: The True Story of the Zodiac Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death Trap Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Tell a Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood Will Tell: A Shocking True Story of Marriage, Murder, and Fatal Family Secrets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Duct Tape Killer: The True Inside Story of Sexual Sadist & Murderer Robert Leroy Anderson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Innocent Victims: The True Story of the Eastburn Family Murders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notes on a Killing: Love, Lies, and Murder in a Small New Hampshire Town Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legally Dead: A Father and Son Bound by Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Because You Loved Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Biography & Memoir For You
Divine Rivals: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If He Had Been with Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twisted Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Local Woman Missing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When No One Is Watching: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pet Sematary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Multi-Voice, A: The Bad Beginning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From Blood and Ash Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ivy League Counterfeiter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Reviews for Dangerous Ground
28 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent book!! Well written and we'll read!! Love this author!!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was different than other books that M. William Phelps has written. It is about the friendship he has with a serial killer and the murder of his sister-in-law. It is more personal. You get to meet his family, for good or bad. The serial killer he develops a friendship with is "Raven" who was featured in the show "Dark Minds" on ID.. Of course, I was anxious to know who it was, since I love the series. This book not only delves into the friendship, but also into the crimes that Raven committed. As with all of Phelps' books, it was well written and it does leave you wanting to know more! Great book and I highly recommend it.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I finished this book a few days ago, and I've since been trying to convince myself that I liked it more than I initially thought. I didn't convince myself. I didn't like the book. I was left... perplexed.I'm drawn to the kind of true crime books that take us into the minds of the bad guys/girls, showing us how/why they unraveled and what motivated their crimes. Given the nature of the author's relationship with Jeserpson, I expected a lot of that type of insight here. What I got was something else entirely. Sure, we have a sprinkling of insight into Jersperson's psyche, but overall this book includes little of the "7,000 pages of letters, dozens of hours of recorded conversations" the author collected during his five-year relationship with Jersperson. What I didn't like: The author's tone feels overly dramatic, particularly in regards to what this relationship of sorts does to his physical and mental health. He repeatedly and incessantly tells us about his anxiety attacks, his digestive problems, and his need to take antidepressants in order to manage his symptoms. He claims his "friendship" with Jesperson was destroying his health and his faith. It's like he's desperate for us to believe he sacrificed his soul in order to talk to a killer, all for selfless reasons, and certainly not to sell a TV series or for the material he used to write this book. Another irritant for me: Phelps uses the term "friendship" throughout the book in describing his relationship with Jesperson. Perhaps he truly feels that way, but, from what he shares, this so-called friendship was nothing more than a business relationship. Never any sort of friendship. In fact, Phelps goes out of his way to insult and ridicule Jesperson, to us, calling him names and ensuring we understand that Jersperson does not deserve even the most basic compassion. A final complaint: Phelps seems quite proud of the fact that he was able to trick Jesperson into providing information on one of his unidentified victims. Phelps also happily cons Jesperson into believing he'd be using much of the information provided to write a book specifically about Jesperson, his life, and his crimes, helping to dispel some myths. Instead, what Phelps did feels more like taking advantage of a sick mind so that he could write a book in which he calls his confidant a "pathetic creature". When Phelps bled Jesperson of all he could get, he then snidely turns and walks away, severing the relationship with a sense of righteousness.The killer portrayed here vacillates between emotionally dependent and emotionally void, a dichotomy I could make no sense of, particularly since Phelps made no real effort to show us the humanity behind the killer. Don't get me wrong; I am not advocating for Jesperson to receive hugs and coddling. But I got a strong sense that the objective here was a little too self-serving. And, ultimately, after reading this book I don't know much more about Jesperson, the man and the killer, than I already knew from the few articles I'd read.*I received an advance ebook copy from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*