The Comfort of Monsters audiobook

It's taken a while, but I'm going to rate this four stars. I'm also going to be honest and admit how much I struggled with this book. I don't think it was marketed incorrectly, but this is definitely not for readers who struggle with character based stories. I like them, but they are something I'm acquiring a taste for still so I found this challenging. Let me explain:Peg's sister, Dee, disappeared in the summer of 1991 in Milwaukee. Her disappearance failed to receive the publicity it needed in part due to 1) failure for those closest to Dee to realize she was missing 2) the now infamous serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer's victims were just discovered and 3) the police not taking it seriously. All this was a perfect mix for Dee's case to grow cold. The entire book goes back and forth between the summer of 1991 and present time where we see how much Dee's disappearance destroyed her family. Peg is stuck and becomes obsessed with her sister's case and works dead end jobs, has failed relationship after failed relationship because she is constantly working on ways to further the investigation. The family decides to hire a TV psychic to try and locate Dee's body. I thought this was going to be more of a literary mystery. I don't necessarily want to dissuade anyonefrom reading this book, but not much "happens". The focus isn't necessarily on the case (however it is certainly discussed and a secondary plot point), the book is more about how all the factors I mentioned above interfere with the case, as well as what a family member's disappearance can do to a family. More simply put, it's depressing, yet well written and researched and brings up very valid points. I just don't know what I took from it. It just kind of underscores everything we all know from listening to true crime podcasts or other books about subjects like this. Police investigations can fail miserably, family members can turn on each other and forget things and sometimes there is no resolution. This book is reality - so if you're looking for a wrapped up ending, you won't find it here. With all this being said, I will read the author's next book as I think her writing is excellent and I'm a little more prepared mentally for what is to come.Review Date: 08/04/2021Publication Date: 07/13/2021

I really loved the slow simmer of this book. It was beautifully written and wasn’t flashy or twisty, but kept a steady level of dread and confusion and sadness throughout. Peg's struggle to reconcile her memories while trying to figure out what happened to her sister Dee thirty years ago was heartbreaking. I was also super into it being set in Milwaukee during "the Dahmer summer" and the smart social commentary Richards included about my messed up, highly segregated, hometown and the racism and homophobia rampant in policing (especially then, but obviously still happening today).I was 16 and lived in Milwaukee in 1991 and have vague recollections of reading about how his victims were men and that they were dismembered and that the police sent a badly injured 14-year-old boy back into the killer’s apartment to be murdered, but I didn’t really understand the full extent to which the police screwed up and how much the bias against the types of victims he targeted allowed him to operate for years before being caught. It’s all so upsetting and gross.---- “It turns out you often have to be a lot of things to make the news care about you and to make you worthy of search and rescue. This is why you’ve heard about that woman who got kidnapped in Utah, but you can’t name a single man the serial killer murdered.” ----I also LOVE that Richards refers to him as "the serial killer" throughout the book, rather than repeating his name over and over. We shouldn't focus on the killers. We should remember the victims and the survivors. Highly recommended!* thanks to NetGalley and Harper for the review arc. AVAILABLE July 13, 2021 *

The Comfort Of Monsters engaged me immediately, it is just the kind of atmospheric, beautifully written story I love. The story of a missing girl, her story lost in the surrounding furore of the Dahmer case and the sister who can't leave it all behind her is emotionally resonant from the start and digs deep into the psyche of those left behind.As a true crime addict this book really hit home with me- I have often felt so sorry for the families of the missing. This fictional tale that could be true is intriguing and made even more realistic by the fact that the main protagonist is far from perfect, is, in fact, often very unlikeable. Her missing sister also has very human flaws, the author going behind the standard pitch perfect nature of the lost after they are gone. The relationship between the sisters forms the heart of this novel, this is far more family drama than it is mystery and I would caution that if you like your stories wrapped up with a pretty bowed resolution this may not be for you. It is a character study, a human story and I loved it even though it left me melancholy.

Cannot overstate it: This is the Book of Summer 2021 – an absolute page turner perfect for beach reading or a long weekend. The Comfort of Monsters is engagingly told in two, alternating timelines just before and years after the disappearance of a young woman in Milwaukee, WI during Jeffrey Dahmer’s summer of 1991. While it is an engrossing psychological thriller, the novel is really rooted in the relationships between its impressive cast of characters and at its core the relationship between two sisters, exploring intimacy, truth and memory. The Comfort of Monsters is a definite conversation starter that feels truly of this moment – a great book club choice! You will definitely NOT regret picking this one up!

Richards lures the reader into the muddled memory of the protagonist, creating a window into the coping mechanisms and delusions of victims. The timeliness of the author's commentary on predatory media and apathetic law enforcement should not go unnoticed. From domestic abuse to dealing with the loss of a loved one, The Comfort of Monsters provides an empathetic perspective of how cruel life can be. I highly recommend this read, especially if you have an appetite for self reflection.

This story is a brilliant and gripping commentary on gender, sexuality, and intimate relationships that intersects with the ineffectiveness, ignorance and subsequent violence that local government and media can perpetuate. The author has seamlessly woven together the timelines of a seemingly fun-loving 90s summer turned nightmare that still haunts a family nearly thirty years later. When a famous ghost talker comes to town, the sister of a woman who disappeared that fateful summer in Milwaukee tries to grapple with the harsh realities of her sister’s and her own abusive relationships and an ever-fleeting search for answers about her sister's disappearance. The story sheds light on a cultural obsession with murder and depravity that consumes and isolates those both near and far from tragedy.

This book is extremely my shit. And one of the most poetic endings I’ve ever read.

Review TK

This novel is an absolute masterpiece. I have now re-read it several times, each time getting drawn more and more into this beautiful and heartbreaking world Richards has created. Set in Milwaukee this novel follows the story of a family reliving the summer they lost Dee McBride. It masterfully flashes between the summer Dee disappears and 2019 as they push for one last attempt at finding her, going to lengths they never imagined. The relationships are vivid and tangible with the true love story of what it means to be and have a sister as the golden thread throughout the novel. Cannot recommend this debut novel enough!

Dark, gritty and extremely thrilling. Reminded me of The Devil in the White City.

I went into The Comfort of Monsters thinking it was a thriller but this is very much not a thriller, more an adult literary fiction with slight mystery and intrigue though these are not the focus. It’s a heavy but well written character study. Richards focuses on relationships, with family, with partners and with oneself, with the backdrop of the case. So, if books focused on characters isn’t your thing, then this might not be for you. I however, really enjoyed it. It was devastating and beautiful. I have to also note the level of detail in the historical facts of Milwaukee in the early 1990s, and say that it is also very well handled. I especially loved that Richards notes the victims names but chooses to dub Dahmer as the ‘serial killer’. There’s nothing glorified in here and it all feels very real. I left the novel wondering if I had actually picked up a memoir rather than a fiction piece. The ending wasn’t what I hoped for but as with life you don’t always get what you want.

This is one of the most startlingly extraordinary debut novels that I've read for a long long time. It's the type of book that draws the reader in and totally consumes their waking hours. It's dark, sometimes complicated but beautifully structured. Filled with characters who appear so totally life like and set amongst a background of a Milwaukee that is struggling to come to terms with some heinous crimes. A dual-time narrative, narrated in the main by Peg McBride. Peg's sister Dee disappeared almost thirty years ago and the opening paragraphs find her and her family engaging the help of a celebrity physic to try to find out just what happened to her. Peg has dedicated her life to trying to bring the man that she believes murdered Dee to justice. However, the police have always said that there's no body, so no case, and despite her meticulous research, that man remains at large. Dee's disappearance coincided with one of the worst serial killer cases of US history. Jeffrey Dahmer had killed so many young men. The majority of his victims were black and/or homosexual, and whilst the country was horrified by the discovery of these crimes, there was a lot of victim shaming. The victim's name have not been remembered, only the facts that they were desperate, led a different lifestyle, and maybe were not really that important. The story is quite dense at times, and it took me longer than usual to read this novel. This is not a criticism though, it is purely because the writing is so well crafted and the narrative so wonderfully done that I felt as though I needed to slow down, and savour the whole thing.This is not just a story of murder and social justice though, it is a precise and sharp look at family behaviour and how one event can shape a life. Both Peg and Dee were damaged women, seeming to attract men who were violent toward them, yet accepting and almost defending those choices. They both had an element of self-harming behaviour; taking drugs, eating badly and generally having little self esteem. It would be really fascinating to know if Peg's life would have taken a different course if Dee had not disappeared all of those years ago. Would she be a success in her job? Would she have a happy relationship? The questions are endless. The author shows just how the authorities can and do treat victims of crime. How if you are not the 'norm'; white, middle/upper class, straight, law abiding and employed, you seem to be worth far less. Despite the fact that the victims in this case all being human, all having people who loved and cared for them; the serial killer has become the famous name, whilst they have been forgotten.Dee's disappearance amongst the hysteria of the Dahmer case just made her disappear a little bit more. This author is such a talent. This is a stark, tense and often disturbing story but it is fabulous and I highly recommend it.

This is an intense read. The author crafts a tale that joins fact and fiction which produced a gripping page-turner. I was consumed by this book. The way it is written you almost feel as of you are reading a non-fiction account of a family’s struggle with an unexplained loss. This book is unlike anything I have read before. When you reach for this title, you can expect a gripping, edge of your seat tale that is intense and sad. It is filled with issues faced by an entire community during the early 1990s. This book will keep you awake at night.This debut novel is a unique blend of fact and fiction. As you read this, you feel all the author’s passions. She managed to not only include factual information about serial killer Jefferey Dahmer but also highlighted various social issues faced by the community of Milwaukee during the early 90s. She also explores the unreliability of memory, and how we cannot always trust our memories. This book is an amazing piece of work, the author did a fantastic job. She covered a wide range of issues while keeping them all relative to the story. I cannot wait to see what Will C. Richards has in sort for us next. In the summer of 1991, Dee McBride disappeared. The family knew something happened to her because Dee would never have just run away without a word to anyone. While the McBride family is struggling to find Dee, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested, and the press is focused on the gory details of his vile acts. Leaving no time or space for anything about one missing young woman.Thirty years later, Dee’s mom is running out of time. All she wants is to find her daughter’s body before she dies. In a desperate, last attempt to find Dee the family enlist the help of a famous psychic. This plunges them back into the past and Dee’s sister Peg is forced to look at the summer of 1991 all over again. Reliving a dreadful time for the city, and herself.This book crawls in under your skin and forces you to look at the world a little differently. The effect change has had on our lives, how we look at and treat people and more importantly how we allow ourselves to be caught up in a media hype. How easily we lose sight of victims while only focusing on the criminal, allowing the monster all the attention. The characters in this book are broken. Even before Dee’s disappearance, Peg is a mess. This young woman was searching for herself while trying very hard to be there for her little sister. Making huge mistakes and very bad decisions. Peg loved Dee, they had a wonderful bond, yet I felt Peg spent too much time focusing on Dee when she should have looked at her own choices. These two young women show how easily a family can miss dangerous behaviour and how quickly lives can become derailed. This book is a unique read. I loved it! If you are fascinated by true crime and serial killers, are passionate about social issues, or simply enjoy an edge of your seat, gripping thriller, then this is the book for you. This is a work of fiction that includes the real-life crimes of a serial killer, which easily makes you forget that you are reading fiction. It’s an intense read that will keep you up at night and leave you with some food for thought as you reach the last page. I highly recommend this book!

This book is an example of what extreme care, research, and an incredible depth of curiosity and empathy can yield. In a world where so often the "True Crime" and whodunits we're left with lack any sense of breadth or fullness... or lets be honest, reality (especially in the realm of TV and Movies) Richards' novel delivers such an intensely lived in experience you could mistake the acute pain of loss for your own. That's not to say that some contemporary crime narratives aren't great (fan or the first season of True Detective, for the record, and love 95% of Walter Moseley and Chester Himes detective fiction) but by and large I come across readers that pick up books in this genre space to see good triumph over evil, a caring investigator solve the case, and to reaffirm their world views that normally include some version of: the scary, ugly, devastating things happen OUT THERE, away from me and mine. No motivation to engage with art is better or worse than others, but to criticize a book for not striking the emotional tone you set out to find seems extremely subjective and limiting. Why not just say "this wasn't the tone I was looking for?" Because sadly, any suggestion that tragedy was amplified unrealistically is just NOT the reality (statistically speaking, NOT stating an opinion here: nationally in the U.S. we're down to just 69% of all murders being solved in a given year, adjusting for race it can be as disparate as -- 1 in 3 murders of Black people are solved vs 9 out of 10 for white people, obviously there are a lot of variables within those statistics, but it gives you a sense. Not to mention, out of the 600,000 people that go missing each year, if you're not found within the first year, the chances you'll EVER be found plummet) I list these statistics only to talk about one of the central themes/ideas explored in Richards' novel and, I'm assuming, the reason for the title itself -- we as a society are TERRIBLE at identifying monsters and our biases are directly responsible for what we can and cannot SEE when it comes to wickedness, viciousness, and the horrible things we often do to one another. Therefore, if these people were deplorable or monstrous to you and you can't envision a world in which they exist, SPOILER, you're living in it already, and the systems you're a part of RIGHT THIS MOMENT are potentially perpetuating hardship or creating more monstrous individuals. This too, sadly, has been borne out time and again throughout history (I won't list any examples here because this review would never end).I for one, was thoroughly engrossed in this debut, but I also don't approach books for confirmation bias (c'mon people, we have the internet for that and Google makes it SO DAMN EASY, haha). Did I like reading example after example depicting heinous actions perpetrated by men... no, of course not. Does my taking offense to some of this descriptions or musings invalidate these characters and their plot lines? No, of course not (I would've hoped that the publicity of #MeToo would've taught straight men to examine our actions more thoroughly regardless of whether or not we feel our actions and intentions are morally upstanding and not to underestimate the prevalence of our transgressions).Richards debut is truly an accomplishment, managing to balance multi-faceted and nuanced storylines that delve into the tenuousness of memory, the enduring pain of loss, and the tender idiosyncratic and often fraught bonds of family set against the more macro-machinations that come with systemic iniquities and the negligent practices of some institutions all wrapped in prose both poetic and accessible -- a true love letter to the city of Milwaukee in its own honest and open way...."When I look back now, I see how it was over almost before it began, but at the time I felt the whole, hot promise of a life with him. I still remember our belongings on the sidewalk outside that apartment building. There was trash everywhere. Springtime turns the city of Milwaukee briefly into a landfill. The snowmelt from the most stubborn snow banks reveals heaps of trash; cigarette butts, dog shit, shredded newspapers and magazines, vomit, crushed cans, and plastic bags whipped into stringy ropes. Each year, after resident weatherman John Malan has determined the city won’t be visited by any more snowstorms, they send inmates out to collect all the winter trash in white plastic bags. Afterwards they cart the trash away to the landfills west of the city, and they bring out pressurized hoses and spray the sidewalks and the streets down with water pumped fresh out of Lake Michigan. I love the smell of cold water on concrete. That’s spring to me, not tulips or daffodils or rain, but Lake Michigan’s cold bathwater washed over the whole city. " --Willa C. Richards

Was this a debut novel? If so, I’m very impressed. This writer can certainly pack a punch and ignite your anxiety and worst fears in less than 400 pages. This novel was bleak but in a very satiating way. Don’t get me wrong - the resolution is pretty much non existent, so don’t go into it thinking you’re going to get a happy ending. Things are certainly left unresolved in a broad sense, but you kind of understand that as the book draws to a close because the resignation of these characters was written so well that you can’t help but be infected by it, too. By the end, I was left feeling crushed but I accepted it, because in reality, fumbled missing women’s cases like Dee’s are far more common than not (especially for minorities) and this author had a poignant way of presenting this harsh, ugly real world ending rather than let you drift off into a cozy fictional alternative. It was refreshing, but gritty. Am I making sense? Lol. Definitely recommend it and advise those of you curious to read it to do so with an open mind.

I enjoyed the details about my hometown, Milwaukee, and learning a little bit of history about it through the story. Lots of new insights into the landscape, landmarks, and communities as they have developed over the years- clearly really well researched! A very fast read, which is always fun. I just gobbled the story up and was pleasantly surprised by the ending. Rather cinematic in nature, I could see it doing well in television.

4.5 stars