Lake Bluff Library Adult Reading Lists

Traces the author's experiences as a child born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, describing her participation in her family's paranoid stockpiling activities and her resolve to educate herself well enough to earn an acceptance into a prestigious university and the unfamiliar world beyond.
(Description from NoveList)

A portrait of the cult leader behind the Jonestown Massacre examines his personal life, from his extramarital affairs and drug use to his fraudulent faith healing practices and his decision to move his followers to Guyana, sharing new details about the events leading to the 1978 tragedy. (Description from catalog)

At the core of this book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a revelation from God commanding them to kill their blameless victims. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this "divinely inspired" crime, Krakauer constructs a multilayered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, savage violence, polygamy, and unyielding faith. (Description from NoveList)

The daughter of the self-proclaimed prophet of the FLDS Church describes the abusive patriarchal culture in which she was raised by sister wives and dominating men and discusses how her father remains a powerful influence on his followers. (Description from catalog)

Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with both current and former Scientologists--both famous and less well known--and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative skills to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology. (Description from catalog)

Acclaimed journalist, podcaster, and true-crime historian Kate Winkler Dawson tells the true story of the scandalous murder investigation that became the inspiration for both Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and the first true-crime book published in America.
(Description from Amazon)

The author chronicles her experience at a big-data startup in the heart of the Silicon Valley bubble: a world of surreal extravagance, dubious success and fresh-faced entrepreneurs hell-bent on domination, glory and, of course, progress. (Description from NoveList.)

In the early hours of July 16, 1990, Liliana Rivera Garza was murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend. A life full of promise and hope, cut tragically short, Liliana's story instead became subsumed into Mexico's dark and relentless history of domestic violence. With Liliana's case file abandoned by a corrupt criminal justice system, her family, including her older sister Cristina, was forced to process their grief and guilt in private, without any hope for justice.
(Description from catalog)

From true-crime legend T. J. English, the epic, behind-the-scenes saga of “Los Muchachos,” one of the most successful cocaine trafficking organizations in American history. A story of glitz, glamour, and organized crime set against 1980’s Miami.
(Description from NoveList)

Jana Monroe was no ordinary cop. One of the first analysts in the world-renowned FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit at Quantico, she consulted on more than 850 homicide cases, including infamous serial killers Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Edmund Kemper, and Aileen Wuornos. Monroe was also the model for Clarice Starling in the movie version of The Silence of the Lambs; she even helped train Jodie Foster for her Oscar-winning role. Monroe’s later years found her dealing with the aftermath of Columbine, heading up the FBI’s post-9/11 investigation in Las Vegas, and much more.
(Description from Amazon)

From corsets to crime fighting, Mae Foley challenged the patriarchal status quo by not only juggling family life, but also by forming the first female auxiliary police force in the City That Never Sleeps. After the 19th Amendment passed in 1920, Foley galvanized 2,000 women to join her "Masher Squad" and eventually became one of the first sworn officers with the NYPD.
(Description from catalog)

The head of the FBI's investigative unit that deals with serial killers demonstrates his celebrated talent for getting inside their minds. (Description from NoveList)

The author examines the history of the mob in small-town America and his grandfather's clandestine activities as the head of a Pennsylvania gambling empire. (Description from NoveList)

From New York Times bestselling author Alex Tresniowski comes a page-turning, remarkable true-crime thriller recounting the 1910 murder of ten-year-old Marie Smith, the dawn of modern criminal detection and the launch of the NAACP. (Description from catalog)

Weaving together themes of power, gender and justice, the author, who was just eight years old when her mother was brutally murdered, recounts her drive to know her mother, and in the process, reckons with contradictions of what a woman is allowed to be and what a "true" victim looks like.
(Description from NoveList)

After his December 2003 arrest, Charlie Cullen was quickly dubbed "The Angel of Death" by the media. But Cullen was no mercy killer, nor was he a simple monster. He was a favorite son, husband, beloved father, best friend, and celebrated caregiver. Implicated in the deaths of as many as 300 patients, he was also perhaps the most prolific serial killer in American history. Cullen's murderous career in the world's most trusted profession spanned sixteen years and nine hospitals across New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
(Description from catalog)

Explores the shocking practices of NXIVM, a cult run by Keith Raniere and many enablers, detailing its rise as a personal development company, its ability to evade prosecution for decades, and the investigation that finally revealed its dark secrets to the world. (Description from catalog)

Reminiscent of Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich's The Fact of a Body and Maggie Nelson's The Red Parts, a perfect balance of memoir and true crime, The Book of Atlantis Black will have you questioning facts, rooting for secrets, and asking what it means to know the truth. (Description from catalog.)

In the spirit of Devil in the White City and Furious Hours comes the haunting true story of Eliot Ness's forgotten final case--his years-long hunt for "The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run," a serial killer who terrorized Cleveland through the 1936 World Fair. (Description from catalog.)

Framed around one salacious trial in 1891 London, a fascinating and vividly told true-crime narrative about the hunt for one of the first known serial killers, whose poisoning spree in the US, Canada, and England coincided with the birth of forensic science as well as the public's growing appetite for crime fiction such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels. (Description from catalog)

In the gripping true crime story, three courageous and strong sisters band together to escape their sadistic mother’s unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture and psychic terrors, which resulted in multiple murders. (Description from NoveList.)

A chilling true story--part memoir, part crime investigation--reminiscent of Ann Rule's classic The Stranger Beside Me, about a little girl longing for love and how she found friendship with her charismatic babysitter--who was also a vicious serial killer. (Description from catalog)

Fans of Mindhunter and true crime podcasts will devour these chilling stories of serial killers from the so-called "surge" or epidemic years of serial murder. (Description from catalog)

A masterful true crime account of the Golden State Killer-- the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California for over a decade-- from Michelle McNamara, the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case.
(Description from catalog)

A thrilling Jazz Age chronicle of America's first gangster couple, Margaret and Richard Whittemore. (Description from catalog)

A New York writer presents a memoir of her childhood spent on the run in a series of homes in five different countries under an assumed name, describing her discovery of her father's fugitive status and his half-billion-dollar marijuana smuggling operation, her self-destructive youth and her efforts to reconcile her family's past with her own realities. (Description from NoveList)

The Last Outlaws is the thrilling true story of the last of the great gang of outlaws. The Dalton Gang consisted of four brothers and their rotating cast of accomplices who saw themselves as descended from the legendary James Gang. They soon became legends themselves, beginning their career as common horse thieves, before graduating to robbing banks and trains.
(Description from catalog)

An account of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 relates the stories of two men who shaped the history of the event--architect Daniel H. Burnham, who coordinated its construction, and serial killer Herman Mudgett. (Description from NoveList)

A detailed historical account of the serial killer calls on never before examined primary documents to reveal how he managed to take advantage of the crowds drawn by the 1893 World's Fair to create his own castle of horrors.
(Description from catalog)