Name: David Robinson-Smith's review of American Predator by Maureen Callahan
Item: American Predator
Rating: 4
Author: David Robinson-Smith

Maureen Callahan

Israel Keys was a predator who struck all over the United States. He buried "kill kits"-- cash, weapons, and body-disposal tools-- in remote locations across the country and over the course of fourteen years would fly to a city, rent a car, and drive thousands of miles in order to use his kits. He would break into a stranger's house, abduct his victims in broad daylight, and kill and dispose of them in mere hours. And then he would return home, resuming life as a quiet, reliable construction worker devoted to his only daughter. Callahan examines the chilling, nightmarish mind of a relentless killer-- and the limitations of traditional law enforcement. -- adapted from jacket

The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century

American Predator

Jimena

very quick read but p fascinating. research for serial killer film. 

David Robinson-Smith

Lauren Attaway

This was a creepy listen. I had only a broadstrokes picture of Keyes before I listened to this audibook, and I still feel like we only scratched the surface. It's really scary to think of the victims he may have taken that we can't prove.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An Amazon “Best Book of 2019” A Washington Post “10 Books To Read in July” A Los Angeles Times “Seven Highly Anticipated Books for Summer Reading” A USA Today “20 of the Season’s Hottest New Books” A New York Post “25 Best Beach Reads of 2019 You Need to Pre-Order Now” A Bustle “The Best New True Crime Books You Can Read Right Now” “Maureen Callahan’s deft reporting and stylish writing have created one of the all-time-great serial-killer books: sensitive, chilling, and completely impossible to put down.” —Ada Calhoun, author of St. Marks Is Dead Ted Bundy. John Wayne Gacy. Jeffrey Dahmer. The names of notorious serial killers are usually well-known; they echo in the news and in public consciousness. But most people have never heard of Israel Keyes, one of the most ambitious and terrifying serial killers in modern history. The FBI considered his behavior unprecedented. Described by a prosecutor as "a force of pure evil," Keyes was a predator who struck all over the United States. He buried "kill kits"--cash, weapons, and body-disposal tools--in remote locations across the country. Over the course of fourteen years, Keyes would fly to a city, rent a car, and drive thousands of miles in order to use his kits. He would break into a stranger's house, abduct his victims in broad daylight, and kill and dispose of them in mere hours. And then he would return home to Alaska, resuming life as a quiet, reliable construction worker devoted to his only daughter. When journalist Maureen Callahan first heard about Israel Keyes in 2012, she was captivated by how a killer of this magnitude could go undetected by law enforcement for over a decade. And so began a project that consumed her for the next several years--uncovering the true story behind how the FBI ultimately caught Israel Keyes, and trying to understand what it means for a killer like Keyes to exist. A killer who left a path of monstrous, randomly committed crimes in his wake--many of which remain unsolved to this day. American Predator is the ambitious culmination of years of interviews with key figures in law enforcement and in Keyes's life, and research uncovered from classified FBI files. Callahan takes us on a journey into the chilling, nightmarish mind of a relentless killer, and to the limitations of traditional law enforcement.

Bethany Hackmann 

American Predator by Maureen Callahan is a book about Israel Keyes, one of the scariest serial killers of all time. I don’t usually love nonfiction but I recommend this to everyone!!! 
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 I first heard about Keyes on the Crime Junkie podcast & the story is honestly chilling, so I was excited when I got the chance to read this!
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This book reads like a movie. It’s well researched, fast paced, & captivating. It discusses the life of Keyes in way that does not glorify him which is SO IMPORTANT.

TW: murder, obviously 

Rachel Benton

I'm judging this for the booktube prize 2020. I will Rate later in March/April 

 https://www.booktubeprize.org/

I couldn't finish it. It is just a bunch of transcripts, with some history of the killer tossed in randomly. It doesn't feel like a story, or an investigation. It's just the cops talking to this guy, and they don't know if he killed everyone or not. You literally are just going off his word that he did these things.

Corrie White 

I'm actually kinda on the fence about this book as a lot of my issues stemmed from the subject matter, which I know the author did all they could to meticulously piece together the information they had but given how stinging Israel was in giving information to the police for an expedited death sentence, constantly having hints that we would find out more information about certain cases or his thought processes during the crime but then none of that delivers just annoyed me.

Just like with other non-fiction I've read recently, I really am struggling to understand how certain people act. The absolute ego on some of the people in this book was absolutely crazy. How you would compromise an investigation just to intimidate a serial killer who played you like a fiddle is just insane to me. And once again, I love how a lot of the issues surrounding the case are due to police corruption.

Overall I found the first part of this book incredibly engaging and interesting, but as the case fell apart, the book did too and it wasn't really a satisfying ending.

Taylor McNeely

American Predator is about the most notorious unknown serial killer, Israel Keyes. When I was reading and found out all the horrible things he did, I was shocked he wasn’t talked about more. He should have been charged with more murders, but Israel was super smart and only admitted to the crimes that he knew the police could connect him to. 
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I liked how the book was told in the point of view of one of the detectives on the case and showed the successes the police went through, but also the mistakes they made along the way. I recommend anyone who loves true crime to read this book because I knew nothing about this serial killer and this is the perfect book to show the life and death of Israel Keyes.
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Also, thanks to my aunt @aenichols56 for gifting me this book and another true crime book for Christmas. I opened them and was like how did she know I wanted these??!!😂😂 (It took me an hour to remember my cousin @megg1121 asked if I was interested in these books at Thanksgiving and I never knew she was asking for my gift🤣)

Melea Mullican

It's hard to rate non-fiction, so I'll just say my rating is based purely off the writing style and the voice in which told the story. It has nothing to do with plot or characters because there wasn't one.

I was really intrigued by this throughout the whole thing. Israel Keyes was a horrific person, but fascinating to read about. Fans of true crime non fiction should definitely try this one.

Alyssa Jacunski

This was a book that I found while perusing Barnes and Noble on date night, that I ended up getting from the library. True crime is fascinating to me. I enjoy the journalistic style coupled with the captivating story. 

This followed the story of Israel Keyes after Samantha Koeing was kidnapped from her job in Anchorage, Alaska. The police didn't have much to go other than a blurry picture of a vehicle and tracking the movements of Koeing's ATM card. The ATM card broke the case open and Keyes was arrested. He begins telling his story of Koeing's kidnap and eventually starts mentioning other kidnappings and murders throughout the United States. How a man was able to go undetected for so long is baffling to me - and equally as fascinating.

I devoured this book in one evening. It was incredibly well researched and written. Reading the acknowledgments, I firmly believe that Callahan did not only her due diligence but a favor to all individuals. Her story of how this book came to be is important. We would't know this story if it wasn't for her and her superb legal team. None of the recordings / documents would've come to light without her research. Like I keep saying, it's a fascinating story.

As you can imagine, there are HUGE trigger warnings with this book. They include, but are not limited to, rape, murder, kidnap and torture. If you cannot handle these themes, I highly recommend you do not pick this up. If you can handle it, I find it to be worth the read.

Gretchen Gomez

wow. i am speechless. this book was amazing. this was my first true crime read and i'm glad it went this well. i even read the acknowledgments and note from the author in the back. shout out to the author for putting in all the work, all that work really helped make such an amazing book. definitely worth the read!

Jimena &
American Predator by Maureen Callahan

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American Predator by Maureen Callahan