• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Block Examples
  • Landing Page

The Loopy Librarian

A book lovers blog

You are here: Home / Book Review: Fatal Jealousy by Colin McEvoy and Lynn Olanoff

Book Review: Fatal Jealousy by Colin McEvoy and Lynn Olanoff

January 30, 2014 by Allie


My review: 2 of 5 stars

True crime stories interest me because truth is often stranger than fiction. Also, people are complex and interesting to study from a safe distance like in a book. I follow CriminalElement.com which reviews books about everything from Sherlock Holmes to serial killers and offers frequent contests as well. Yesterday, they featured a true crime novel. It sounded intriguing, so I purchased it for my NOOK. Here’s the link to the article: Fresh Meat: Fatal Jealousy by Colin McEvoy and Lynn Olanoff
Katherine Tomlinson

At first, I was hooked. The tension was palpable. The authors managed to keep the reader in suspense despite the murderer being obvious from the start. They also conveyed the full horror of the crime without being overly grotesque. But, I wasn’t far into the book when the writers started to lose me. First it was obvious grammatical mistakes that were missed in the editorial process. For example: “Whether Ballard was actually a member the KKK was not immediately clear (p. 48). The “of” is obviously absent and this is but one example of several that I could offer. This is a short book written by two newspaper journalists. Also, I couldn’t escape the feeling that the authors were stretching. Perhaps it was the repetition of facts already mentioned or the odd device of placing people’s thoughts in italics (Did that mean the authors were making these thoughts up? It was hard to know). Many a sentence and even paragraph was devoted to reiterating how horrible this crime was. Indeed it was horrible, but saying so over and over again was redundant and unnecessary. To stretch the story even further, the authors devoted an entire chapter to the War on Drugs and the effect it has had on the prison system. Though interesting, it seemed misplaced in this book about a quadruple homicide. Finally, the authors revealed everything about the murderer, Michael Ballard, from the time of his birth. The victims however were left virtually unknown to the reader except for as they were just prior to death. I wanted to know more about them, so they could be more than just victims of a vicious crime. Still, it was a quick read and somewhat interesting if you are a fan of true crime. I liken it to reading a pretty good magazine article at the doctor’s office. Engrossing enough to pass the time, but easy to put down when your name is called.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Book Reviews, ebooks, murder, Non-Fiction, parole, Pennsylvania, true crime

Primary Sidebar

E-mail Newsletter

  • Facebook
  • GitHub
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

More to See

Book Joy Live with John Schu – Madelyn Rosenberg and Wendy Wan-Long Shang

August 13, 2020 By Allie

Contemporary Fiction #bookreview: Takes One to Know One by #SusanIsaacs @GroveAtlantic

September 6, 2019 By Allie

Contemporary Fiction Book Review: The Words Between Us by Erin Bartels @RevellBooks

August 22, 2019 By Allie

Tags

adventure amazon animals authors Best Seller book Book Recommendations book review Book Reviews books Book Tour children Chistian Non-Fiction christian Christian Fiction crime faith family fantasy Fiction friendship giveaway Giveaway high school historical fiction humor Kindle Fire librarian libraries love magic marriage murder mystery Non-Fiction paranormal reading romance suspense teen Teen teenagers thriller war young adult

Footer

Text Widget

This is an example of a text widget which can be used to describe a particular service. You can also use other widgets in this location.

Examples of widgets that can be placed here in the footer are a calendar, latest tweets, recent comments, recent posts, search form, tag cloud or more.

Sample Link.

Recent

  • Still “Loopy”
  • Book Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
  • Book Joy Live with John Schu – Madelyn Rosenberg and Wendy Wan-Long Shang
  • Contemporary Fiction #bookreview: Takes One to Know One by #SusanIsaacs @GroveAtlantic
  • Contemporary Fiction Book Review: The Words Between Us by Erin Bartels @RevellBooks

Search

Tags

adventure amazon animals authors Best Seller book Book Recommendations book review Book Reviews books Book Tour children Chistian Non-Fiction christian Christian Fiction crime faith family fantasy Fiction friendship giveaway Giveaway high school historical fiction humor Kindle Fire librarian libraries love magic marriage murder mystery Non-Fiction paranormal reading romance suspense teen Teen teenagers thriller war young adult

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in