When a Killer Calls

 

I didn't care much for Douglas' last book so I was glad I enjoyed this one. Everyone's entitled to a bad day.

I shouldn't say "enjoyed". I didn't enjoy it. It was very sad. But it was well written. 

In 1985, high school senior Shari Smith was abducted from the end of her driveway when she stopped to get the mail. Her killer made several calls to her family, basically torturing them. He had Shari write them a letter titled "Last Will and Testament". In the letter she begs her family not to hold hate in their hearts and to hang onto how much she loved them. It was absolutely heartbreaking. The killer finally revealed the location of Shari's body, ending all hope that she was still alive. Two weeks after he kidnapped Shari, he snatched a nine year old little girl named Debra May out of her own front yard where she was playing with her little brother. The killer called the Smith family, specifically Shari's older sister Dawn, to let her know where to find Debra May's body. The FBI speculated that it was because Debra May's family didn't have a phone in their house, but also because the killer was fixated on Dawn. 

Luckily this sick son of a bitch was caught and convicted of these two heinous crimes. He was a prime suspect in a few others, but law enforcement couldn't get anything out of him. In court this dirtbag professed his love for Dawn and proposed to her three times. I can't even begin to imagine how Dawn held it together, listening to this garbage heap who raped and murdered her beloved baby sister profess his love for her. She's a stronger woman than I am because I would have had to be physically restrained from going after him to put his eyes out. 

At any rate, they executed him and good riddance.