Book Review: 'Little, Crazy Children' by James Renner

As an adult, one of the hardest things for my mind to process is the premature loss of a young person who showed so much promise and talent in their short life. The What Might Have Been is haunting. For this reason, the case James Renner presents in this title is compelling. The murdered young woman had an obviously active, creative, insightful mind, and her senseless killing is irreconcilable with any form of the way things are supposed to be in an ideal world. I'm terrible sorry for the loss her family and friends still feel. Renner appears to feel this terrible lack as well.

Of course a well-written crime story should focus on the victim, and this one does. One thing I found so utterly compelling about Renner's previous book, True Crime Addict, was the way the author was also a character in the story, to the extent that it was virtually a covert memoir. Little, Crazy Children is not autobiographical to that extent.

The author does show up as a presence in the latter chapters, as he proposes an alternative explanation for the senseless crime that law enforcement doesn't seem to have considered in any depth or breadth. As in True Crime Addict, he makes a compelling case. 

For me as a reader, having read True Crime Addict earlier this year, this book took me a little more effort to get into, largely because it's structured with the evidence of the case and witness testimonials laid out in great detail in the first half. I've come to understand that the more James Renner there is an any given James Renner book, the better the book will be. Think of the way Rebecca Skloot became a character in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Maybe the extent to which I'm a nerd for research is a niche preference, but I like a nonfiction narrator who narrates their investigation.

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So, I give 4 stars to Little, Crazy Children and still strongly recommend you read the 5-star book, True Crime Addict.

I borrowed this book from my local library using the Libby app and was not obligated in any way to review it.

Book Review: True Crime Addict by James Renner

True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray

Intimate and surprising, this memoir disguised within a true crime book hooked me from page one and never let me go. I literally had to tell myself to put it down and go to sleep a few nights ago. It's that engrossing. The expression "truth is stranger than fiction" came to mind quite often as I read this strange, twisting, slightly paranormal story of missing and murdered women and girls and the people who devote themselves to finding them and bringing their kidnappers and killers to justice.

I borrowed this book from the Indianapolis Public Library and was not obligated in any way to review it. This review represents my own honest opinion. 

James Renner's new release is Little, Crazy Children: A True Crime Tragedy of Lost Innocence, released June 27, 2023. This is an affiliate link: