Pretty Little Killers: The Truth Behind the Savage Murd… (2024)

Whenever I read a true crime book, I feel kind of creepy saying whether it was entertaining or not. What I will say about the story itself is that I was actually able to finish it, sometimes when I read true crime I end up skipping a lot of pages.

The book felt overly long and repetitive, which became frustrating. I complain a lot when I think writers are doing everything possible to stretch a story across too many pages. What is wrong with a book under 225 pages if it hits all the points but leaves out the filler?

I found the writing-style to be frustrating as well. Often times it felt like they thought they were writing for simpletons or people so ancient that wouldn't know any modern lingo. I get including some definitions here and there, but the footnotes would explain what every phrase or word meant. Most people probably know what it means to "blow-up" someone's phone with messages, and can figure out what it means to "blow-up" someone's Facebook or Twitter page. They even felt the need to explain what joyriding means.

Those were the least of my issues. My main issue was the overuse of the word teen or teens. Those words must have been used 2,000 times by the end of the book. The teen did this, the teen said that, the teens didn't remember, the teens were quiet, the teen was lying, the teen crossed the street, the teen skipped school, the teens drank, the teen was strange. Pretty teen, beautiful teen, popular teen.

I really could not get my mind past how many times those words were used. It didn't make sense, we know they are teens. How could we forget?

Then you had the fact that the authors constantly focused on the looks of Skylar and her "friends." In the beginning of the book there was a section that talked about how the appearance of girls is focused on too much in society, and then they went and did the exact same thing they said was wrong.

Finally, the retelling of the murder by the writers was fictionalized to the point of ridiculousness. They had said something about it being what they think happened, but they took it way too far.

At one point it was declared that the two killers stripped, cleaned themselves, and then had sex at the scene to celebrate afterwards. In the footnotes it was stated that they actually had no idea if the girls had had sex or not, and there was nothing to show that they did. WHY would you even add something like that to the retelling if you don't know if it's true? Apparently, one detective thought the girls would have been so excited that they would have done that.

It really seemed they were just pulling stuff out of their butts, basically just guessing to fill in the blanks.

It's so sad reading this because I knew this girl personally. I was even friends with Rachel. This book tells the all too true story of how this world is falling apart and it's starting with the youth. This event struck Morgantown and UHS hard and I pray that God is with the families of these three girls.

My rating is not meant to diminish the heinous crime committed against Skylar, but is merely my opinion on the quality if the work. Throughout the book, I kept thinking that it was just a really poor attempt to capitalize on a compelling, disturbing story. There were many things, such as the inclusion of the Hunt's Facebook page, that were just unnecessary and superfluous. It was filler--an obvious attempt to disguise the fact that the authors didn't do their homework. Tell us about the police report. Was it sealed? Tell us about the psychological aspect if the crime. Why did they do it? Was a mental health evaluation done? Any diagnoses? Was Tara investigated as an accessory after the crime? Any evidence of that?

This book could have been written by anyone who knows how to use Google. I hope some of the proceeds of he sale of this book are being donated to the victim's family, or to juvenile psychological research.

Link to full review below! While the story is interesting, the authors took some liberties with the story when trying to fill in gaps. When a book is non-fiction, I feel that conjectures of what 'the car ride might have been like for the girls' is not welcome. Also, a lot of emphasis was placed on possible lesbian love affairs when there was no evidence other than teenage gossip. Again, I prefer my non fiction to be not fiction or gossip. See full review on The Book Disciple

This is a rather disjointed and unimpressive true crime book about the murder of a teenage girl in West Virginia by two of her classmates. If a book could be diagnosed with a disability, this one would have a pronounced case of ADHD. It's narrative felt like the experience of riding with someone who is new to a stick shift car, and I thought there was a lot of speculation where there should have either been fact or a frank admission that fact wasn't available. I hope my criticism won't be misconstrued as an attempt to minimize or shrug off the horrific reality of this murder. I think the story could have been better organized and could have included more fact and less speculation. You won't learn anything about this case you can't find on YouTube.

rating and review to follow.

DNF as of right now. I love True Crime but this was just so tragic and brutal..did not finish but not because of the writing, because of the tragedy.

This book will scare every parent who has teenagers. I first watched the Dateline program about this story and I was in so much shock that I had to order the book and read the story to find out what really happened to Skylar Neese. After reading about Skylar I could not believe that best friends could act like that towards one another. I mean best friends fight and argue but they don't kill for no reason.

Skylar, Shelia, and Rachel all became best friends and did everything together. Then they started to fight and argue more frequently and Sheila and Rachel decided to kill Skylar. According to Rachel she said they killed her because they did not like her anymore and everyone has said there was more to it and eventually the truth will come out.

They took Skylar out for a ride and killed her and then returned home like nothing happened. Sheila was even so bold as to help Skylar's parents post pictures and flyers every where to find Skylar all the while Sheila knew she and Rachel had killed her and left her body for the animals to eat.

These girls received life in prison but people say that they needed to get the death penalty because they killed SKylar in cold blood and went on with their lives as normal as if nothing happened. The one thing the family of Skylar Neese wants to know is WHY why did they kill her. They were best friends and did everything together so why would they kill her. But the girls are not talking and refuse to say why other than they did not like her anymore.

This is a must read book for all parents to read because you truly never know who your child's best friend or friends really are.

It was more like a 2.5 star but I could not stretch it to 3. The writing style was ragged, with redundancy. Trying to stay chronological, the information became disjointed somehow. Instead of all the single child/ only daughter scenario background tales that were given for each of the 3 major characters in this non-fiction horrific murder, there should have been a more professional language and DSMIV or V analysis, IMHO.

Because this kind of crime is rare and usually not female cored in the exact manner that this was so thoroughly planned and premeditated, I think insight into the Sheila and Rachel psyche and testimony at a deeper level (most of the copy is hearsay) is essential to the record of this case. We got only the tip of the iceberg with Sheila's "center of attention" ploys when in early school years, for instance.

It did a good job in the context of how economic class contributed to the trio dynamic, that was the 4 star aspect. Skylar was tied to a option that gave her a "ride" to school and activities, being without other choices- beyond just the transport agenda she had more deficit in several critical arenas for teen supposed hierarchy. But Skylar's personality was also blind to the kinds of signs in repeated behaviors that most humans, especially girls, would have separated or rejected from, or at least given much more consequence to authority reactions for the perps. Why she didn't, was my real interest in this book. That trait of naïve fearlessness or tolerance for viewing some of the actions she did, that was not investigated in the spotlight as it should have been here.

It was a Kindle library read. Which I read to 55% completely and then skimmed much more quickly. The aftermath of sentencing and outcomes for the murderers long term in this case, like the case of "Heavenly Creatures" in New Zealand, gives so little value to the life of the victim, that I could not give so much time to after moaning materials. Police hierarchy and other 50 page sections of high fiving each other for the resulting confessions- same. Rachel's dependent personality would have revealed all regardless.

The constant texting and the bullying and physical contests witnessed by so many adults for months before the crime! And the reasoning and solutions for those parents who tolerated this as normal or usual teenage rebellion or cusp to adulthood behavior! What moral code of conduct or any sense of standards of behavior being unacceptable or not to be tolerated did these girls actually have in role models or leadership or teachers? Anywhere! And the Dads in the pictures getting them out of police custody that time and sneaking them back home?

There's a lot to say for and about authority rationalizations, morality and human adolescence here, but the book didn't do much more than skim the surface of the awful truth of this consistent failure and its result. There's another whole book about the use of tech in this mess and cyber hate prevalence that is tolerated too.

OMG this has to be one of the worst true crime books I have read.

The authors assume you know everything about this case so they start telling you from page 1 how mean Shelia was and blablabla

Second: they are great at assuming. They make up conversations between the girls and make up what was in Skylar's head.

The thing is, I had heard about Skylar killings but I thought it was about a little boy so I did not know and the only reason I kept reading because there is no other book about this except another book by these 2 bad authors)

To be honest it is better to read about this online which I have been doing a lot. (Discovered a horrible bullying site)

Not having my kindle with me so I can't give any examples but I am still reading. (spent to much time reading much better stuff on this case online)

Update September 1.
Okay as promised some examples why I think it is bad.
Spoilers coming!!

quote:
"Then Sheila and Rachel filled with a sense of mutual accomplishment and excitement from the kill,wiped themselves off and had sex to celebrate" (and then above the word celebrate is the number 18.) Footnote. When you click on it it says that there is totaly no proof if this is true but one cop thought that could have happened.

Then next from this same quote. this author does not know how they felt after it happened. She writes they felt a sense of mutual accomplishment and excitement but that is just her opinion and the book is filled with these kind of untruths.

Quote:
"As she drove towards the spot where they'd gone the night before,Sheila might have thought about what happened,glorifying in the crime they had gotten away with.
Or maybe not.Sheila was proud of her ability to block out unwanted thoughts"

Another piece of someone think she is writing fiction instead of the truth.

Then there is the obvious dislike for Shelia while the author seems to think Rachel is a victim or something. That annoyed me too.

"Dave tapped up the volume on the remote until the TV was so loud he couldn't hear his own thoughts"
What the hell? You do not need ears to "hear"your own thoughts I don't think.They are thoughts not sounds.

Now that sentence made me really wonder if we could unhear our own thoughts by turning up the sound outside your head. I might test it.

All in all it felt like the cops were a bit keystone cops I am sorry to say. How come t took them so long to realize they should rewind the tape is beyond me. I am sure they did what they could but that was a mistake.

There are 3 subject matters in the true crime section that I like best. Those are Serial Killers, Mums hurting,killing their kids Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome and teens that kill. This book is interesting only because of the story not thanks to the authors.

It could have been so much better!

This chick sure likes using "gay" as a noun, and it's exactly as awkward as Ann Rule's constant use of the phrase "retarded youngsters" to describe special ed students. At least she had the excuse of having written her book in the 80s.

The writing is bad. I don't really know how to be more specific than that; it's just bad. It reads like a trashy tabloid. Every other event is "what might have happened." Plus her obsession with the possible sexual relationship between the young killers borders on the creepy. No one really needs to know what specific sexual acts they (may have) performed. Or a footnote explaining what "scissoring" is. (No, seriously, that's a thing this book contains.)

But she wants to make sure we know that Skylar, the good one, is TOTALLY HETERO. She brings this up a lot, even when mentioning that Skylar herself was an ally. She's also really obsessed with their appearances, despite complaining about society's obsession with the looks of underage girls. Seems a little hypocritical.

It's also noticeable how the author is desperate to make sure we like Skylar. Not that there's anything wrong with wanting your reader to feel for the victim of a case, but there's constant bending over backwards to make sure we know that she was basically a saint; even when she does something unbecoming, excuses are made. I don't expect her to have been perfect; no one is. Teens in particular don't always make great decisions. This book attempting to convince me that she was a perfect person ironically makes me feel less for her because I no longer feel like I'm reading about a real person. And it's a shame, because it's clear that Skylar was a great kid who likely would have turned into a good adult. Acknowledging that she could be bratty, bossy or a busybody wouldn't have made anyone care less about her death.

Timelines are often muddled, focus is all over the place, and about half the book feels like filler. And since it's not well-written - again, it reads like a tabloid, or a teen drama written BY a teen - which might make me more forgiving, it gets to be a slog. Especially given that a lot of it is basically straight-up fiction used to fill in the blanks. Which I realize isn't uncommon in true crime books, but it's really noticeable here.

The case itself is interesting, and for all the author's annoying habits, it's clear that Skylar was a good person, and I can't begin to imagine the pain losing her would have caused her loved ones. But I'm not here to review the case, or Skylar herself, or numerically rate the tragedy of her loss; I'm just here to talk about the book, and it's just not good. I'm hoping to find a better one about the subject.

(And the author comes across as a total hom*ophobe, even if she herself isn't aware of it. Just saying. That seems pretty common with people who write crime books about criminals who are gay, though; they start making really cringeworthy comments about "the gays." I wonder why that is. I'm sure they see themselves as open-minded or at least fair people, but it does make me wonder why they gravitate towards the subjects that they do.)

A tragic, horrific recap of what happened to Skylar Neese, may she rest in peace. This book was so horribly written and disjointed which is why the rating is low.

I borrowed this book from the library after seeing the Dateline episode. Skylar's story caught my interest as a typical high school experience gone horribly, strangely, wrong. In summary (and this isn't a spoiler, as it's mentioned straight up at the beginning of the book): Skylar looks up to her pretty, popular friend Sheilia, who, with the help of their friend Rachel, murders her.

The book begins with a confusing cast of characters (unless you're steeped in the case, as the authors obviously are, it's tough to keep track of people without meeting them in the context of the story). The authors then do a good job relating events as they seem to have unfolded. You get a better sense for Skylar, Sheilia, and Rachel as individuals and as a group dynamic, more so than in Dateline. Skylar seems to have been a sweet, well-meaning girl who got along with her parents, but who fell under the bad influence of her friends Sheilia and Rachel. She started sneaking out of the house to go on joyrides, picking fights with her mom just so Sheilia could overhear them on the phone, ignoring previous friends who didn't like Sheilia, etc. That said, she continued to do well in school, and held down a job at Wendy's. Then one night, Sheilia and Rachel drive her out to the remote woods and stab her to death.

The book is ultimately unsatisfying, though, in being unable to provide any insight into the motive. Maybe the authors should have waited a few years before writing and publishing Skylar's story, to wait for some fresh insight to surface. I read the book hoping for such insight, but got none. Sheilia is, it seems, a sociopath, albeit a cute 17-year-old blond one -- there must be more to her personal history that might offer clues as to her future behavior. And what about Rachel? I don't believe she's a sociopath like Sheilia, because her conscience ultimately cracked and she confessed after a mental breakdown. But why would she go along with a murder? To be accepted by her friend? That's odd no matter which way you slice it. The authors attempt to tease out some sense of motive by offering peeks into the girls' family life (Rachel's mom is an impossible control freak, for starters) but nothing stands out. But clearly the girls followed some thought process that made sense to them at the time. It was a well-thought-out attack, and they may have gotten away with it had Rachel not cracked. Some people hypothesize that they killed Skylar to keep their lesbian relationship a secret, but still -- who would kill someone over that? It doesn't make sense. A better title would perhaps be "The Senseless Murder of Skylar Neese."

I am very curious if at some time in the future anyone will go digging and write a story that is more psychologically in-depth and nuanced, and offers insight into the minds of these girls.

I haven't read too much true crime, but I have read enough to know that I ADORE true crime. It's like an actual character trait about me now, I think! And this book IS SO GOOD! Somehow I had not heard of this story. And I flew through it. It is so insane to me that two of Skylar's BEST FRIENDS stabbed her. And seeing all of the tweets posted and just how to whole entire tragedy played out is insane.

I recommend this book to ANYONE looking for a good true crime story. The researchers for this book did so well at making the story understandable, and I love that they put the first and last name of all the people involved in the crime, or the friends and family of the 3 girls and who they were, in the front of the book because I did constantly refer to it. Very well researched and mindblowing. If you read this book, you will find yourself on your phone researching small parts about the book like the girls' youtube videos they have still posted, and their Twitters that are still up to see the girls' relationship dwindle. So much was involved in this. I'm just gonna end this review by saying Shelia Eddy is a crazy ass bitch.

This book was almost a total disaster. Clumsily written and filled with suppositions and assumptions, this is one to be avoided at all costs unless you like poorly researched stories that are presented as completely factual and true.

The author seems totally out of touch with youth culture (boomer anyone?) and the culture of West Virginia. She claims that Skylar was totally a lesbian (she could have been, but Skylar had never even dated anyone so it seems a little early for anyone but Skylar to make that assumption) and she would have no reason to fear coming out at her high school. Which, her high school was in West Virginia where I assume many people are still hom*ophobic. Coming out at almost any school in America is scary so I'm not sure why the author thinks it would have been fine, especially since she mentioned a hate crime committed against a gay man very near to where Skylar lived in the next sentence.

The author continually paints Shelia as a total evil monster, which I find hard to believe. Sure, she had some bad habits and was manipulative, but evil? The lack of compassion throughout this story for anyone but Skylar and her family was sickening to me. Yes, these girls did murder Skylar. I'm not denying that. But it was a tragedy for everyone involved, not just Skylar and her family.

The author gives readers a flat one dimensional view of who (according to her) Shelia and Rachel are, which, ultimately, leaves readers with an inaccurate view of the crime. Nowhere in this book does the author rely on academic sources to explain the psychology of teenagers, the effects of hormones on young girls, the impact of Shelia's uninterested parents, Rachel's dependent personality, etc. Instead she relies on the opinion of cops, who only go to the police academy for six months (at the most), which probably does not leave time for in-depth instruction of the psychology of teenage girls, so I am unsure why she relies so heavily on their opinions. Maybe because those opinions support the demonization of Shelia and Rachel.

I find myself to be fundamentally at odds with almost all of the author's belief systems that she reveals in this book. She claims that trials are not about finding the truth; they are about punishment. I don't agree. She says that Shelia and Rachel had sex after the murder without having any proof to support this statement, except for the word of a cop who "thinks" that is what must have happened. I find this kind of writing to be extremely irresponsible. She is gleeful at the prospect of Shelia and Rachel going to prison forever. I think today's prison system is a tragedy.

Additionally, my version of the book contained "helpful" advice to parents who are dealing with a difficult teenager. She thinks things like removing the lock from your teen's door and sealing the windows so they can't sneak out are great ideas. To which I say, have fun creating a teen who doesn't trust their parents at all. Also, I hope your house doesn't catch on fire because your teen can't escape from the window anymore, I guess? She recommends randomly going through your teenager's phone and downloading spyware onto their computers so you know what they are up to. Please do not follow this advice parents. It's stupid, unfounded, and will only make your child more secretive. If you are having difficulty with your teenager take them to see a therapist. Have sessions with them. Establish an honest relationship based on trust, respect, and love.

Also, please don't read this book. It f*cking sucks and is irresponsible.

This was one of the most biased and poorly reported books I have ever read. While the author talks about both the main killer (Shelia) and the victim (Skylar) as suddenly changing in high school (the "bad girl" was a straight A student and a good kid) every bad behavior was the Shelia's fault, she coerced the others into doing bad things. There were examples of Skylar being rude and obnoxious, fighting, saying vicious things, and just being what some people would call a bad girl, but apparently it wasn't really her, it was Shelia who was controlling her. Seriously? How do we know it wasn't the other way around?

Shelia was well liked and considered nice. The band was afraid of Skylar. Rachel was beaten by her parents and when Skylar confessed this to her parents and said that Rachel would be in so much trouble for something they all did, Skylar's parents said that she should be. Yes, these are fabulous parents and had no part in Skylar's acting out behavior.

The author kept assuming how the girls must have felt in different situations. I stopped reading when I got to the "lesbian sex" part (what a weird way to word it). Read it for yourself:

Skylar may have taken part in the drunken kissing, but based on what is known about her public displays with the same sex, that's probably all she did. For a while now, rumors have floated around that she took pictures of--and some students say she even videoed--what happened next.
That is, Rachel and Shelia undressed and began having oral sex, and then scissored. Skylar, who as in an unfamiliar hom with a parent Rach claimed could be violen [asleep already and all the girls felt safe enough to get plastered]. was unlikely to have felt comfortable enough to leave the bedroom. So she was trapped, forced to watch.

There were indications that afterwards she may have felt uncomfortable but isn't that typical of someone who does something outside her comfort zone when she was drunk? They all three slept together in the same bed. Later Shelia and Skylar fought loudly enough that the mother twice woke up and told them to stop. Yeah, Skylar felt too uncomfortable to leave the room. Give me a break.

A pretty standard true crime story. The angle of interest here is really how teenage social tensions can take violent, devastating turns. It will be your niche if you're intrigued by the manipulative, self-absorbed, risk oblivious, irrational nature of the adolescent brain. I DO NOT recommend the audio- the fake voices the narrator puts on to represents teenage subjects are PAINFUL and definitely detracted from my engagement with this.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve read a true-crime story that has enthralled me as much as Pretty Little Killers. I’ve thought of little else since I picked up this book and started reading it a week ago. Authors Daleen Berry and Geoffrey Fuller have done an outstanding job of collating, sifting and chronicling the facts leading up to and following the heinous murder of young Skylar Neese.

The book begins with a list of “Relevant Individuals”—people who played a role in the case of Skylar Neese’s murder. I found this information helpful as I became more and more engrossed in the story, as it provided important background to help me understand how each of these people “fit” into the case.

The story itself? Wow. Berry and Fuller don’t attempt to color any facts; they don’t vocalize judgment on the two beautiful young girls-—or their largely uninvolved parents-—who brutally murdered Skylar Neese. Instead, they present the facts collected from eyewitnesses, from police reports, even from the girls’ own diaries, and let you, the reader, decide what caused this trio of friends to implode and result in a horrific, felonious crime leaving one dead.

Pretty Little Killers is more than a report of an unthinkable crime: it’s a cautionary tale, complete with a chapter at the end called “Red Flags for Parents to Watch For—-and Prompt Actions to Take.” Growing up in today’s under-the-microscope-social-networking society is extremely difficult for teens. This chapter provides explanations of warning signs that parents may observe in their own children, or in friends of their children, that require immediate attention to prevent that child from making a negative life-changing (or life-taking) decision. I don’t believe it’s too extreme to say that, by including this chapter, Berry and Fuller have provided information that will save lives.

I highly recommend this story for parents and grandparents teenagers, for teachers, ministers, and anyone who works with young people. Educate yourself. Be aware, be vigilant, and be vocal.

Considering I picked this up because I read an excerpt in People magazine, I should not be surprised that it was written like a Lifetime movie or an after school special. Especially after reading Columbine, which may not have been 100% accurate in its assumptions but at least had years of research and was written in a much more serious, chilling way with lots and lots of input from experts and people actually involved in the case. This book focused on the sensationalized aspects of this story, especially the supposed lesbian relationship between the killers. Some of it seemed like it could be real, but HOW did the author know that the two had sex right after killing Skyler? Neither indicated that this happened. It seems totally made up just to make the story more interesting. It also felt like this book was written by my grandma, with explanations of all the text speak and sex acts (but then again, maybe people that read true crime ARE older and need this explained).
Obviously this murder was devastating to the parents and this small town, but even the author's description of this grief was laughable. It didn't do justice to this girl or her family AT ALL and that made me sad. She took what could have been a long essay or news article and stretched it into an entire book. It felt rushed, like random speculation was just crammed in to give it more bulk. There were hardly any actual quotes from experts involved, or citations, but there was lots and lots of hearsay from students and people in the community. It kept reiterating the same points over and over. I think Skyler and her family deserve better.

ETA: This book read like If I Knew Then . . ., Amy Fisher's memoir. Same cheesiness.

(2 stars just because I did actually finish it, but really more like a 1.5)

A very sad story from a community I know well. Some of the people I know personally. My heart goes out to everyone involved in this story of friendships gone bad and the terrible consequences that happened to these young people with so much life ahead of them. As I read the story I could visualize the places described in my mind. I wanted to reach out and hug the parents of Skylar Neese. They bore and will always bear the heartache of losing their only child. I know how much that hurts because it happened to someone I love as well. Not in the senseless way this came about but I still empathize with the heartache they feel.

Such a sad story. Crazy to think that you never really truly know someone no matter how much you think you do. I can't believe it was her "best friends" that murdered her. I listened to the book instead of reading it and I think that was the best way to go. I did feel like there was a lot of repetitiveness going on and a lot of speculation

The heartbreaking details in this book, answered most of the questions surrounding Skylar's disappearance and her murder. My heart pours out for her parents, for the lies and rumors that haunted them from the time Skylar went missing, and until her killers were brought to (however slight) justice.

This was very interesting. Very thorough, comprehensive, and easy to follow.

Shocking account of two teens killing their supposedly dear friend. The fact that it’s a true story that took place in Morgantown is very hard to wrap my head around. Watching the dateline clip while reading made it even more real. So many lives ruined; so very tragic. Rest In Peace, Skylar.

This book was very disappointing. The murder of Skylar Neese by her two best friends –who lured her out one night, stabbed her and left her body in the woods where it wasn’t recovered until months later– is such a tragic, compelling and shocking story, it’s hard to go wrong when you want to tell it.

Yet Pretty Little Killers manages to be spectacularly mediocre and unprofessional. It doesn’t reveal anything we haven’t read/seen in the media before, it has some really gross episodes related as facts that the authors have no idea if they happened or not, they just assume they did. Case in point: they say that, after the murder, the two killers had sex. How do they know that? Well, they don't. They just put it there (and blatantly admit it) because it's a theory of one of the investigators that this was a thrill kill. Seriously, that's their only basis to make such a claim.

The investigation is shallow and weak, and the writing is poor. Aside from dwelling in the girls’ social media, there’s little to learn here about the killers, Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf. The first is portrayed as a caricature, an evil manipulative psychopath with no redeeming qualities. The second one has no personality. Skylar Neese isn’t properly explored either. I've seen plenty of interviews with her parents, and it's always emotional to hear them talk about their daughter. Here, all that emotion is unintentionally gone.

The authors can’t help but be deeply biased in their telling of the story, which in the end just hurts the case, because you don’t know if what you’re reading is true or not.

This book is disturbing. It disturbs me more now than it did 2 years ago when I first read it. Perhaps because I didn't have a daughter that was old enough at the time to be drawing parallels, and now I do.

This book gives a description of victim and perpetrators. It goes into detail on the build up to the killing of Skylar Neese. Skylar is not painted as a perfect angel, just as an unsuspecting victim. It's truly heart breaking to think that Sheila and Rachel had so little provocation to attack and kill Skylar. It is really truly sad that society has progressed to a place where parents have so little ability to monitor their teen's associations. This is not a judgement, just a fact. I try to meet all of my daughter's friends. I try to know them all personally, but then the Neese's knew Skylar's friends, even defended them. The part that is hardest for me in this story is the very fact that Skylar is no different than all the friends of my daughter or at least I think that. My daughter is no different either. How can a parent suppose girls your child has has considered her best friends all growing up would some day turn into the monster of their nightmares?

At any rate, I would recommend this book to individuals that enjoy the works of Ann Rule or Aphrodite Jones. They style and content is a familiar template. It covers the backgrounds, the crime, the trial, and the outcome. It is very well researched, and very well written.

Honestly, I think this book, and the audiobook especially, is really irresponsible. There were so many times when the author wrote "We have no idea what happened that night" or something like that (not the night of the murder, but other nights), and then would proceed to describe what they thought happened, but without making it clear it was only speculation. This book was also written as if Nancy Grace was narrating - it was very, very purple and lurid, focusing really hard on the "lesbian lovers" angle that the author hardly noted was just rumor. Apparently the author includes footnotes explaining this - for instance, when she writes that Sheila and Rachel had sex over Skylar's dead body, there's apparently a footnote saying there's no evidence of this, it's just something one police officer thinks probably happened - but these footnotes are NOT read in the audiobook. If I hadn't read other reviews, I would have believed there was evidence that they had sex. This is really, really poor journalism.

I don't feel comfortable rating this book because it was a true story about a teenager that was brutally murdered by her two best friends. I do however really like how it was written. Not only do the writers include a back story, they also take you deeper than just the crime. You get to know the players before you're introduced to the game. I read an article about this tragedy first and that made me want to read the book. This story has so many twists and turns and it's fascinating how the police were finally able to find out who was responsible. My heart aches for Skylar's family. I hope they can find peace. It is a bit graphic, but I like how they also let you know what happened to the murderers. It also showcased what a beautiful person Skylar was. Gone too soon.

I absolutely devoured this book based on the real life murder of Skylar Neese by her two "best friends", Rachel Shoaf and Shelia Eddy in 2012. Apperently their reasoning was "We just didn't like her" . There has already been a Dateline special and a Dr. Phil special on this horrific crime. I had heard of this murder a while back when it was first being reported by the media. To actually read first hand accounts from the Neese family and Skylar's school friends really made this book a punch in the gut. I really am fascinated and terrified by this story especially since I have a niece in the same age as these girls. Also a this book seemed like it really did justice to Skylar's memory.

I wish the author focused more on the girls and the parents. The murder of skylar neese was very brutal and horrific. I did not like the author's writing style. The story was all over the place even though it did keep my attention. Once I started reading I could not help but to finish to find out what happened and why.

This is the very sad story of Skylar Neese who was murdered by her 2 best friends. You can still see Skylar's tweets on twitter and also the tweets of one of her murderers Sheila who I feel after reading this that she is a sociopath with no real emotions.

Sad story my heart goes out to her parents and family.