Someone You Know: An Unforgettable Collection of Canadian True Crime Stories

I am not a fan of true crime and this book reinforced my biases. Voyeuristic, sensationalist and opportunistic, it claims to give victims a voice but this affirmation is hypocritical since we barely know the victim outside the crime. In only 3 stories out of 12 do we learn about policy changes to prevent future violence and in 5 titles, the author names the murderer and not the victim. The book is also unwittingly misogynistic in that half of the stories are crimes committed by women, when in fact men are much more likely to commit violent crimes.
There was little to redeem this book in my eyes, except for the last poignant story which highlights the horrible impacts of intimate partner violence.

I got through this so fast. It’s one of the first books in a long time that had me falling asleep repeatedly because I was so exhausted but reluctant to put it down. The writing really held my attention and while much of the content is dark (it dealing with homicide that’s a given), it handles the cases with care and compassion. That was my take anyhow. It also has an extensive source list at the back that I’ll be looking at sporadically.

A good collection of cases, many that I hadn't heard of before. They were presented in a factual manner and weren't too sensationalized. However, it feels a little misleading to call it a collection of Canadian true crime when nearly half of the cases take place in the US. 

3/5
Obvious typos, grammatical errors, and factual errors.

I was excited for this one, but wow, was I ever underwhelmed. Right in the introduction she mixes up Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees, saying that Jason comes out on Halloween. Seriously? Then comes the obvious editing issues like putting the wrong date and using do instead of to. It really killed my excitement, but maybe it won't for you!

This will depend heavily on your definition of Canadian true crime.

Does the crime:
a) happen in Canada?
b) happen to Canadians?
c) happen to Canadians living abroad?
d) is it perpetrated by a Canadian?
e) is it perpetrated by a Canadian living abroad?

If you're okay with all of these, you'll be fine! But for me, it was really odd reading so many show more stories of Canadians who had clearly built lives in America and weren't going back any time soon. Most of the American ones were also based in California, which is where the author spends half of her time. It felt like she wanted to write about interesting cases from California in a book about Canadian true crime. Only 7 of the stories happen on Canadian soil and by this logic, not all victims are Canadian as Gladys Wakabayashi moved to Canada after her schooling. It's confusing and hurts my head to think how this book categorizes Canadian true crime, sometimes strongly and other times barely a thread.

Some of the stories I already knew. Some I didn't and were interesting. However, I found [a:Eve Lazarus|925267|Eve Lazarus|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1650068856p2/925267.jpg]'s book [b:Cold Case BC: The Stories Behind the Province’s Most Sensational Murder and Missing Persons Cases|75412727|Cold Case BC The Stories Behind the Province’s Most Sensational Murder and Missing Persons Cases|Eve Lazarus|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1672377853l/75412727._SX50_.jpg|97263535] to be more interesting and truly Canadian true crime (for me). I think it would have benefited from sections like "Crimes in Canada" and "Canadians committing crimes in America" instead of picking cases just because it had a Canadian in it somewhere.

It was a quick read and enjoyable, but I much preferred other books. I wouldn't recommend it but it's not a waste of time so it's fine for a true crime display, I suppose.

Thankful for my local library for having this book! Always worth checking your library before buying! show less

Brb just side eyeing everyone in my life extra hardcore from now on