A Hunger to Kill by Kim Mager

TL;DR: This was very interesting – a narrative of Kim Mager’s interviews with a serial killer.
Source: NetGalley, thank you St. Martin’s Press!

Plot: This one is fast paced as it’s almost entirely the interviews between Mrs. Major and the killer. It really pulls you through.
Characters: We focused primarily on Mrs. Mager and the killer himself and it did a great job showing us the two as foils to one another.
Setting: Ashland Ohio felt real here, but I could be really seeing my own hometown in it as they’re similar.
Readability: This was incredibly easy to read and blaze through. I enjoyed my time a lot.

Thoughts:

A Hunger to Kill is the story of a serial killer/rapist in Ashland, Ohio. It closely follows Detective Kim Magers as she was the one detective our killer would speak with. We begin the story with his capture, which was deeply harrowing. The woman he had held captive managed to find a phone and call the police which led to her rescue and his arrest. After that, Kim, the only detective on the force in Ashland began interviewing him. Through a process called Forensic Interviewing she manged to forge a connection and he admitted to several murders and other crimes over the course of their interviews.

This one is not for the faint of heart. Though the bulk of this book is those interviews, told in a narrative form, they detail some dark and heavy crimes such as murder, rape, stalking, etc. Not only that but we see how the killer himself saw what he was doing which was deeply disturbing. We also see snaps of what it was like for Kim Mager to be the only female detective on the police force which was at times enraging.

I really enjoyed this, I can’t lie. It was heavy and sickening at times but it’s also really nice to see the good guys win. Even if it’s hypothesized there are even more bodies and crimes we can tie to this particular man, the ones that were found have been given peace. If you’re at all interested in things like forensic interviewing and what those interviews are like – this is also a good read. It’s very detailed oriented and really breaks down the process. I found it fascinating, and I recommend it for True Crime fans.