A Serial Killer's Daughter

As a true crime fan, I was more than excited in anticipation of this book and purchased it on its release date. Unfortunately, for me, it didn't live up to how I had imagined it would. The opening chapter lured me in and I felt great sorrow for Kerri, as she tells of the day she was confronted by the FBI and for why, however, from then on, the book descends into a very tedious read, telling the reader a lot of what was possibly unnecessary and in fact, pretty boring - what other reviewers have referred to as the 'camping trip', which goes on far too long.Growing up, and throughout her life (before and after knowing about her father), Kerri tends to groan on in a constantly negative way - she seemed so frustrated, sad, depressed about almost everything and everyone, which obviously, she may well have been, but it kinda brought me down with her the more I read. She doesn't discuss much of how her mother and brother took the news about BTK either, which was a little disappointing.I know fellow true crime fans will be reading, or have read this book, but for those who haven't yet, I actually wouldn't recommend it sadly.

Strange feelings about this book ….The only really accurate line in the book was from an investigator - something like ‘ people think he’s BTK 10% of the time and Dennis 90%, but in fact it’s the other way around’.While I felt incredibly sorry for Kerri, she seems still to be in massive denial and always wanted to talk about her great dad. In fact I think he was probably ALWAYS a monster, a dominator and tyrant of his whole family, manipulating the patriarchal and church role to rule his home and the pawns within it, but she wouldn’t admit it much at all. All that boring Grand Canyon trip stuff ( which could have been summed up in a paragraph about his ego, narcissistic personality and domination of those others on the trip from hell ) - it seemed like an avoidance tactic to avoid covering how he really was (throughout the book).And, for example when he throttled her brother in a rage once at tea time she hardly mentioned any detail or aftermath discussion / reaction whatsoever. The mother too had terrible experiences but they are hardly covered or delved into in detail.She’s still desperate for a daddy figure which shows how much she was brainwashed by his dominating patriarchal control. She fanatically looks to a god figure to replace him, to get her instruction from and goes on and on about this fanciful figure in every page of the book. Talking to a god as a replacement leader. That made me sad and I found the extent of it quite bizarre and extremist. I hope she doesn’t pass that on to the kids.A tragic experience for her, no doubt but I felt disappointed by how much she was still under his spell despite his horrendous atrocities. I hope she heals.For me, BTK was a lame and evil person. A misogynist (which is never really covered by the experts). He totally hated women in my view and I seriously think he had an earlier interaction with each of these poor victims where they held their own and so he decided their fate. A despicable excuse for a human.

I recommend starting this book on page 135: everything leading up that is just scene-setting, describing a relatively happy, safe, uneventful childhood. Then it gets interesting when the author describes how she discovered her father was a serial killer. It is important to remember that this book was not written for entertainment/informative purposes, but as therapy for the writer. As such, it does not flow well and the author makes references to random things that remain unexplained. Many of the sentences are completely indecipherable, and there is an awful lot of waffling on about god/jesus etc. Feel free to completely skip the pages about the Grand Canyon trip: you won't miss anything.

I bought this book after coming across a programme on TV about her father. I’m not a fanatical watcher/reader of true crime but occasionally watch or read about it and on this occasion, got to wondering what it must be like for families of people such as this. I had never heard of ‘BTK’ (I’m in the UK) but looked him up and discovered his daughter had written a book. I downloaded it and found it to be a compelling read. I think the background was very important as it helped to explain how hard it was for the writer to ‘marry’ her own experience of her father with this man who had killed. I found her account to be honest and she didn’t shy away from the realities that she and her family have had to face. If you’re looking for a bloodthirsty read, I don’t think this is the book for you but if you’re interested in the human cost surrounding horrific events like this, then I recommend it.

Was okay but as a previous reviewer stated, the first half of the book could have been left out. I think it's trying to show what life was like prior to his arrest but goes on quite extensively about a hiking trip which went on a bit too long. Otherwise very good and interesting about coming to terms as a btk victim also through betrayal and coming to a sense of acceptance, comprehending, and somehow forgiveness.