
Kill Show
A True Crime Novel About a Missing Girl and the TV Series That Shocked America
Daniel Sweren-Becker(Author)
Harper (Publisher)
Published on 26. October 2023
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-06-332140-3 (ISBN)
Description
When sixteen-year-old Sara Parcell goes missing, it's an utter tragedy . . . and an entertaining national obsession in this thoughtful and addictively readable novel that offers a fresh and provocative take on whodunits and true crime.
Sixteen-year-old Sara Parcell disappeared without a trace on a crisp April morning in Frederick, Maryland. Her tragic story was a national obsession and the centerpiece of a controversial TV docu-series that followed her disappearance in real time. But is it possible that everyone missed the biggest secret of all?
Ten years after the events in question, the people who knew Sara best are finally ready to talk.
In this genre-bending novel, Daniel Sweren-Becker fashions an oral history around the seemingly familiar crime of a teenage girl gone missing. Yet Kill Show, filled with diabolical twists and provocative social commentary, is no standard mystery; through "interviews" with family members, neighbors, law enforcement, TV executives, and a host of other compelling characters, Sweren-Becker constructs a riveting tale about one family's tragedy... and Hollywood's insatiable desire to exploit that tragedy.
By revealing the seedy underbelly of the True Crime entertainment machine, Kill Show probes literary territory beyond the bounds of the standard whodunit-it's a thoughtful exploration into America's obsession with the mysteries, cold cases, and violent tales we turn to for comfort. Groundbreaking, fast-moving and informed, this is a novel about who's really responsible for the tragedies we love to consume.
Sixteen-year-old Sara Parcell disappeared without a trace on a crisp April morning in Frederick, Maryland. Her tragic story was a national obsession and the centerpiece of a controversial TV docu-series that followed her disappearance in real time. But is it possible that everyone missed the biggest secret of all?
Ten years after the events in question, the people who knew Sara best are finally ready to talk.
In this genre-bending novel, Daniel Sweren-Becker fashions an oral history around the seemingly familiar crime of a teenage girl gone missing. Yet Kill Show, filled with diabolical twists and provocative social commentary, is no standard mystery; through "interviews" with family members, neighbors, law enforcement, TV executives, and a host of other compelling characters, Sweren-Becker constructs a riveting tale about one family's tragedy... and Hollywood's insatiable desire to exploit that tragedy.
By revealing the seedy underbelly of the True Crime entertainment machine, Kill Show probes literary territory beyond the bounds of the standard whodunit-it's a thoughtful exploration into America's obsession with the mysteries, cold cases, and violent tales we turn to for comfort. Groundbreaking, fast-moving and informed, this is a novel about who's really responsible for the tragedies we love to consume.
Reviews / Votes
"A truly modern morality play, in a unique and compelling style, that reflects on the uncomfortable connections between greed, ambition, and violence. Kill Show takes a sleepy, suburban town and turns it into a true-crime battlefield as events careen out of control. Smart, twisty, satisfying." - Andrew Gross, New York Times bestselling authorMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
370 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-06-332140-3 (9780063321403)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
DANIEL SWEREN-BECKER is an author, television writer, and playwright living in Los Angeles. He graduated from Wesleyan University and received an MFA from NYU. His play Stress Positions premiered in New York City at the SoHo Playhouse, and he is the author of the novels The Ones and The Equals.