Review: Bogeyman: He Was Every Parent's Nightmare by Steve Jackson

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A WildBlue Press original true crime story from the New York Times bestselling author of MONSTER and NO STONE UNTURNED, describing in dramatic detail and with heart-rending poignancy the efforts of tenacious Texas lawmen to solve the cold case murders of three little girls and hold their killer accountable for his horrific crimes.
"Absorbing and haunting! BOGEYMAN spills creepily across the page with Steve Jackson's hellacious verve and insight, reminding us there are few better explorers of the American berserk."--Ron Franscell, bestselling author of THE DARKEST NIGHT
"Steve Jackson's latest, BOGEYMAN, reveals a living, breathing nightmare that haunted parents, as well as detectives. Be sure to add it to your reading list if you're a fan of true crime books." Aaron Habel, host of Generation Why Podcast
From the book: "For years he'd stalked elementary schools and playground looking for young girls from low-income neighborhoods to abduct, rape and murder. He thought of them as "throwaway kids"--hardly missed, and soon forgotten, except by those who loved them. He was ever parent's worst nightmare. The bogeyman they warned their children about ... the fiend who lurked outside bedroom windows."

I received this book via StoryCartel to give an honest review.

The title called out to me. I wanted to get my hands on this book to see what this book was about I didn't even read the blurb when I selected this book. Then I went to Goodreads to add it to my books I am reading, and I read the blurb. This is a story that takes place in the 80's and you can tell that the officers have their work cut out for them. It is not easy to capture someone so sick and twisted back then as you could almost do it now.
Let me say I no longer want my kiddos outside playing in the yard without me right there. 
This story is of the serial killer David Penton who I do not know anything about. This is an account of his crimes by a detective who found the cold case of one of his young victims and never gave up trying to put Penton away. I have to say that this is a detective that every missing, kidnapped, killed person's family would want to try to get answers for them. Penton is a sick and twisted man, and while reading the book yes I could tell he was evil, but it didn't truly hit until the end when I got to the pictures of those little girls. The youngest being three, my heart broke. This author while writing about the crimes didn't go into the detail of what Penton did to his victims but you could grasp what he did and I am very surprised he did not get the death penalty. 
You get a feel from the officers that were the first to learn of the crime that happened that it took a toll on them, and their family. And we always think about the victims family and how they are torn apart but we never think of the officers it affects. And this story touches on that along with the victims families, and those that were witnesses. 
The author did a great job with researching all of this and getting facts, and pulling you into a story of a great detective Gary Sweet and how he never once gave up. 

I think if I could give this book more than 5 stars than I would. Not because of the crimes committed but for the fact that we learned about someone so evil that it brings to light that we need to hug our children a bit tighter.  It is a book that will tug on your heart strings, but will want you to read it to the very end to find out if the girls ever get justice. 





Steve    Jackson
True Crime/Forensics
Best-selling and award-winning author and journalist Steve Jackson lives and works in the mountains of Colorado. Born in Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1955, he grew up in Hawaii and Colorado. He graduated in 1979 from Colorado State University with a BA in Journalism.

A newspaper journalist for 25 years, he worked in locales as varied as Montana, Hawaii, Guam, Micronesia, Indonesia, Indiana, Washington D.C., Florida, Oregon and Colorado. During his career with newspapers, he received numerous national and regional awards for feature writing and investigative reporting.

As of August 2014, he has written nine non-fiction books in true crime, history and biography genres. His first non-fiction book, Monster, a true crime, was published in October 1998 and within two weeks became a NYTimes bestseller. In 2003, his World War II dramatic narrative, Lucky Lady, received The Colorado Book Award, best biography/history, from the Colorado Center for the Book; Lucky Lady was also the runner-up that year for the Admiral Samuel Morrison Naval History Award.

Just released on August 5, 2014 is his latest true crime, BOGEYMAN, the story of the manhunt for one of America's worst child serial killers and the tenacious Texas lawmen who brought him to justice.

He's also written eleven crime thrillers in collaboration with former New York City assistant district attorney Robert K. Tanenbaum.

In June 2013, Jackson joined a forensic investigative team searching for the remains of the Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov in Perm, Russia as part of his research for an upcoming dramatic history FINDING ANASTASIA. The team will be returning to Russia in June 2014 to resume the search.

Outside of writing, his interests include backpacking, fly fishing, skiing, guitar, reading, softball, music, wine, beer and spending time with his family and friends.






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