Review of Don't Tell A Soul by M. William Phelps

Don't Tell A Soul by M. William Phelps

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Let me start by saying it has been quite awhile since I have read a True Crime book, in fact I had forgotten this was a true crime and thought I was reading a work of fiction. Yes laugh because the whole time I was reading it, I kept thinking this reads like a True Crime... Well that's because it is.

My only mild complaint is the lack of pictures, and the cover makes it seem like another genre.
However, it is the compelling straight forward account of the murder of Cherry Walker. A black woman with a mental handicap that got involved with the wrong woman.

Cherry was a sweet woman who recently had begun living on her own with assistance, and she meets Kim through her neighbor. Being the kind of woman she is, she agrees to help babysit Kim's young son. Soon she is watching him all the time, and it becomes clear to Cherry's caseworker that Kim isn't picking her son up, often leaving him with Cherry for days.

As Pauline and the other caseworker get involved and report Kim to DCFS, and Kim's husband gets wind of it and drags her into court and goes so far as to subpoena Cherry.  The cops know that everything is unraveling for Kim, and when she calls Cherry and asks her to dinner it ends up being the last time anyone sees Cherry alive.

The real reminder in reading True Crime is that the world is full of crazy, evil people who do things for the most basic of reasons or the worst reasons. Cherry by accounts was a wonderful caring woman, loved by all her friends and she was killed by someone she thought was her friend simply because she wouldn't lie or not show up for the court date.

I applaud the authors who write True Crime it has to be heartbreaking, and not very rewarding work. I am glad I took the time to read this book, it made me remember why I used to read so much of this genre, because the least we can to do is to share the stories of those so tragically taken from life.