About the Book
"Riveting, original, and chillingly plausible, Kill Show is both an urgent reckoning with the ethics of true crime and a tense mystery in its own right. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough."--Flynn Berry, Edgar Award-winning author of Northern Spy
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.
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 television docuseries that followed her disappearance in real time. But is it possible that everyone missed the biggest secret of all?
Ten years after these events, 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, television 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 it.
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.
About the Author :
Daniel Sweren-Becker is an author, a television writer, and a playwright living in Los Angeles. He graduated from Wesleyan University and received an MFA from New York University. 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.
Stacy Gonzalez is feisty, bright, and expressive. She specializes in YA, self-help, and romance, especially when the narration calls for a good handle on comedy, wit, and sass. AudioFile magazine has praised her pace and her ability to create bold characters. Stacy, who is half Colombian, speaks conversational Spanish. She has a great love for Old Hollywood-watching the movies and listening to audiobooks about any and every aspect of it. Byron Wagner is an audiobook narrator and voiceover artist based in Los Angeles. He began his career in entertainment at age eight, performing as a magician and ventriloquist for children's parties, then graduated to theater, radio, TV, and film. After living in the UK for several years, his continuing love of acting and reading have happily led him back to the other side of the studio glass, doing voice acting and narrating, directing, and producing audiobooks.
Megan Tusing is an actress, known for The Beginning and the End, The Share, and Odd Jobs. She has a bachelor's degree in theater from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Fred Sanders, an actor and Earphones Award-winning narrator, has received critics' praise for his audio narrations that range from nonfiction, memoir, and fiction to mystery and suspense. He been seen on Broadway in The Buddy Holly Story, in national tours for Driving Miss Daisy and Big River, and on such television shows as Seinfeld, The West Wing, Will and Grace, Numb3rs, Titus, and Malcolm in the Middle. His films include Sea of Love, The Shadow, and the Oscar-nominated short Culture. He is a native New Yorker and Yale graduate.
Melissa Redmond started her love affair with books when she was three. Her first introduction to audiobooks came at about the same time, when her dad, a Navy pilot, would read bedtime stories onto tapes and send them home while he was away on deployment. He did all the voices. Eventually, her love of the written word turned into a love of performance in various mediums. She graduated from the University of California San Diego with a degree in theater and has been working in theater, film, and voice-over ever since. Her voice has been described as "A little smirk, a little sparkle . . . and just the right amount of smartass." She's interested in a wide array of genres, with special affection for thriller, nonfiction, romantic comedy, and YA fantasy. When she isn't acting, she can be found hiking in the San Francisco Bay Area hills, dancing, and rescuing and rehabilitating injured marine mammals. Robert Fass is a veteran actor and twice winner of the prestigious Audie Award for the year's best narration. He has earned many Earphones Awards and AudioFile magazine "Best of the Year" accolades.
Pun Bandhu is an award-winning actor who has worked on Broadway, off Broadway, in TV, and in film. He is the recipient of the Colorado Theatre Guild's Henry Award for Best Supporting Actor and New Dramatists' Bowden Award for his distinguished collaboration on new works.
Xe Sands has more than a decade of experience bringing stories to life through narration, performance, and visual art, including recordings of the Nightwalkers series from Jaquelyn Frank. She has received several honors, including AudioFile Earphones Awards and a coveted Audie Award, and she was named Favorite Debut Romance Narrator of 2011 in the Romance Audiobooks poll.
Christine Lakin is an Earphones Award-winning narrator and acclaimed television actress, best known for her roles as Alicia "Al" Lambert on the hit family comedy Step by Step and as Joan of Arc on Showtime's Reefer Madness.
Review :
"[A] clever twist on our obsession with true crime. I loved it."
-- " The Guardian (London)"
"An ensemble of wildly talented narrators elevate this fictional true-crime case told through first-person interviews...Robert Fass's narration is made to sound like a telephone call, a device that creates a more immersive experience for listeners. Melissa Redmond's assertive performance embodies a gusty TV producer who turns the case into a media spectacle...A compelling audio with a winning combination of narrators. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."
-- "AudioFile"
"Both an entertaining mystery and a bracing examination of how true crime has warped real-life investigations. It's also a provocative reminder of how people behave differently, and often disastrously, when they're in the spotlight."
-- " New York Times Book Review"
"Of contemporary thrillers interrogating the public fascination with private tragedy, this scorching indictment stands out."
-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)"
