REVIEW:

True crime, why can’t I quit you?!

I’m trying to cut back on these types of books, I really am. But I started to see 5-star early reviews for Bone Deep the same week I saw the teaser trailer for the upcoming NBC scripted mini-series of the case it covers (“The Thing About Pam” starring none other than Renée Zellweger). And here we are.

In 2011, Russell Faria came home from a game night with the fellas to find his wife Betsy dead, having been stabbed more than 50 times with a knife still sticking out of her neck. He called 911, immediately became a suspect, was arrested and convicted, and went to prison. Sounds like pretty efficient police and prosecutor work, except for the fact that he didn’t do it. To his defense attorney, Joel Schwartz, it was obvious from day one that the true killer was Betsy’s friend Pam Hupp. To say she’s an interesting (real life) character would be an understatement.

Bone Deep is one of those “stranger than fiction” true crime books that exposes the ineptitude of the US justice system when the people tasked with enforcing it are completely incompetent. Fans of the genre will be captivated from start to finish, despite its absolutely dreadful cover (seriously, so bad) and off-putting title. I breezed through the audiobook in just over a day, needing to hear how true justice would prevail.

So yeah, I do recommend Bone Deep to murderinos like me. Though my growing discomfort with the genre certainly flared up while listening. Having the victim’s postmortem body dissected and detailed feels a whole lot more like exploitation than justice. I sure hope my death doesn’t end up being covered by multiple Dateline NBC episodes, a podcast series, a scripted prime time television show, and a book like this. (Even if Ghost Regina would totally watch/listen/buy all of those things if it did.)

My thanks to Tantor Audio for the gifted advance listening copy to review via NetGalley. The expected US publication date is February 22, 2022.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

The explosive, first-ever insider’s account of the case that’s captivated millions – the murder of Betsy Faria and the wrongful conviction of her husband – told by Joel J. Schwartz, the defense attorney who fought for justice on behalf of Russel Faria, and New York Times bestselling author Charles Bosworth Jr.

On December 27th, 2011, Russell Faria returned to his Troy, Missouri, home after his weekly game night with friends to an unthinkable, grisly scene: His wife, Betsy, lay dead, a knife still lodged in her neck. She’d been stabbed fifty-five times.

First responders concluded that Betsy was dead for hours when Russ discovered her. No blood was found implicating Russ, and surveillance video, receipts, and friends’ testimony all supported his alibi. Yet incredibly, police and the prosecuting attorney ignored the evidence. In their minds, Russ was guilty. But prominent defense attorney Joel J. Schwartz quickly recognized the real killer.

The motive was clear. Days before her murder, the terminally ill Betsy replaced her husband with her friend, Pamela Hupp, as her life insurance beneficiary. Still, despite the prosecution’s flimsy case and Hupp’s transparent lies, Russ was convicted—leaving Hupp free to kill again.

Bone Deep takes readers through the perfect storm of miscalculations and missteps that led to an innocent man’s conviction—and recounts Schwartz’s successful battle to have that conviction overturned. Written with Russ Faria’s cooperation, and filled with chilling new revelations and previously undisclosed evidence, this is the story of what can happen when police, prosecutor, judge, and jury all fail in their duty to protect the innocent—and let a killer get away with murder.