Library Journal - Audio
06/10/2024
Glatt (The Doomsday Mother: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and the End of an American Family) explores the history, lies, and infamy of one of South Carolina's most prestigious families. In the Lowcountry, the Murdaugh name has long been linked to politicians, wealth, and privilege. On June 7, 2021, the family was thrust into the national news with the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, the wife and son of Alex Murdaugh. As authorities search for clues, it becomes clear that the once-celebrated family is at the center of several shocking crimes. Narrator Shaun Grindell offers compelling narration as listeners are introduced to the first Murdaughs, who established their name, to Alex, the man who tarnished it. True crime fans will be hooked by the many twists and turns detailed in this well-researched account. VERDICT Those who are new to the case and those who followed it since the beginning should enjoy this thorough exploration of corruption, influence, and depravity in this prominent Southern family. For fans of Sarah Weinman's Scoundrel or Juan Martinez's Conviction.—Elyssa Everling
Publishers Weekly
★ 06/26/2023
Bestseller Glatt (The Doomsday Mother) tells the stranger-than-fiction saga of South Carolina’s Murdaugh family in this exemplary work of true crime. While many readers will be familiar with the allegations that attorney Alex Murdaugh killed his wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul, in 2021—resulting in his 2023 conviction and double life sentence—Glatt deepens the story by placing those murders in the context of the family’s history. The Murdaughs “dominated a huge swath of South Carolina’s luscious Lowcountry, epitomizing power, justice, and big, big money” by serving as the equivalent of district attorneys at a time when state laws also permitted them to maintain a lucrative civil practice; they were well-known locally as both prosecutors and personal injury lawyers. Leading up to the murders, Maggie was beginning to consider filing for divorce, and Paul had been indicted for homicide after drunkenly crashing a boat and killing one of its passengers. All of this, Glatt explains, motivated Alex to act in desperate defense of the family legacy and their accumulated fortune, supporting this thesis by digging into the scope of both their influence and their wealth. Through his judicious use of police records, interviews with sources including local historians, and Alex’s own jailhouse phone calls (including one where he laughs off his crimes, saying “it is what it is”), Glatt has produced the equivalent of a juicy John Grisham novel, featuring a lead more “dark and totally devoid of conscience” than anyone he’s ever researched. This real-life Southern noir lingers. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
Praise for Tangled Vines:
"Readers will be swept up in this account." —Booklist, starred review
“Glatt has produced the equivalent of a juicy John Grisham novel, featuring a lead more 'dark and totally devoid of conscience' than anyone he’s ever researched. This real-life Southern noir lingers.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"John Glatt pulls aside the South Carolina Low Country’s curtain of Spanish moss and steps smoothly into its swamp of corruption, embezzlement, and murder, delivering a Baedeker of the family’s steady rise and spectacular fall." —Air Mail
"Excellent. " —Montecito Journal
Praise for The Doomsday Mother:
"A white-knuckle page-turner...This definitive look at a case Glatt considers the most 'terrifying' of his decades of experience as a journalist is must reading for true crime fans." —Publishers Weekly (starred)
“In bestselling author John Glatt’s capable hands, this tragic tale avoids hyperbole and emotionally provocative prose … fascinating, gruesome and harrowing.”—Bookreporter.com
Praise for Golden Boy:
“Glatt is a balanced narrator of this story….A tragic character study at the intersection of wealth, privilege, and mental illness, told with empathy.” — Library Journal
"Glatt shares alarming revelations about the state of the mental health system...This is must reading for true crime enthusiasts who prize depth over salaciousness." —Publishers Weekly
Praise for The Perfect Father:
“Glatt’s expert coverage of the investigation is riveting…police procedural fans will enjoy.” —Publishers Weekly
“[A] gripping read.” —Library Journal
Air Mail
"Glatt pulls aside the South Carolina Low Country’s curtain of Spanish moss and steps smoothly into its swamp of corruption, embezzlement, and murder, delivering a Baedeker of the family’s steady rise and spectacular fall.”
Booklist (starred review)
Readers will be swept up in this account.”
Montecito Journal
"Excellent.”
Kirkus Reviews
2023-05-02
A comprehensive entry into the mountain of media surrounding a prominent recent murder trial.
In his latest true-crime book, veteran writer Glatt turns his attention to Richard Alexander Murdaugh, the scion of a powerful South Carolina legal family. The author traces the storied dynasty back to Murdaugh’s great-great-great-grandfather, who was born in Islandton, South Carolina, in 1793. It was that ancestor’s son who became the first lawyer in the family, opening a one-man law practice in Hampton County in 1910. Glatt ably brings us through the next century, during which the Murdaugh name became synonymous with the local judicial system. He explains how “three generations of Murdaughs had served as [the region’s] solicitors (called district attorneys in all other states), turning it into a family business,” while simultaneously operating their own highly lucrative private law firm. By the time Murdaugh graduated from law school in 1994, new state laws made it illegal for solicitors to also practice civil law. Consequently, he joined the family law firm, then called PMPED, which specialized in “personal injury cases for the little man.” Murdaugh enjoyed great success and social standing until 2019, when his teenage son, Paul, drunkenly drove a boat into a bridge, killing Mallory Beach, his 19-year-old friend. In June 2021, Murdaugh found his wife and Paul shot to death at his massive hunting estate, the double murder for which he would later be convicted (though that trial is beyond the scope of this book). Later that year, Murdaugh was fired from PMPED for stealing millions of dollars of funds from his own clients. The so-called “Murdaugh Murders” have spawned a virtual cottage industry of content, from podcasts to a Netflix docuseries, and it’s hard to see what Glatt, though he capably catalogs all the relevant events, offers that’s unique. Ultimately, the narrative feels like a book-length Wikipedia article.
An exhaustive, uninspired work of true crime.
