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The Killing Season

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The Killing Season

By: Alex French
Narrated by: David Drummond
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About this listen

For fans of True Detective and Making A Murderer, The Killing Season is a true crime saga, the story of a double murder that went unsolved for more than 35 years, and a chilling portrait of a small town upended by unimaginable violence.

In the summer of 1975, the sprawling valley town of Grand Junction, Colorado, is stunned by the grisly double murders of 24-year-old Linda Benson and her baby daughter Kelley. For Jim Fromm and Doug Rushing, the two young detectives assigned to the case, the investigation is a chance to earn their stripes and prove their mettle. At first, Fromm and Rushing peg the woman's mercurial husband, a pipe-fitter who works outside of town, as the primary suspect. But as their case against Steve Benson unravels, the detectives find themselves short on leads - and running out of time. With the city on edge and anxious for answers, a notorious serial killer goes on the lam, and yet another young woman and her children turn up dead.

In The Killing Season, acclaimed journalist Alex French traces the story of the Benson murders from the night Linda and Kelley's bodies are found strewn across their second floor apartment, to an improbable discovery, made more than 30 years later, that enabled a new breed of detectives to crack the case and bring closure to those who'd watched justice slip away. Writing in taut, atmospheric prose, French has crafted a heart-pounding tale of tragedy, resilience, and redemption - set against the burning-red vistas of the American Southwest.

Alex French is a freelance journalist. His reportage and oral histories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, BuzzReads, GQ, New York Magazine, Grantland, This American Life, and a variety of other venues. He lives in Monmouth County, New Jersey, with his wife and two children.

©2016 Alex French (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
True Crime Marriage Detective Crime Mystery
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What listeners say about The Killing Season

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

passes time if your busy doing something else ...

fairly dry narration makes an interesting story fairly bland. not sure of the accuracy of it all either. when they definitively mention pink Chablis in one part I kind of lost all faith. Chablis is made from white grapes (Chardonnay) in France and is fairly pricey. you cannot make pink wine from white grapes.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The Fall and Fall of the Powerful.

A good overall experience. Not thrilling, but very sound, and I would recommend this book to those interested in a well written true crime story. I found myself strangely empathetic to the main character as he was well drawn and believable. I haven’t met many criminals, but oddly I have come across a couple of rapists. Violent individuals who managed to live with their deeply flawed characters. It still baffles me that they can look away from their own violence. Perhaps the joy they experience while harming another, clearly vulnerable person, subsumes any restraint they may have. Is that what makes a criminal? Got it! All so long ago, and yet, just yesterday! Don’t listen to this if you are even faintly sensitive!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Harrowing story very well told

Murder told with humility, interwoven with Ted Bundy and characters you can feel empathy for.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Interesting for those that like true crime

Didn’t know about this crime and enjoyed the detail of the times and places and the good people who worked to finally get their man

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good for true crime podcast lovers

This is like listening to Serial or watching Making a Murderer so it's not a conventional 'book' in the slightest. It's dark and depressing and requires googling facts and context from time to time. As a true crime fan, it's appealing but it's definitely an acquired taste.

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5 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

no idea what is going on

no apostrophes or full stops from the narrator. only reason I am only preserving to find out the killer from the original killing. talking about ted Bundy most of it and I'm 100% he has nothing to do with the murder

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Narrator spoilt the story would give him0 if I could

I realize this is a factual account but the dry, tone less boring voice of the narrator made it a chore to listen to , far to quickly read so I had to keep rewinding to keep up with the pace of his rendition. It could have been good .

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Ok and free!

Quite Okay. A bit slow in developing but well narrated. murderer was hardly a master criminal.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Thank god it was free

The writing was quite disjointed. Mentions other murders in quite a lot of detail which detracted from the main plot line about Linda and Kelley. The constant referrals to Ted Bundy and his killings, whilst understandable due to the fact that there were fears that Linda and Kelley were victims of Ted Bundy, made this unnecessarily complicated. I wouldn’t recommend this one…

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

OK for a freebie

It was an interesting story, about a true Crime, which occurred around the same time as Ted Bundy was at large which gave a good anchor to the time period and there was the niggle of "Was it Bundy or someone else?" at play. My one gripe was the narrator, a mid-western monotonous drone which made it difficult to concentrate on for any length of time.

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