2018: #11 – Dark Heart (Kevin Flynn & Rebecca Lavoie)

Dark Heart: A True Story of Sex, Manipulation, and Murder by Kevin Flynn, Rebecca Lavoie
Published by Berkley on March 1, 2016
Genres: true crime
Pages: 368

Was murder part of the game?
 
Seventeen-year-old Kat McDonough grew up with theater in her blood—and a penchant for make-believe. More than a decade older, Seth Mazzaglia was well known in the community theater circle of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He, too, had a rich inner life—and he soon had Kat convinced that they were soul mates.   To intensify their bond, Seth lured Kat into a world of violent sex and role-playing, where she was his slave. But even that wasn’t enough to satisfy his ravenous appetites.   Enter Lizzi Marriott, the new girl in town. And when she accepts an invitation to Kat and Seth’s apartment, she will never be seen again...

I picked this up because I am a fan of Flynn and Lavoie’s podcast Crime Writers On, and I wasn’t disappointed. This is the true story of a couple of young adults in New Hampshire and the awful crime they committed.

Kat McDonough was 17, loved drama (as in acting), and, like many 17 year olds, was angry with her parents. This made her the perfect target for the much older Seth Mazzaglia. Seth lived in a rich fantasy world with BDSM tendancies, and in Kat he found someone he could mold and control.

The book tells the story of both Kat and Seth, their backgrounds, how they met, and how their relationship progressed until it climaxed in tragedy. It’s an interesting story about the potentially dark world of BDSM (don’t get me wrong, most people who practice BDSM don’t act like Seth) and a young girl who felt trapped and got herself in way too deep. 

I liked the book and the audiobook was a decent production. I do wish they had fast forwarded through their early relationship a bit, but I understand the need to show how Kat got pulled in so far and so quickly. This was a pretty good true crime read.