Better Off Dead: A Sordid True Story of Sex, Sin and Murder in Obsessed with True Crime

May 09, 2020 ♥ Marlene♥ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: true-crime, non-fiction, kindle

Another great read by this author. And another book about a woman that kills or wants someone to be killed. Books like that are often quite interesting. Especially how it plays out. Will they manage to get scot-free or will they ask for a plea bargain, or be offered one. Women it seems are better in being sneaky (and in playing the victim but I have known men who are excellent in that as well.

I totally got the victim's family's wishes in the end about penalty.

Recommend. ...more

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Apr 09, 2018 Lisa rated it really liked it

The true crime novel in general never disappoints and this one is excellent! The book is very timely as the trial just wrapped up in late 2017. This particular crime; one of mis-guided passion, hits home because it occurred about 200 miles from where I live and I saw frequent updates about it on the news. A must read for True Crime enthusiasts!

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Feb 25, 2018 Stephanie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: true-crime, guilty-pleasure

OK, guilty pleasure time! For fans of my guilty reading pleasure, True Crime. Not to be confused with “literature” but DEFINITELY entertaining!!!

This story revolves around some truly disgusting people, whose level of hypocrisy is unmatched. Sabrina Limon is a young wife and mother living in Helendale (a town in the high desert of Southern California, the name which (in my opinion) could be shortened to just the first syllable. She has a husband named Rob, cute kids, big house, boat, etc. She wor OK, guilty pleasure time! For fans of my guilty reading pleasure, True Crime. Not to be confused with “literature” but DEFINITELY entertaining!!!

This story revolves around some truly disgusting people, whose level of hypocrisy is unmatched. Sabrina Limon is a young wife and mother living in Helendale (a town in the high desert of Southern California, the name which (in my opinion) could be shortened to just the first syllable. She has a husband named Rob, cute kids, big house, boat, etc. She works as a “sample girl” at Costco, where she meets a hunky young fireman named Jonathan when he comes to buy food for the station where he works. They hit it off and begin an emotional affair that soon turns physical. Things get so involved that they just HAVE to be together, so they hatch a plot to get rid of Sabrina’s husband, who will, they agree be “Better Off Dead.”

So far, a straightforward true crime story, right? But this one gets totally weird as we learn that Sabrina and her husband and their group of friends are involved in “the lifestyle,” which means swinging. (I found this out by accident some years ago when I was looking to book a vacation at a beach resort and they kept clarifying for me that this place was for people involved in “the lifestyle.” I was totally naive and quite surprised and a bit embarrassed when a nice man told me on the phone that we were welcome to book a stay, AND that we needed to be aware of the expectation that we would participate. (We went elsewhere)

OK, so if THAT isn’t enough, here comes the hypocrisy: Sabrina and Jonathan are devout Christians, and spend an incredible amount of time quoting Scripture and justifying their actions with Biblical quotes etc. I personally didn’t find this surprising but did find it fascinating. As it turned out, Jonathan decided that prison was not where he wanted to spend his life, so he took a plea deal and ratted out Sabrina, testifying at her trial. Both were convicted (her appeal was just rejected this past month, so she will be locked up even longer than he will, even though he committed the actual crime). And I really hated Jonathan. First for being an idiot (“it was inevitable that Rob needed to die for Sabrina and I to move forward with our relationship“) and even more for testing out the poison by feeding some to the neighbor’s dog, who was never seen again.

Like I said, weird but entertaining for sure. With thanks to Wild Blue Press and NetGalley, this one gets five True Crime Stars. ...more

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