Jamie R. (jamier78) reviewed The Perfect Father: The True Story of Chris Watts, His All-American Family, and a Shocking Murder on + 19 more book reviews
This book looks into the lives of the Watt's family, who appear perfectly happy and blessed with a beautiful house, nice vehicles, and two going on three beautiful children. But on the inside is a family going through tumulous times with bankruptcy and an unfaithful spouse.
Shannan uses her Facebook to promote a product called Thrive and has a very upbeat, perky personality. Her husband Chris is more of an introvert and gladly lets her be the boss of the household for several years.
Then he suddenly realizes he is unhappy in his marriage and cheats on her. Rather than getting the divorce most couples do at this point, he sneaks around for as long as he can and then decides he would be better off without his family. He then proceeds to coldly murder his family and denies any involvement for quite some time.
I felt physically ill reading what he did to his two little girls, who he supposedly "loved to the moon and back", but that did not prevent him from taking desperate measures for what he thought would be a better life with his girlfriend. I do not really feel like Shannan deserved this either of course, but it seems like she really pushed his buttons to the breaking point. Reading this book, I thought an episode about this case should appear on the TV series "Snapped".
I remember this case well and the photos of this family left you thinking how could this be when they looked so perfect? He looked like a perfectly nice, normal guy, but I've read enough true crime novels to realize a lot of these murderers appear to be quite physically attractive.
I thought it was kind of stupid Shannan's family sued Chris for $6 million dollars. It is not going to bring their daughter/sister back and Chris has already signed over his rights to his father-in-law from the estate, so unless he writes a book and makes a ton of money, I doubt he'll ever make that type of money since he is serving life in prison.
Shannan uses her Facebook to promote a product called Thrive and has a very upbeat, perky personality. Her husband Chris is more of an introvert and gladly lets her be the boss of the household for several years.
Then he suddenly realizes he is unhappy in his marriage and cheats on her. Rather than getting the divorce most couples do at this point, he sneaks around for as long as he can and then decides he would be better off without his family. He then proceeds to coldly murder his family and denies any involvement for quite some time.
I felt physically ill reading what he did to his two little girls, who he supposedly "loved to the moon and back", but that did not prevent him from taking desperate measures for what he thought would be a better life with his girlfriend. I do not really feel like Shannan deserved this either of course, but it seems like she really pushed his buttons to the breaking point. Reading this book, I thought an episode about this case should appear on the TV series "Snapped".
I remember this case well and the photos of this family left you thinking how could this be when they looked so perfect? He looked like a perfectly nice, normal guy, but I've read enough true crime novels to realize a lot of these murderers appear to be quite physically attractive.
I thought it was kind of stupid Shannan's family sued Chris for $6 million dollars. It is not going to bring their daughter/sister back and Chris has already signed over his rights to his father-in-law from the estate, so unless he writes a book and makes a ton of money, I doubt he'll ever make that type of money since he is serving life in prison.
Eadie B. (eadieburke) -
True crime story of Chris Watts who killed his wife, Shanann who was 3 months pregnant, their 2 daughters, Bella age 4 and Celeste age 3. It is not an easy read and a very shocking one as they appeared to be a happy loving family. The book is a timeline of how they deteriorated after economic, family and relationship problems. Shows how they lived beyond their means. But why did he do it? Wouldn't divorce have been an easier way out? Thanks to LibraryThing and Tantor Audio for a free copy for honest review. The audio really brought the story to life and I would highly recommend listening to it.
