Obsessed

by M. William Phelps

"Phelps is the Harlan Coben of real-life thrillers."--Allison Brennan

Sheila Davalloo was young, attractive, and successful. When she started a new job at a cutting-edge research lab in Stamford, Connecticut, she met the man of her dreams. Nelson Sessler had no idea how violently Sheila would react when he began seeing a co-worker, Anna Lisa Raymundo. Sheila eliminated her rival in a bloody knife attack--and then turned her rage on another victim she saw as an obstacle to her passions. M. Williams Phelps recounts the riveting story of a white-collar love triangle gone horribly wrong. . .and the terrifying infatuation that drove one woman to kill.

"Anything by Phelps is always an eye-opening experience." --Suspense Magazine

"M. William Phelps dares to tread where few others will: into the mind of a killer." --TV Rage

Includes 16 Pages Of Dramatic Photos

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Audiobook, Relationships, Mystery, True Story

512 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 4, 2014

About the author

Crime, murder and serial killer expert, creator/producer/writer and former host of the Investigation Discovery series DARK MINDS, acclaimed, award-winning investigative journalist M. William Phelps is the New York Times best-selling author of 30 books and winner of the 2013 Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award and the 2008 New England Book Festival Award. A highly sought-after pundit, Phelps has made over 100 media-related television appearances: Early Show, The Today Show, The View, Fox & Friends, truTV, Discovery Channel, Fox News Channel, Good Morning America, TLC, BIO, History, Oxygen, OWN, on top of over 100 additional media appearances: USA Radio Network, Catholic Radio, Mancow, Wall Street Journal Radio, Zac Daniel, Ave Maria Radio, Catholic Channel, EWTN Radio, ABC News Radio, and many more.

Phelps is also a member of the Multidisciplinary Collaborative on Sexual Crime and Violence (MCSCV), also known as the Atypical Homicide Research Group (AHRG) at Northeastern University, maintained by NU alumni Enzo Yaksic.

Phelps is one of the regular and recurring experts frequently appearing on two long-running series, Deadly Women and Snapped. Radio America calls Phelps “the nation’s leading authority on the mind of the female murderer,” and TV Rage says, “M. William Phelps dares to tread where few others will: into the mind of a killer.” A respected journalist, beyond his book writing Phelps has written for numerous publications—including the Providence Journal, Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Courant—and consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter.

Phelps grew up in East Hartford, CT, moved to Vernon, CT, at age 12, where he lived for 25 years. He now lives in a reclusive Connecticut farming community north of Hartford.

Beyond crime, Phelps has also written several history books, including the acclaimed, New York Times bestselling NATHAN HALE: The Life and Death of America’s First Spy, THE DEVIL’S ROOMING HOUSE, THE DEVIL’S RIGHT HAND, MURDER, NEW ENGLAND, and more.

Reviews

[Misty Marie Harms · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the true crime story about a woman and her obsession with one man that she was willing to kill. Sheila Davalloo is a successful, beautiful woman. One day she meets the man of her dreams, Nelson Sessler. During a breakup Nelson falls for pretty co-worker, Anna Lisa Raymundo. In a fit of jealous rage Sheila kills Anna.

First Sheila's husband is an idiot. What man agrees to leave his house on weekends because his wife is trying to hide their marriage? Nelson is an ass for playing both these women against each other. I hated everybody, but Anna. She was minding her own business and then Sheila shows up to take her life over a man that doesn't want her. Ladies we need to do better. Be better.

😺😺😺😺

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a crazy story this was. This was one of the better books by this author. I wish he would stop constantly adding his judgement in his books. He can't help but it. Here an example.

"Hoping she could win this man back. This my friends is the description of a desperate woman who will go to any lengths to get her man"

I cannot enjoy his books because of him constantly having to have his say and telling us what to think and feel, thinking we the readers are so dumb we won't get it without him force feeding it to us.



Anyway I tried to put my annoyance aside which is hard because it goes on and on, the story was so interesting it would be hard writing a bad book about it.

Now what do I give this book. a 3 or a 4? I will be nice for once.

Please don't faint now. I can be nice..not often though.

[Jeanette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chunky prose in myriad tangents. Dynamite Fatal Attraction case. Talked it to death in this verbose telling. Dateline did it better.

[ꕥ Ange_Lives_To_Read ꕥ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't realize I had seen this case on Dateline or one of those true crime shows, and it was fascinating.

This book, however, was a mess. The writing was objectively terrible and amateurish. I almost wonder if Amazon accidentally released the author's raw, unedited notes. That's the only thing that explains for me how this was published.

[Tracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a reader if true crime, I've read many of the very prolific crime writer Phelps' books. I think his prose is clumsy and amateurish, but the cases he writes draw me to his books anyway. This one is a doozy, detailing the case of a Big Pharma love triangle in which total wackadoo Sheila falls madly in love with her some-time lover and complete d-bag Nelson, eventually leading Sheila to kill his sweet girlfriend Anna Lisa. The book really picks up in the middle section, when all the fascinating facts of Sheila's life and lies are revealed.

[Dana ****Reads Alot**** · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't even know where to begin. Sheila was in a love triangle. With Nelson who seemed be a sleaze bag in my opinion. He was already hooked up with Anna Lisa. Sheila became infatuated with Nelson. They all seemed to work in the same building, but the Anna knew nothing of crazy Sheila. To bad she didn't , it may have saved her life. Nelson was becoming more interested in Anna as he was seing Sheila's Loopy side. Sheila was married to Paul Christos. Every night she would come home and tell her husband about this supposed love triangle going on at work asking his opinion why Nelson is rejecting "so so" She talked about this love triangle obsessively. You would think A light bulb would go off in Paul's head. Nope. Sometimes we don't want to see the real picture or are blinded by love.

Sheila calculated and made a plan to kill lisa. after she was taken care of, she ha to get rid of Paul. Does a divorce pop into her head? no. Lets kill Paul too. She tried but failed and he lived to tell the truth . She made her husband go to a hotel every other weekend saying her brother was unstable and was coming to stay over for a few days and has no idea she is even married. And he bought this nonsense. Instead she playing house with Nelson in her own home.

I don't want to say to much. This book was fascinating of how wacked this woman's mind worked. She ge caught on both murders and she represents herself (big mistake, big headache) listening to this narcissistic woman. I'm sure the judge needed a stiff one at the end of the day. Every day on both trials.

I love that she gets what she deserves and I love what Phelps had to say to her.

Your a killer and narcissistic . You claim to have found god.You better hope he has found you.

Great suspense and I couldn't put this one down. I you like true crime this book is for you.

[Leigh Podgorski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Still Wrong Photos & Poorly Written

I wonder who cares less about their readers-- Kindle or Mr Phelps? If you sift down through the reviews you will see many that say the photos are wrong, that Kindle was advised, and promised they would be updated. Ah, no. In addition, the commentary by Mr Phelps is childish and unprofessional, but worse is his writing. I wish I had jotted down some of the myriad examples but his analogies are clunky and ham-fisted, and the book at times weighted with tedium--especially in the endless description of the love triangle. Do not bother with this book- not worth it, even for two bucks.

[Cherie Beauton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horribly written. Disorganized, and for unknown reasons, it contains extraneous information. Chapter ten starts with an unrelated murder of a child, then never refers to it again. I seriously want my money back.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched and well written.

[Mrs. Read · Rating 2 out of 5]

Judging by other Goodreaders’ reviews, M. William Phelps’ books are true crime at its best. Judging from his Obsessed these Goodreaders are nuts. Its subject is fascinating - a literally unbelievable murderer - but whoever did the copy editing should be incarcerated right along with her. The book is made up of short declarative sentences combined into short paragraphs, a few to a chapter. Phelps seems to have arranged the English language in an array of concepts - good/bad, easy/hard, important/insignificant, involve/disassociate, and on & on - and then to have expressed his ideas by virtually random choices from the appropriate[?] category. There are dozens of instances, far too many to cite, but here’s one example of his insensitivity to language misuse (Chapter 86) “the old saying: ‘A defendant representing his- or herself has a fool for a client.’”
Obsessed is recommended for true crime readers who can ignore the solecisms and concentrate on the clues.

[Iain Carnegie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting true crime story, but as many of my fellow readers have already mentioned, Phelps interjection of his own thoughts (which are completely unnecessary and borderline narcissistic), take away from the flow of the reading experience. It's like trying to read a book with footnotes or Coles Notes in the body of the prose. If it weren't for that I'd have rated it a 4⭐️.

[Stella Gonzales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put book down

I was a big fan of Ann Rule because of her talent in writing her books but now I will be read Mr Phelps's books.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in true crime.

[Amy Sheehan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was boring!! And very repetitive

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Love the author, great read!! I read a lot of M. William Phelps, he is a great writer. I will continue to read his books.

[Denise Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterful profile of a true psychopath

[Kieran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phelps is a true crime genius. I love the way he writes and he’s so analytical in detailing the background of the crimes and the criminal profiles. I always come out feeling like I’ve read a great novel when I read one of Phelps’ books.

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not much of a tv watcher but I have seen this author on several programs talking about famous cases. He was interesting enough for me to search out one of his books. I hate to say it, but he is not much of an author. Very repetitive.........I got it the first time that there was a "large pool of blood underneath her head" and didn't have to be told seven or eight times. I also felt that he was "talking down" to the reader, long explanations about common practices and procedures used in the police department. It was rather irritating but as I read on, the story itself was so interesting that I got past the writing style the best I could. Another reviewer said that this was one of his worst books, so maybe I will try another since he seems to be a very popular author.

The story is about the murder of a popular young medical researcher who "had no enemies" (no body ever seems to "have no enemies"!!) and the obsession of her murderer in what appeared to be a love triangle situation or so the murderer believed. The story of a true psychopath whose delusions about love and commitment led her to kill "the other woman".

[Kirsten · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually won’t review a book that I don’t finish. However, this was such a terrible read that I feel like I have to. I’m sure that this is a fascinating and terrifying case and I really do wish that I could have read the story behind it. This was overly repetitive and had no organization. Phelps seems incapable of reporting the facts impartially and instead constantly includes his opinion. Phelps also makes it clear that he doesn’t think his audience is very intelligent when explaining common sense concepts. This was my first true crime book and I really hope they aren’t all like this.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the cover. This story stretched 500 pages out, so there's a lot of additional material--even the lives of the cops and investigators. I was DONE at the halfway point, since we already knew who did what, just as soon as the cops found the culprit. I wasn't about to continue after that. I'd say there's about 300 extra pages of fluff here.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ann Rule was my favorite true-crime author. Sadly, she has passed away. I am happy to report that I now have another favorite, M. William Phelps, who writes true crime just as well and as detailed as Ann Rule did. "Obesessed" was a great page-turner, and I can't wait to read more from this author.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder

Murder

This book was well written as all of his books have been. This woman was a true psychopath and was lucky she wasn't caught a lot sooner than she was. I really love this author and the details he provides in his books.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This case was always one that gripped me from the first time I heard it until I read the book. The book went into a lot more detail than any Dateline or 48 Hours show ever did. I really enjoyed all the extra information.

[Tammy Lynn Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

utterly amazing ... as Phelps' always is!

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

M. William Phelps is usually reliable, but he seemed to resort to cliches a lot here and laid on the pro-police/prosecution rhetoric a little thick. An interesting case though!

[Lenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written book about a distinctly sick young woman, Sheila Davaloo.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and researched true crime, I was surprised I had not heard of it.

[Sterling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full rating (2.75)

I didn't enjoy M. William Phelps writing style. The way he would stop in the middle of a scene to jump to some other aspect of the story he felt needed elaboration before returning was annoying. That he continued to hop around the timeline of this story in a nonlinear and arbitrary fashion also detracted from this book for me. The worst aspect of all in my opinion was his lack of focus and pacing. He'd over elaborate on an aspect of this case for far too long only to return to it and do so again a few chapters later. I will never knowingly read another book written by this author.


On a positive note I was fascinated and routinely shocked by certain developments of this case. It was compelling and I have no doubt why someone would want to write a book about it. After reading this I'd be very interested to see a documentary about this.

The fact that so many people involved in this tragic storyline couldn't see each other for what they actually were is something that I'll try to take away with me. How often do we all allow preconceptions and internal naritives to distort are own perceptions. Do we actually experience reality or just some delusional version of it.

[Anne Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast-paced read for true crime readers who can't get enough of creepy love triangles. Sheila Davalloo takes the title for "Love-Obsessed Psychopath of the Century", with Glenn Close's character in Fatal Attraction running a close second. A few reviews state that this book is poorly written. While it does have some of those worn out true crime cliches that the writers of Dateline and Snapped are so fond of using, Phelps' narrative voice is consistently unique and personable. It feels like you are sitting at a pub over beers and he is telling you the story as a close friend. He knows just when to throw in a new twist and build the tension. While writing true crime can sometimes take on the tedium of writing a doctoral thesis, one gets the impression that Phelps really throws himself into telling these sordid tales- and that energy comes through in his prose.

[Karen Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Obsessed is the perfect title for this book. I've come across people who are obsessed with somebody, but they aren't consumed by it like Sheila was. I would've liked this more if there was a full background of her, though, not just tidbits here and there. What was the deal with her brother? He was so important to Sheila but yet a shadowy figure that never had a voice.
I never got to know Anna Lisa or Nelson either. That was something Ann Rule was great at and which I miss.
The trial took up the last 100 pages and was way too long and detailed.
This is my first Phelps book, but I'm not eager to try another one, much as I like true crime. He has a folksy writing style that can be funny sometimes and annoying other times.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sheila Davalloo was born on May 11, 1969 in Iran. She came to the United States with her family in the 1970s. She became a pharmaceutical researcher. She married her first husband, but that marriage ended in divorce when her husband discovered her affair with Paul Christos, who would become her second husband. The saying "you lose them how you get them" certainly applies in this case, as Paul had a love interest on the side. I will not spoil the book by getting into all that happened for anyone interested in reading this book, but I will say that Sheila was snatched by police for attempted murder and murder. M. William Phelps is a decent crime author, so the book was on par with my expectation.