What do you think?
Rate this book
The Smiley Face Killers
There is a group in the country with 'cells' scattered in numerous cities large and small. There is a hierarchy in this group, it is very organized, and they are killing our loved ones. They usually choose males as their kill of choice and often these result in missing persons, later found in bodies of water.
It isn’t stopping; it appears to be escalating.... This is a puzzle. A very deadly one. Young college men are vanishing without a trace, only to be found dead; weeks or months later, in remote rivers or creeks, in areas that searched multiple times before; their bodies later discovered there, as though placed to be found.
"Understand this; We take what we need and leave: This is necessary. Life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on death feeds on life.”
“The evil is rampant and deep and widespread. He was tortured, taken to the river and killed. Then his body was ‘positioned’ and taken to a different part of the water.”
This is the work of a group of Serial Killers; but they are a breed of Serial Killers we have never met before...
It isn’t stopping; it appears to be escalating.... This is a puzzle. A very deadly one. Young college men are vanishing without a trace, only to be found dead; weeks or months later, in remote rivers or creeks, in areas that searched multiple times before; their bodies later discovered there, as though placed to be found.
"Understand this; We take what we need and leave: This is necessary. Life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on death feeds on life.”
“The evil is rampant and deep and widespread. He was tortured, taken to the river and killed. Then his body was ‘positioned’ and taken to a different part of the water.”
This is the work of a group of Serial Killers; but they are a breed of Serial Killers we have never met before...
- GenresTrue CrimeCrimeHorror
353 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 21, 2016
80 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Young
93 books50 followersSteph Young began writing with the pen name Stephen Young, until she was asked to appear on National Radio show 'Coast to Coast AM'. Quickly, she had to explain she was a female! She had never expected anyone to read her books, let alone be asked on a national radio show ( which happened to be her favourite one) Since then she has been a regular guest on many podcasts and radio shows of the paranormal and unexplained.
She has a website now too:
https://www.stephyoungauthor.com/
And her own podcasts, called Masquerade podcast with steph young, on iTunes or
exclusive member's only episodes on: https://www.patreon.com/stephyoungpod...
Steph is an independent Researcher addicted to researching all Paranormal, Supernatural, Esoteric & Enigmatic Unexplained Mysteries, Unexplained Disappearances, the dark history of Lore and Monstrous Creatures of the Unknown.
Steph also particularly likes to write about Creepy things in the Woods, Strange encounters in the woods, & Scary things in the woods.....her books include Lore and Folklore and Mythology - but don't let that fool you...many of the readers who contact Steph now to tell them of their own strange encounters with the Unknown provide ample evidence that perhaps these creatures and monsters from our darkest nightmares, seem to well and truly exist...Lore becomes reality and as they say, the truth is often far scarier than fiction or folklore. As for the many cases of the Unexplained Disappearances that Steph investigates in her books, these Unsolved disappearances are all too real - but they often have very baffling circumstances and very cryptic clues.
Each book Steph writes seems to lead to further questions & searches for answers as the mysteries inevitably deepen & develop into ever more complex riddles in the spectrum of the Unknown.
Conspiracies, hidden secrets, the truth from the Lore, the connections between the paranormal and the missing, these are just some of the enigma's Steph investigates to find the new, the unexpected, and the surprising possibilities that might just tie all of this together....
If you have had a Creepy encounter, i would love to hear from you, & would be very interested in your experience.
https://www.stephyoungauthor.com/
my email is; Stephenyoungauthor@hotmail.com
facebook Stephyoungauthor
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
Steph Young's books also cover the case of 'the Smiley Face Killers'; true stories of scores of mysteries & unexplained abductions & drownings of college-age men across the United States, Canada, and England's 'The Pusher', investigating these deaths and the cryptic clues left behind and who may be behind these abductions and drowning deaths.
She has a website now too:
https://www.stephyoungauthor.com/
And her own podcasts, called Masquerade podcast with steph young, on iTunes or
exclusive member's only episodes on: https://www.patreon.com/stephyoungpod...
Steph is an independent Researcher addicted to researching all Paranormal, Supernatural, Esoteric & Enigmatic Unexplained Mysteries, Unexplained Disappearances, the dark history of Lore and Monstrous Creatures of the Unknown.
Steph also particularly likes to write about Creepy things in the Woods, Strange encounters in the woods, & Scary things in the woods.....her books include Lore and Folklore and Mythology - but don't let that fool you...many of the readers who contact Steph now to tell them of their own strange encounters with the Unknown provide ample evidence that perhaps these creatures and monsters from our darkest nightmares, seem to well and truly exist...Lore becomes reality and as they say, the truth is often far scarier than fiction or folklore. As for the many cases of the Unexplained Disappearances that Steph investigates in her books, these Unsolved disappearances are all too real - but they often have very baffling circumstances and very cryptic clues.
Each book Steph writes seems to lead to further questions & searches for answers as the mysteries inevitably deepen & develop into ever more complex riddles in the spectrum of the Unknown.
Conspiracies, hidden secrets, the truth from the Lore, the connections between the paranormal and the missing, these are just some of the enigma's Steph investigates to find the new, the unexpected, and the surprising possibilities that might just tie all of this together....
If you have had a Creepy encounter, i would love to hear from you, & would be very interested in your experience.
https://www.stephyoungauthor.com/
my email is; Stephenyoungauthor@hotmail.com
facebook Stephyoungauthor
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
Steph Young's books also cover the case of 'the Smiley Face Killers'; true stories of scores of mysteries & unexplained abductions & drownings of college-age men across the United States, Canada, and England's 'The Pusher', investigating these deaths and the cryptic clues left behind and who may be behind these abductions and drowning deaths.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 24, 2018
I really like to read crime/horror/mystery stories, but this one would not be a top choice. Aside from grammatical and punctuation errors, there was a decided lack of organization in the story. It bounced around a lot from the US to the UK. The book lacked substance with evidence, but was instead full of conspiracy theory and conjecture. The comparisons between victims did not flow very well and several times there was repeated sections of paragraphs. With the amount of conspiracy theory in the book, I was unable to decide if the book was based on truth or just a hyped-up urban legend. If this is true, then it did not do justice to the families that are still seeking answers.
April 29, 2018
I have been addicted to True Crime podcasts for a few years now. And yes, I am a sick individual as I love falling a sleep to one of them. Though come of think of it, its probably good that I don't remember my dreams.
THE CASE OF THE SMILEY FACE KILLERS is the first true crime book that I have read rather than just skimming through as I tend to prefer fiction. It was time to take that first step into that world of nonfiction and this book was a good place to start. Rather than a deep dive into any specific individual which would almost be impossible as there are far too many victims and possibly perpetuators, THE CASE OF THE SMILEY FACE KILLERS focuses on the crime instead.
I can't really say that I 'enjoyed' the book simply because of the subject matter but I did find it a rather good read. The author introduces us to some of the many victims of this horrifying crime and some of the many experts who are working to solve these cases. I think that it did a really good job in helping to get the victim's names out there without going so in-depth that the reader bogs down. One thing that I would like to see included in this book is a list of sources at the end or at the very least, a suggested reading list.
I would recommend this book to readers who are looking for an overview of this unusual case or an introduction to this genre however I do feel that people who have researched this case before would be disappointed. I found some of the theories that the author brought up to be interesting and bears looking into so I feel that THE CASE OF THE SMILEY FACE KILLERS has accomplished one of its goals.
***This book was given to me at no charge by the author in exchange for fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
THE CASE OF THE SMILEY FACE KILLERS is the first true crime book that I have read rather than just skimming through as I tend to prefer fiction. It was time to take that first step into that world of nonfiction and this book was a good place to start. Rather than a deep dive into any specific individual which would almost be impossible as there are far too many victims and possibly perpetuators, THE CASE OF THE SMILEY FACE KILLERS focuses on the crime instead.
I can't really say that I 'enjoyed' the book simply because of the subject matter but I did find it a rather good read. The author introduces us to some of the many victims of this horrifying crime and some of the many experts who are working to solve these cases. I think that it did a really good job in helping to get the victim's names out there without going so in-depth that the reader bogs down. One thing that I would like to see included in this book is a list of sources at the end or at the very least, a suggested reading list.
I would recommend this book to readers who are looking for an overview of this unusual case or an introduction to this genre however I do feel that people who have researched this case before would be disappointed. I found some of the theories that the author brought up to be interesting and bears looking into so I feel that THE CASE OF THE SMILEY FACE KILLERS has accomplished one of its goals.
***This book was given to me at no charge by the author in exchange for fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
January 6, 2019
I’m only giving this book two stars for the fact that the case(s) are so interesting and the book really dives into a ton of them. That being said, there’s not much in here that you couldn’t garner from a simple Google search.
Additionally. This may have been the most poorly written published book I’ve ever read in my life. Grammar mistakes, punctuation errors, misspelled and incorrectly used words. Just absolutely terribly written. There’s no flow to the information, the paragraphs are oddly separated and confusing to follow as they jump from one thing to another. And the author repeats himself on the same subject multiple times for each “case”.
This theory/theories are so interesting that that is the only reason I kept going with this book. If nothing else, it gives a starting point to take yourself down a Google rabbit hole of information regarding this serial killer theory.
In sum: Skip the book and just google about these cases, at least then you’ll get some Reddit opinions which, if nothing else, are more satisfying and well-articulated than the ones in this book.
Additionally. This may have been the most poorly written published book I’ve ever read in my life. Grammar mistakes, punctuation errors, misspelled and incorrectly used words. Just absolutely terribly written. There’s no flow to the information, the paragraphs are oddly separated and confusing to follow as they jump from one thing to another. And the author repeats himself on the same subject multiple times for each “case”.
This theory/theories are so interesting that that is the only reason I kept going with this book. If nothing else, it gives a starting point to take yourself down a Google rabbit hole of information regarding this serial killer theory.
In sum: Skip the book and just google about these cases, at least then you’ll get some Reddit opinions which, if nothing else, are more satisfying and well-articulated than the ones in this book.
August 25, 2018
First, this topic is absolutely one of the most interesting subjects that I have read in a long time. I think the author's research on it has been pretty in-depth and at least as far as anyone could research a topic such as this, he did a fabulous job. The repetition, misspelling, jumping around, and generally difficult to follow/read was the reason for the 4 star rather than the 5. Because of the awesome job he did in research, he deserves the 4 though and the choice of topic as well. Maybe an editor would help him since he says some in the beginning and end of a sentence that is the same thing. Just simple editing that a lot of indie authors can't afford so I will certainly purchase or request books from this author.
I received this book from the Review Club for free and I am giving an honest review.
I received this book from the Review Club for free and I am giving an honest review.
September 9, 2018
I was shocked at the amount of young men that have gone missing in so many places. I don't understand how they haven't caught the killers yet. It seems like it would be a priority. I am glad to know that this is going on. Very scary and sad to know how so many bodies could have come in contact with the killers. I can't believe they haven't solved this mystery and have made this known. I think they should continue to stress this is a problem. An Interesting Book for sure!
March 31, 2018
This is quite an interesting account of various stories/cases and reading through it you can see what they have in common is not mere coincidence. The structure of this book was perfectly done and steady paced. The author has clearly done their research. I would definitely be interested in reading some more of this author's work in the future. Tremendous work.
May 3, 2020
Scary
This is probably Steph Young’s most terrifying book. These events are happening and no one knows why. If you’re a college-age man, stay away from bars on holidays.
Like all her other books, it could use better editing, and she seems to ramble on at times, but it gets the job done.
This is probably Steph Young’s most terrifying book. These events are happening and no one knows why. If you’re a college-age man, stay away from bars on holidays.
Like all her other books, it could use better editing, and she seems to ramble on at times, but it gets the job done.
April 19, 2021
Disjointed and disappointing
While intriguing and apparently well researched, the book is jumble of often disconnected thoughts and case. The lack of structure and horrible editing made this a tough read.
While intriguing and apparently well researched, the book is jumble of often disconnected thoughts and case. The lack of structure and horrible editing made this a tough read.
April 5, 2023
Yikes!
The book was a lot to take in. And it makes me crazy to think what the hell is going on?
At first I thought Aliens but this sounds very demonic in nature. And how do people just enter a bar and never leave? Where do they go?
Something supernatural has to be involved.
The book was a lot to take in. And it makes me crazy to think what the hell is going on?
At first I thought Aliens but this sounds very demonic in nature. And how do people just enter a bar and never leave? Where do they go?
Something supernatural has to be involved.
April 14, 2018
Whether you believe the conspiracy theories presented here or not, this is a fascinating book and a very interesting read.
A good choice for those who like true crime stories.
A good choice for those who like true crime stories.
July 11, 2018
Wow! This is crazy what has happen! These families that are left with all their emotions and thoughts! Stuff that I can only imagine to happen, watch on tv, but never experience! Well written!
March 15, 2019
Great topic that was ruined due to poor editing, repeating, no organization.
August 6, 2022
Smiley Face Killers
Interesting read. Bit hard to follow as dates skip around. A lot of mystery still out there about the killers.
Interesting read. Bit hard to follow as dates skip around. A lot of mystery still out there about the killers.
December 30, 2020
Great read fascinating back story intriguing
August 25, 2018
First, this topic is absolutely one of the most interesting subjects that I have read in a long time. I think the author's research on it has been pretty in-depth and at least as far as anyone could research a topic such as this, he did a fabulous job. The repetition, misspelling, jumping around, and generally difficult to follow/read was the reason for the 4 star rather than the 5. Because of the awesome job he did in research, he deserves the 4 though and the choice of topic as well. Maybe an editor would help him since he says some in the beginning and end of a sentence that is the same thing. Just simple editing that a lot of indie authors can't afford so I will certainly purchase or request books from this author.
I received this book from the Review Club for free and I am giving an honest review.
I received this book from the Review Club for free and I am giving an honest review.
September 6, 2016
Scary stuff
Wow, international cabal of unknowns killing young men and leaving them in water. I sincerely hope this is smoke without a fire.
Wow, international cabal of unknowns killing young men and leaving them in water. I sincerely hope this is smoke without a fire.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews