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Murdertainment
Thousands of homicides occur each year in America. Most of the victims make a headline or two, only to quickly fade away from the public consciousness. However, on occasion, our society becomes fascinated by a murder. The headlines amplify instead of fading away. The principals in the tragedy achieve celebrity status. And what of the murder victim? Well, he or she evolves from being a murder victim to being a victim of Murdertainment.
Murdertainment begins with the murder of suburban New Jersey housewife, Regina Penn, at the hands of her husband, Jackson. He goes to great lengths to cover up his crime, and he is confident he can escape justice. Meanwhile, in New York City, the career of TV newscaster, Brooke McDaniel, is taking off. She has a new timeslot, a new love interest, and soon, an exclusive with what is to be the hottest news story in America.
Murdertainment chronicles this celebrated murder case from start to finish. The shocking trial’s verdict, however, is hardly the culmination of this story. For even after the verdict, Brooke McDaniel’s evolution continues. This news anchor is forced to examine her career and its motivations after another celebrated tragedy touches her hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. Brooke takes a long look in the mirror and is stunned to see the reflection of Murdertainment staring back at her. Brooke vows to be a better person and a more responsible journalist, unaware of the wolf that lies in wait outside her own door. Murdertainment is a post-mortem examination of the fusion of crime and entertainment in America that will prove to be good reading while offering a disturbing portrait of our society’s fascination with violence.
Eric Campbell is a resident of New Jersey whose hobbies include running, hiking, and making noise with his saxophone. Murdertainment is his third novel.
Murdertainment begins with the murder of suburban New Jersey housewife, Regina Penn, at the hands of her husband, Jackson. He goes to great lengths to cover up his crime, and he is confident he can escape justice. Meanwhile, in New York City, the career of TV newscaster, Brooke McDaniel, is taking off. She has a new timeslot, a new love interest, and soon, an exclusive with what is to be the hottest news story in America.
Murdertainment chronicles this celebrated murder case from start to finish. The shocking trial’s verdict, however, is hardly the culmination of this story. For even after the verdict, Brooke McDaniel’s evolution continues. This news anchor is forced to examine her career and its motivations after another celebrated tragedy touches her hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. Brooke takes a long look in the mirror and is stunned to see the reflection of Murdertainment staring back at her. Brooke vows to be a better person and a more responsible journalist, unaware of the wolf that lies in wait outside her own door. Murdertainment is a post-mortem examination of the fusion of crime and entertainment in America that will prove to be good reading while offering a disturbing portrait of our society’s fascination with violence.
Eric Campbell is a resident of New Jersey whose hobbies include running, hiking, and making noise with his saxophone. Murdertainment is his third novel.
586 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 10, 2010
3 people want to read
About the author
Eric Campbell
53 books7 followersErik Campbell lives in Papua, Indonesia, working as a technical writer for an American mining company. His poems and essays have appeared in numerous prestigious literary magazines, including The Iowa Review, Tin House, The Massachusetts Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Nimrod, New Delta Review, and Rattle. He has been nominated for a 2005 Pushcart Prize in poetry.
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November 3, 2010
Hmmm, what did I think? I think this could have been a great book. Mr. Campbell could really use an editor. Besides the book getting a little preachy at times, there were twenty instances where he described Brooke's lips as "collagen-enhanced lips". You know what? I would have gotten it if he described them once at the beginning & maybe mentioned them one more time, but this is just annoying. I am not even counting the number of times he said "puffy lips" instead.
Now for one of the key pieces of evidence. Fish gills? You cannot track fish gills into a car. If you step on them they will be mashed up pieces of an organ that used to be part of a fish gill. The author obviously meant fish scales, but "gills" was repeated throughout the book. For someone that likes police procedurals, this is a big no-no.
Let me preface this next part by saying I like long books. This book went on and on and on, sometimes going off into a tangent that was totally unnecessary to the story. Edit people!
I ended up giving "Murdertainment" 2 stars because I really do think the author has talent and the story could be really good after running it through the editing process.
Now for one of the key pieces of evidence. Fish gills? You cannot track fish gills into a car. If you step on them they will be mashed up pieces of an organ that used to be part of a fish gill. The author obviously meant fish scales, but "gills" was repeated throughout the book. For someone that likes police procedurals, this is a big no-no.
Let me preface this next part by saying I like long books. This book went on and on and on, sometimes going off into a tangent that was totally unnecessary to the story. Edit people!
I ended up giving "Murdertainment" 2 stars because I really do think the author has talent and the story could be really good after running it through the editing process.
Displaying 1 of 1 review