Wow. I've kept up with most of the news stories following this case (or cases, rather) and there was a lot more information included in the book that I was not aware of. The saddest part in addition to the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh are the countless victims of financial crimes and embezzlement. The influence of this family over multiple counties in South Carolina is staggering.

The book is well written, although I will say there are a few parts that were definitely not written by someone who is familiar with the South.

*I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway. ( )

While the first 1/3 of this book was a slow read, the rest of the book was well written and the author did a wonderful job of portraying the greed and self absorbtion of Alex Murdaugh and his family. There is a good coverage of the incidents leading up to the murders of Alexs' wife and son. He truly was a sociopath who had no feeling for others.

Hailing from a long family of lawyers, Alex continued the family tradition of becoming a lawyer in the lowcountry of South Carolina. The Murdaugh name meant money and power. Dating back one hundred years, the firm was very successful and brought the family fame and incredibly wealth.

The power of the family meant that they got away with quite a lot. June 7, 2021 changed that. Alex claimed to have found the dead bodies of his wife and son Paul on their beautiful country property. Calling 911, he tearfully had difficulty explaining the discovery of his family. The book does a very good job at outlining occurrences leading up to the death/murder of his family members.

Alex was a prominent trial lawyer who was a very wealthy man. Unfortunately, some of that wealth was stolen from clients he represented. Winning multi-million dollar law suits led Alex to take much of the client's money. Many had no idea what the final settlement of their case was. Alex skimmed much of the money of his clients. It was the financial advisor of the company who began to notice discrepancies. When she took the truth to the other lawyers in the firm, Alex was fired. This was but one of the events that led to the untangling of his weath, notariety and reputation.

Nasty events occurred before family members were murdered.

Alex is a dispicable character, and his sons followed his lead. When his drunken son Paul smashed the family boat into the pillings of a bridge, thereby killing young Mallory Beach, who was one of his friends in the boat, his father Alex was more worried about hiding the fact that Paul drove the boat, had an alcohol level three times the legal limit, rather then thinking of the feelings of the other parents whose children were harmed. The Murdaugh name brought power and corruption, and Alex used this to the best of his abilities. As the author notes, the Murdaughs were "feared as much as they were loved." And the parents of the other young people in the boat feared that everything would be covered up and the Murdaughs would get away with yet one more thing.

Leading up to the murders of Alex's wife and son, things occurred in rapid succcession When a high school friend of Alex's son was found dead on a country road, the Murdaughs were good at covering up any blame that might have rightfully come their way. Stephen Smith's mother felt there was a lot that was not right about the way he died. Disagreeing this was a hit and run case, Stephen's mother wanted the truth.

Amidt all this drama, the long-term house keeper of the Murdaugh's was found bleeding at the bottom of the steps of their home. She was unconscious, and died a few days later.

As if all of these occurrences were not enough, it was discovered that Alex had quite a heavy addiction to opiods and had overused them for a long time. Consuming a large amount of pills every day, led to a nasty inability to stop.

Alex was tried for the murder of his son and wife and found guilty. He is now in jail and adapting well. ( )

This book was about the Murdaugh family, starting from around the turn of the century (around 1900). It was a long and dignified family that worked hard in the field of the law. Most of them were lawyers were quite dedicated to it. They were all in their own law firm that grew bigger over time. Then Alex Murdaugh came along. He was a good lawyer for a long time, but that changed. This book was Murdaugh pretty detailed and well written. The only thing is that it ends before the trial. But it does give so much information that it would help to understand things that help down the line. I do recommend this book! ( )

I felt like I needed a shower after reading this book! This family was so dirty, so slimy, it was amazing how they got away with everything they did for as long as they did.
The author did a great job with the history of the family and the story of the downfall, as well as how the low country authorities participated in the corruption.
A great non-fiction story of a relatively current set of crimes and the crime family. ( )

Tangled Vines by John Glatt is a fascinating look at just how thoroughly power corrupts, not just single individuals but entire family lines.

The Murdaugh case(s) have gotten a lot of national media attention recently, to the point where most people know at least a little about it. I have neither the time nor the inclination to follow a case such as this to the extreme of watching the entirety of the trial on television, so a book that collects the various pieces of information together, along with some original research, into a coherent narrative is perfect for me. For those with nothing better to do than watch every second of coverage, a lot of this will likely be redundant, but having it presented clearly and concisely still makes it a worthwhile read.

The extent to which the family had raised themselves to a position where they genuinely considered themselves not simply above the law, but the law personified makes the fall guiltily pleasurable. I say guiltily because I would prefer such people have a fall without the loss of human life.

And no, this is not a case of victim blaming, I'm not even sure how someone sees that here. Some of those killed had their personal histories tied up with the Murdaugh family, obviously since family members are included as victims. Omitting their parts of the family story would be asinine, not to mention it helps explain what happened and why.

While the review copy doesn't include the latest updates, there is space left for that to be included in the final copy. The writing is good and I like the fact we got a more detailed family history beyond just the usual "privileged and powerful family" line or two. I believe it helps to show just how deep the sense of entitlement ran in the family and among those close to the family.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )