5 True-Crime Books Better Than Any Netflix Documentary

Sure, Netflix has perfected the true-crime documentary. The streamer knows how to keep us hooked: the staccato violins that never foreshadow something good, the fact that no small town is ever as sleepy as it seems, and how you can be sure anyone described as “lighting up a room” won’t be around for an interview. It’s why its near-weekly true-crime releases have such a stranglehold on our watch lists. But Netflix, of course, didn’t invent the genre. Even before Steven Avery was made into a murderer, there were writers who were weaving true-crime threads more encompassing than any docuseries has since matched.