I don't often read true crime. Reading is my escape and happy place and the world is miserable enough without reading about true horror stories. However, the title of this one grabbed me and I made an exception.

American Black Widow tells the story of Sharon Fuller Nelson, who left her first husband, a minister, to marry the local optometrist. This marriage ended in the untimely and suspicious demise of Dr. Perry Nelson. Sharon then proceeded to marry firefighter Glenn Harrelson, who also dies under tragic and unusual circumstances. Throughout these years, from the mid-seventies to the mid-eighties, Sharon had affairs with numerous men and spent huge sums of her husbands' money on a glamourous and extravagant lifestyle, while neglecting and abandoning her own children.

It is a sordid tale, made all the more so by Olsen's sensationalist telling of it. I would have been fascinated to know more about Sharon Fuller's life story and her upbringing, in an effort to understand why she acted the way she did. However Olsen is content with delving into Sharon's sexual escapades and providing lascivious details about her body and sexual appetites, while excusing the horrendous behaviour of her co-conspirator, Gary Starr Adams, who actually carried out the murders. The men are all just good old guys, under Sharon's spell because of her mystical sexual powers. Ridiculous? Misogynistic? Yes it certainly is.

I certainly won't be reading any more "true crime" from Mr. Olsen. Thank you to Hachette and Grand Central Publishing for the copy, however this one was not for me.