A successful young mother, Kelsey Berreth, vanishes on Thanksgiving Day 2018. The FBI is afraid they’ll have to do a deal with the devil to find her.
Kelsey, a pilot so good she taught the military how to fly, goes shopping at a Safeway store, and simply disappears.
Her fiance, Patrick Frazee, says he doesn't have a clue. In fact, he says they broke up just a few days before. He's as mystified as everyone else.
But Kelsey's mother, Cheryl, is afraid she knows what happened to her daughter.
A task force of FBI and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation agents believe they also know what happened to Kelsey. They have cell phone records and more, including surveillance video and DNA. But they have run into a roadblock.
The agents have to get someone close to the killer to flip and turn state's evidence. Are they going to have to do a deal with the devil to find justice for Kelsey Berreth?
The Murder of Kelsey Berreth: A Shocking True Crime Story.
This is a riveting story of a young woman's disappearance, her family's will to find out what happened, and a 21st-century police investigation that nearly cracks the case wide open.
Nearly.
Will the FBI do a deal with the devil to solve this crime?
I quit my job to write. That’s how much love writing. It’s also an indication of how utterly frustrated I was with my life as a middle manager in a national corporation. Mid-life crisis? No, I don’t think so. It’s more that I saw the finish line approaching more rapidly than I expected thirty years before.
What I am is what I write.
The characters in the St. Isidore Collection, the people who live in this town I have created in my mind, all contain some thread of me. Let’s be honest. I write what I know. And I know the frustration of listening to the millennials at work talk about their plans for the next thirty years, and suddenly realizing I don’t have thirty years left.
For Henry Branson, the protagonist in the short story, Revenge is Best Served Bloody, you’ll see that thread taken to its extreme.
Adam King, a central player in Wicked Revenge: Book 2 From the St.Isidore Collection is a middle-aged guy who quit his job to follow his dream and open a bookstore.
Bree, the protagonist in A Wicked Plan: Book 1 From the St. Isidore Collection is not a middle-aged woman. She’s a teenager. But Bree already feels the frustration that people more than twice her age experience. She feels like others are holding her back and Bree is willing to do whatever it takes to get them out of her way.
There are others in St. Isidore, who only want to love and be loved. They believe the fantasy and are willing whatever they have to do to make it come true.
Beth is the perfect example of that. She is a supporting player in A Wicked Plan, but a central character in Wicked Revenge. Beth loves Bree. She wants Bree. All Beth wants is for Bree to want and adore her. Then Beth finds out Bree is cheating on her with Melinda. What do you think Beth does?
What would you do?
And then there is Tim. Destined to become St. Isidore's most celebrated criminal, all he wants is to be loved. Does he have to kill all the women who reject him?
I see myself in all of my friends in St. Isidore. Well, maybe not Tim, but most of them. Hopefully, you will too.
Welcome to the St. Isidore Collection. It's more than a series of dark, realistic and sometimes supernatural, paranormal, noir fiction.
The St. Isidore Collection is a community. Want to be our neighbor?
DNF This book is so poorly written that I need to rinse my eyes and brain with soap. The author claims to be award-winning journalist and I cannot believe it. A high schooler writes better than this author. Don’t bother.
This story had a lot of potential, but the author absolutely butchered the delivery. This book is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors that suggest Mr. Kackley neither uses nor cares about even the most basic Microsoft word corrections. There was no coherent tense in which this author wrote. He often switched between them with no clear logical purpose. If I saw one more sentence start with “And,” or “But,” I would have screamed. Did this man have no one to just glance through his rough draft?
Honestly an injustice to Kelsey Berreth, as her story deserves to be told without the distraction of downright terrible writing and carelessness for detail.
I followed this case closely in the news when this story first broke and then later when the case went to trial. I liked that this book is brief and rather succinct, but I wish the author would have delved a little more into Patrick Frazee's past relationships with women, his childhood, his MOTHER, and ultimately, his psyche, but alas, I suppose the author didn't have much insight into all of these things. I can see that Patrick Frazee and his mother are not the types who say much. That says a lot right there. I know Patrick is as guilty as sin, and I think his mother knew about Kelsey's fate all along. I wish we had a little more insight into their personalities.
This murder was so senseless (all of them are). All Patrick had to do was end his relationship with Kelsey and all of this could have been avoided. What chills me the most is that I think he really wanted to kill her just for the experience of killing someone. I remember reading that he had once beaten an animal to death (I think it was a cow). The man is a true psychopath who is incapable of feeling love, sympathy, or remorse. I bet his mom is the same way. He probably inherited this from her.
I hate to say this, but I truly believe that Patrick hated Kelsey. The question is WHY did he hate her so much that he wanted to kill her? By all accounts, she was a lovely, accomplished young woman who, sadly, chose to stick with a man who didn't reciprocate any feelings of affection that she had for him. It is my understanding that she initiated nearly all contact between the two of them, and when texting each other, he never told her that HE loved her. She would sometimes ask him if he did, and he would say something like "we love you, Kelsey" as opposed to saying "I love you, Kelsey." He also didn't refer to her as "Kelsey" when he spoke about her to his friends. He called her "Kaylee's mom". In hindsight, it is painfully clear to all observers that he did not love her. But why did she think she had a chance with him? And why did she want to give HIM a chance? Why didn't she just have her baby and forget him? Did he mislead her and make her think that he wanted a relationship with her as much as she wanted one with him? If he did, then why would he do that when it's obvious that he didn't want her in his life?
And what of his mother? Why did SHE hate Kelsey so much? I heard that she even referred to Kelsey as a "hooker" while she was in Kelsey's presence! How could the poor girl have been so naive? That should have ended everything right then and there for her. And what was Patrick planning to do with the baby once Kelsey was out of the picture? Was he planning to give her to his mother? Sadly, we will never know the answers to any of these questions. Patrick and his mother are not the types to confess, and they will take their secrets to the grave with them.
This book is not bad at all. I just wish it had more information than it did.
Many true crime book are repetitive and need to be edited down to have a better flow. At under two hundred pages, Kackley stays on course with just the facts, ma'am, as Joe Friday was famous for saying, in the story of the murder of Kelsey Berreth. Patrick Frazee had a busy social calendar with his fiance Berreth having given birth to their daughter only a year before her disappearance. Although no body has been found, his mistress, Krystal Lee, a divorced mother of two had carried on a long-term relationship with the killer and cleaned up a bloody mess left at Kelsey's condo after Pat made like Barry Bonds with a Louisville Slugger on his future bride's head. As usual, cellphone records proved Lee to be a liar and the prosecutors were forced to make a deal with the devil at trial. She is every bit as guilty as her lover and her sentence was a disgrace. A quick and good read.
Quick and easy read without getting mucked down by unnecessary information. However, I'm still unsure what the motive was for the murder. I liked the authors style of writing and would read more. The book lacked pictures which I think is always preferable in true crime stories.
I am a big fan of true crime and lived in Colorado for awhile for work. This story intrigued me a couple years ago as it is also a newer case, and there aren’t a whole lot of publications on this. So, I came across this and thought I’d give it a try.
After reading this, I have come to a couple conclusions about this book.
1. There is no decent backstory to this case provided to the reader. It pretty much begins the day this girl is murdered. So many unanswered questions.
2. Who in the hell allowed this book to be published without proof reading it? I can count the grammatical mistakes blindfolded.
3. An eight year old could have done a better job of writing this as opposed to the author. The writing style is beyond AWFUL. It is all over the place…nothing flows together. This author also never ceases to throw their opinion in throughout the story both directly and indirectly. If you ask me, it feels like he almost sides with this woman’s killer.
Overall, this is just plain terrible. Unfortunately, it’s also the only book I could find on this case.
Do yourself a favor and watch the People Magazine Investigates episode on this murder. It is ten times better and more informative than this book attempts to be.
If all you wanted, was a regurgitation of events, well that's what you got! There was no effort made to flesh out the story by interviewing wider family and friends. The story was mainly pieced together from police files and newspapers. A friend of the perpetrator appeared early in the take, and one expected him to pop up as a prosecution witness, but not so! He made no further appearance - I don't understand what his purpose was. I think the author was only there for the first day and last of the trial - maybe he felt that was all that was necessary, so it left me a bit frustrated with unanswered questions. I might try one more of his books - I hope It doesn't leave me quite so confused and curious!
This is a shocking story of a women meeting the wrong man. The author writes clearly and precise about the people involved. Kelsey was a successful business women who fell for a monster who decided to kill his fiancé even though they have a child together. I believe Patrick wanted to Murder somebody to see what it felt like as he shows no remorse. I would have liked more history on the couple and the Grammar left a lot to be desired. I would have given the book more stars but for the above. A shocking true crime where Patrick beats Kelsey to death with a baseball bat whilst there one year old daughter is in the next room. I am part of the ARC group for Wildblue Press and BookSirens and I am leaving this review voluntarily
I need to admit that I haven't read all of the book yet. I may not be able to. I watch lots of true crime documentaries on TV. And I've read hundreds of true life murder stories. This one, well the author seems to relish the violence. He makes the victim seem stupid too. I think she deserves respect, no matter who she was. No one in the world deserves to have their life ended violently. No one. Maybe it's partly the angle the author writes from. As if he's inside everyone's head the whole time. It gives the viewpoint that the author knows all.
I have been writing book reviews for publishers for many years. This is a freebie review because this book really bothers me.
This is like reading a newspaper account of the entire crime. Fast read in a couple of hours. Nothing really in-depth or fleshed out on the forensics or interviews with any of the main players. If, you heard a few news casts or read a couple of articles in the newspaper you won't get much more out of this book. Seems like a rush to print something before the news cycle had moved on. Let's just say it's not Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" by a very long shot. Written on about a 7th grade or younger reading level. I am sure that the author is capable of much better, just won't find it in this book.
I am so sorry for the pain and loss Kelsy's family must endure for the rest of their lives because of this monster and his monster girlfriend. I just can't understand why a person doesn't just leave when they have decided they are done with the relationship. Instead they have to inflict such deranged punishment on a person who loves them with everything they have. I hope when this monster is setting alone in the dark in his cell Kelsy's memory haunts him nightly. Rod Kackley has done a great job bringing this case to light, and keeping Kelsy as a person in everyone's mind.
This book left me with a lot of questions regarding evidence collection and other items. I felt it was a cliff-note version of a more in-depth case. Wasn't there ANY evidence collected from the burn site? Wasn't Krystal caught on the neighbor's video footage when she cleaned up the scene? Why wasn't Patrick's mother put on the stand or even questioned as being a witness to the burning or her remarks made on FB about the witch being dead? There are so many holes in this book it was frustrating to read.
This is a summary of a terrible crime written in more of a storytelling format that delivers the facts of the case in a smoothly flowing form. It lacks the life backgrounds of key people so if you're looking for forensic psychological evaluations and that type of information it's not here. This is more like reading an episode of Dateline and for that I welcomed the break of a heavy read. I will read more of Mr. Kackley's writings which I think are great for periods when you know you are not going to be able to enjoy a long heavy or emotional read.
Could have been a great story, but badly needed editing, so many grammatical and punctuation errors. Not sure what that person was paid for editing this, but pretty sure my charge would be less, and more efficient.
Could have been a great story, but badly needed editing, so many grammatical and punctuation errors. Not sure what that person was paid for editing this, but pretty sure my charge would be less, and more efficient.
New true crime story for me. I haven’t heard of this one. Enjoyed the story as well as the performance. Fast paced and held my attention. Overall rating bumped up from a 4.5 to a 5 star rating.
Narration performance I thought was good. ***5 Stars***
Though the story was good, I felt that I was missing something while reading it. Maybe not everything was accounted for in the story. It is one of the shorter true crime mysteries that I have come across. . .approximately 4 hours. ***4 Stars***
A true crime book should never start with the author narrating the victim's very thoughts and feelings at the time of their death... that is not nonfiction. That is conjecture, completely fabricated. It's also disrespectful, to the victim and the reader, any author that does that immediately loses credibility with me and will most likely get a poor review as well because of it.
Listened to the audiobook. Why are there so many on audible that are only 1-3 hours??
Rod Kackley, in clear, active prose, without embellishment, tells us how a man—no real reason established except maybe the victim annoyed him—bludgeoned the mother of his one-year-old daughter to death in her own home after she shopped for Thanksgiving dinner that day. But what verdict will the jury return?
So sad and scary that there is evil people in the world like Patrick Frazee and his girlfriend who would do such monstrous acts to his fiance. All Kelsey did was love Patrick. At least Kelsey got justice!!! It was hard to believe his girlfriend was a nurse. Good mystery. It was difficult to put the book down.
Quick read- I finished it in under an hour. The spelling, grammar and writing style desperately needed some editing. I felt as though the story was a basic timeline of events. It could have used some friends or family interviews to help the reader feel more connected to the story of a young woman who lost her life and less like they were just reading a news article.
Like most people, I assume, who are Dateline junkies, I was decently familiar with this case. And while it’s certainly not the worst true crime book I’ve ever read- it’s not the best either. It’s almost like the author took the Dateline episode and came decently close to just typing it out.
I was hoping for a little history of Kelsey and Patrick"s history Such rage he had and I don't think it was child support or that he even wanted to share the baby. I think there is more to the story...... But we may never know
A heartbreaking story of a young successful single mother who was engaged to a monster! So glad that truth and justice prevailed. Could have been better written, at times didn’t flow smoothly. But so thankful author brought this story forward.
I was surprised to find the author was a journalist as the writing style was very conversational. This wasn’t a style I enjoyed, I much prefer the research, detail and analytical style of Dave Cullen.
This is a terrible story of what happens when you meet the wrong man. Feel so sorry for her parents and daughter. Patrick Frazee should have been put to death for doing what he did. I hope his life sentence is served in full he is evil. He battered this poor girl to death with a baseball bat. And his current girlfriend cleaned up the mess. All done in front of his young baby daughter.
I really liked this book, and appreciate the author’s writing skills. I would have given 5 stars, but found too many typing and grammatical errors; get an editor to watch for these mistakes in your future books.