Portrait of a Monster

Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery

By: Lisa Pulitzer, Cole Thompson

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

In May 2005, Natalee Holloway disappeared from a high school trip to Aruba. A 22-year-old Dutchman, Joran van der Sloot, was arrested in connection with the murder, only to be released after questioning. He admitted to being present for Holloway's death - but later recanted his statement. In 2010, on the five-year anniversary of Holloway's disappearance, a young business student in Peru named Stephany Flores Ramirez disappeared, only to be found dead three days later in a hotel room - registered to Joran van der Sloot. He was arrested, and confessed, but later claimed it was coerced. With unprecedented access to investigative files from law enforcement in multiple countries, Portrait of a Monster offers a chilling portrait of the alleged killer within an international manhunt.

©2011 Lisa Pulitzer and Cole Thompson (P)2011 Dreamscape Media

Great story, narrator mispronounces Joran's name

Great story and learned new details from the book I hadn't heard anywhere else. My only issue is the narrator mispronounces Joran Van der Sloots last name wrong & as much as you hear it through out the book it gets annoying.

Great listen

Would you listen to Portrait of a Monster again? Why?

No, but it was good the first time.
depressing story. parents were too lenient especially his father.

What a scum!

Wow no idea this case was so involved. These families will be in my prayers forever. And I’m glad to see the US now doing something with this creep! Excellent book.

interesting

i did not like the narrator. she was annoying and flat. hard ro focus on the content.

Riveting story, sad that it is non-fiction

Riveting story, sad that it is non-fiction. I don't know if the full truth will every come out. Great book, and excellent narration.

Well performed, but lacking substance

What did you like best about Portrait of a Monster? What did you like least?

I like the narration, but felt that there was a lack of content in the book.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

There was very little I didn't already know.

Which character – as performed by Cassandra Campbell – was your favorite?

I honestly didn connect well with any character.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Not unless there were further developments in the Natalie Holloway case.

Wow!

This book was SO good. I couldn't stop listening. I like how the author paralleled the two stories, to show where Joran van der Sloot was at in his life, and also the similarities between the two cases. This book was great and I would highly recommend it to others. I knew the basics about the Natalee Holloway case, however this book contained a lot of information that I didn't know.

A little repetitive

As I timeshare owner in Aruba, my interest was piqued by this title. I learned a few new things about the Natalee case and many new things about the Peru case. I did determine that Joran (pronounced urine) is pretty much a pathological liar and I'm pretty dumbfounded about the news organizations (and others) who kept paying him to tell them lies. I have been to many of the places described in Aruba and may have actually passed him by. That's pretty frighteneing. This was pretty much a three-star book and quite repetitious at times. I think I've gotten my fill of Joran. The narration was good. If you are a fan of true detective stories or are familiar with the settings in this book, then you will probably "enjoy" it.

two story lines interwoven well

This is a good book, however, the author seemed to eulogize the victims. The victims' social circles and families were presented as too good to be true.
The narration was fine except she pronounced the name Joran as URINE. This she said repeatedly. I do not speak Dutch, but I think if that is the only way to use this name, the narrator should have used his last name or searched for a nickname. It was VERY distracting to hear urine every few sentences.

So much I did not know!

I learned so much about these two cases that I have never heard. And I hate to be critical because these parents have suffered so and it breaks my heart, but I just feel like Beth should’ve worked with her ex-husband more. It was so unfortunate to me, and I don’t know what happened with their divorce and why she got custody and all that or why it was so contentious but it seems like at a time like this you would would work with your child’s father a little more. No matter how you feel about him personally he’s lost his daughter as well and was just as worried. Just my opinion. God bless them all