Swamp Kings

The Story of the Murdaugh Family of South Carolina & a Century of Backwoods Power

By: Jason Ryan

Narrated by: Joe Hempel

The stranger-than-fiction story of the now-notorious low country clan, in all its Southern Gothic intensity—by an author with unparalleled access to and knowledge of the players, the history, and the place.

The most famous man in South Carolina lives jailed in the state capital. He stands accused of a staggering amount of wrongdoing—ninety-nine crimes and counting. Once a high-flying, smooth-talking, pedigreed Southern lawyer, Alex Murdaugh is now disbarred and disgraced. For more than a decade, prosecutors claim, Alex was secretly a fraud, a thief, a drug dealer and an all-around phony. On the night of June 7, 2021, they claim, he also became a killer.

The many alleged crimes of Alex Murdaugh, revealed piecemeal over the last two years, have appalled the general public. Yet his implosion—the spectacular manner in which he has turned his vaunted family name to mud—has also proved mesmerizing. With every revelation, Murdaugh is further shown to be a man without bottom. Every new disclosure eclipses and redefines what’s already known, making this a gothic crime story for the ages.

Yet even more remarkable is the fact that none of this bad behavior is unprecedented. In Swamp Kings, Jason Ryan reveals it is only the tip of the iceberg, and that when it comes to this family, history has a way of repeating itself. For every alleged, headline-grabbing crime associated with Alex Murdaugh, mirror-image incidents have played out within his family’s past, including parallel instances of fraud, theft, trafficking, calamitous late-night boat crashes, and even murder.

Spanning a century of misdeeds and set amongst the swamps, pines, and poverty, Swamp Kings weaves together the jaw-dropping narratives of generations of Murdaughs, culminating in the trial that transfixed the nation and shining a bright light on the swamp kings of Hampton County—and their numerous victims—at last.

©2024 Jason Ryan (P)2024 Spotify Audiobooks

A long legacy of a crocked family.

I liked the whole story from the start of the family to now. This helps knowing where they all came from and how they were raised. I didnt like the strong emphasis on the dislike of hunting and guns. I can tell the author doesn't like guns or hunting. That's fine each man enjoys different things and it's definitely not a bad comment about the author. He wrote a great book and his details were very eye opening. I really commend this author for his dedication to research and interviews he has done. I have sent this to all of my family to listen/read for themselves. I have read many of new books about the murdaugh family and this one was the best.. Thank you.

Swamp King

i grew up next door to Elex and Russel so it brought back a lot of memories

OMG!

I've lived my entire life in the Lowcountry, and even I was saying, oh my gosh, I can't believe he included That!

ALL the dirt is out on the table.

my only complaint about the performance was the mispronouncing of certain names...Edisto, Combahee and McCloskey.

The history

I loved this book. It gave the backstory of a corrupt family in a southern town full of corruption, racism and fear.

Stranger than fiction

If this wasn't a true story, you wouldn't believe it. This book peers into a slice of life in a small, low-country community that is so outlandish, so beyond "normal," so surreal that you would criticize a fiction author for laying it on too thick, were this a work of fiction. The most shocking part of the book's narrative is that it is non-fiction. The story's non-linear timeline is sometimes tedious. The author dives into several generations of the Murdaugh family in order to set the table for the final scene, which is smart and makes for a satisfying end. However, the story is not always easy to follow when it skips around while describing a multitude of characters spanning the last 100 years or so. I found myself constantly asking "who is the narrator talking about," and "when did this happen?" Also, some of the narrator's voices were a little hokey. Overall, it was an entertaining book and well worth a listen.

The narrator needed to spend time in South Carolina.

The narrator pronounces so many words wrong that it’s hard to understand where he is talking about in the state.
The author bounced around so much in his story that it was frustrating to figure out which one of the Murdaugh’s he was talking about since they all seem to have the same names or similar ones.

A tale of multigenerational privilege and corruption culminating in exposure

This account tracks in detail the accomplishments and predations of the men of the Murdaugh family, who for 100 years held sway in the Low Country of South Carolina as powerful and accomplished prosecutors and plaintiffs’ attorneys. Sometimes the details can become a bit overwhelming, leading to temporary confusion about the exact timeline. Also, the family’s prediction for certain names and nicknames, particularly Randolph and Buster, occasionally left this listener puzzled as to who was being discussed.

However, the excellent performance and the dramatic way in which the themes are clarified balance out these flaws.

This is a book for afficianados of the crimes of Alec Murdaugh who want to know more about the legacy that produced a man of such confident corruption and power, a true example of truth eclipsing fiction.

Amazing research spanning many decades

Most of us know some, or a lot, about the Murdaugh story. What amazed me was the corruption of the family that went back at least four generations.
Completely engrossing, I learned so much about the family’s entitlement. I highly recommend this book.

SC murder

I loved all the detail and the historical detail. Rounded out all the episodes of dateline and other crime dramas and podcasts to fill in blanks.

interesting

I thought too graphic about the torture and killing of animals by that John character and skipped that whole chapter. other then that it was informative and interesting. I did learn more why Alex was Alex. sounds like he came by a rash of privilege and above the law heritage. he definitely is where he belongs.