Short Synopsis
In 1988 a troubled young man and his flamboyant mother were arrested for murdering a wealthy widow in her New York City mansion. Suddenly, America was transfixed by a pair of real-life film noir characters. The media couldn't get enough of the twisted relationship between Sante Kimes and her twenty-three-year-old son Kenny. But the most chilling story of all was never told—until now.

Full Synopsis
In 1988 a troubled young man and his flamboyant mother were arrested for murdering a wealthy widow in her New York City mansion. Suddenly, America was transfixed by a pair of real-life film noir characters. The media couldn't get enough of the twisted relationship between Sante Kimes and her twenty-three-year-old son Kenny.

But the most chilling story of all was never told—until now. Kent Walker, Sante's elder son, reveals how he survived forty years of "the Dragon Lady's" very special brand of motherly love and still managed to get away.

As a child Kent watched his mother destroy his hardworking father, Ed Walker, and then—with Kent's painful collusion—snare what Sante called "my millionaire." When she married seemingly respectable real-estate developer Ken Kimes, it was a match made in hell.

For the next two decades Kent's mother and stepfather indulged in a globetrotting orgy of criminal behavior, laying waste to each other and anyone who got in the way. When Kent's half-brother, Kenny, was born, Kent was twelve years old—old enough to know that he was his younger sibling's only protector.

"Well researched and touching . . . As a chronicle of Sante Kimes's life, it's unlikely to be surpassed by any other." ---Publishers Weekly

"One of the most engrossing true-crime accounts to be published in recent memory. Expect this compelling book to get all the attention it deserves." ---Booklist Starred Review

"A mesmerizing account of growing up as the child of a world-class sociopath." ---New York Times

Booklist Review