Books › Dance with the Devil
Dance with the Devil
320 pages
A searing, unvarnished howl of grief and righteous fury that exposes the devastating human cost of systemic failure.
What it feels like
Reading this memoir is a visceral, emotionally shattering experience that pulls you directly into a father's unimaginable nightmare. The narrative moves with a propulsive, desperate urgency, fueled by raw anger and an unvarnished honesty that refuses to look away from the darkest corners of human cruelty and bureaucratic incompetence. The mood is heavy and dread-soaked, yet illuminated by the fierce, enduring love of parents fighting for their family. The prose is stripped of literary pretense, delivering a searing indictment that feels less like a traditional true crime book and more like a desperate, necessary primal scream. It will deeply resonate with readers who value unflinching, emotionally devastating accounts of grief, justice, and the profound resilience of the human spirit.
- Mood
- devastating
- dread-soaked
- infuriating
- heartbreaking
- Tone
- angry
- raw
- urgent
- unflinching
- indicting
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- unfathomable grief · systemic failure · parental love · pursuit of justice · bureaucratic incompetence
- The writing
- Unvarnished, direct, and searingly candid, prioritizing raw emotional truth over literary flourish.
- The arc
- Begins in shock and profound loss, descends into a maddening labyrinth of bureaucratic frustration, and culminates in a devastating, righteous fury.
- Who it's for
- Readers of true crime and memoir who appreciate unflinching honesty and are prepared for a deeply emotional, infuriating critique of the justice system.
Content notes
- murder
- suicide
- filicide
- child death
- profound grief
- systemic negligence
About the book
On November 2001, the body of a young doctor named Andrew Bagby was discovered in Keystone State Park outside Latrobe, Pennsylvania, by a homeless man searching dumpsters for aluminum cans. The alleged murderer was his ex-girlfriend Shirley Turner---also a doctor. For parents Dave and Kate, the pain was unbearable. Little did they know, however, that the worst was far from over. Shirley Turner---knowing charges would be laid against her---fled to her family home in Newfoundland. While fending off extradition efforts by U.S. law enforcement, she discovered she was pregnant with Andrew's son, Zachary. The Bagbys---hoping to gain custody of Zachary, frustrated beyond endurance as the legal process dragged on interminably, and unable to make any headway with Canadian social services---moved from their home in California and settled in Newfoundland. In august 2003, Shirley Turner murdered thirteen-month-old Zachary and then herself. Dance with the Devil is an angry, raw, and brutally honest memoir of murder and loss. It is an eye-popping and frankly terrifying indictment of the Canadian judicial and social welfare system that failed the Bagbys in nearly every way.
Description from Open Library.
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