Blood Will Out

I’ll admit, I went into *Blood Will Out* expecting a juicy, *In Cold Blood*-style takedown of a con artist. What I got instead was far more unsettling: a memoir that implicates its own author as much as its subject. Kirn’s writing is so sharp it draws blood, and Stephen Bel Davies’ narration cuts just as deep. His delivery is masterful—not overly dramatic, but with a quiet, creeping intensity that makes the absurd moments (like Rockefeller’s bizarre custody battle) feel like precursors to something far darker. Davies nails Kirn’s voice: erudite, self-deprecating, and just arrogant enough to make you squirm when the truth unravels. The audiobook’s structure is its greatest strength and, occasionally, its weakness. Kirn jumps between timeline and tone, mirroring the disorientation of being gaslit by a master manipulator. Some listeners might find the nonlinear approach frustrating, especially in the first hour, where the stakes feel abstract. And while Davies’ performance is mostly flawless, his pacing in the more philosophical digressions can drag, making Kirn’s introspection feel indulgent rather than revelatory. But when the narrative tightens—like in the chilling sections where Kirn reconstructs Rockefeller’s crimes—it’s impossible to look away. This isn’t a true-crime audiobook for thrill-seekers; it’s for anyone who’s ever trusted the wrong person and later asked, *How did I not see it?* The answer, Kirn suggests, is that we *choose* not to. And that’s the real horror.