Fatal Charm

I’ve listened to my share of true-crime audiobooks, but *Fatal Charm* stuck with me because it refuses to let you look away from the uncomfortable truth: evil doesn’t always announce itself. Carlton Smith’s reporting is meticulous, almost obsessive in its detail—he doesn’t just tell you what Cunningham did, but *how* he did it, from the calculated grooming of victims to the mundane logistics of covering his tracks. The audiobook’s strength lies in its restraint; there’s no sensationalism, just a cold recitation of facts that makes the horror feel all the more real. Keith Sellon-Wright’s narration is a perfect match for the material. His voice is steady, almost detached, which somehow amplifies the chilling effect. He doesn’t overperform the dramatic moments (a pitfall in this genre), but his delivery falters slightly in the book’s denser procedural sections, where the litany of dates and locations can feel a bit monotonous. My one critique? The pacing drags in the middle during the legal proceedings—Smith’s deep dive into the trial, while thorough, loses some of the tight focus that makes the first half so gripping. Still, the final act, where Cunningham’s facade finally cracks, is worth the wait. This isn’t a book for those who want easy thrills; it’s for listeners who crave a forensic examination of how predators exploit trust. And in that, it delivers *brutally* well.