Before abuse hot lines and safe houses were widespread, June Briand shot four bullets into her husband’s head and was sentenced to fifteen years to life. This is the shocking true story of survival—and the intense bond June shared with her pathologically violent husband, a monster who physically and sexually tortured, degraded and dominated her so relentlessly that she refused to believe he was dead even after she killed him.
What kind of woman would slay her own husband? What kind of man would drive her to do it? Why didn’t she just leave him? Based on hundreds of hours interviewing June Briand, speaking with her lawyers, and poring over countless pages of court transcripts, police and hospital records, and interviews of virtually every key person involved with this case, the author explores those difficult questions while exposing the twisted dynamics of a relationship that enslaves a woman—and drives her to kill the beast she loved when she was finally out of hope, out of time, and out of her mind.
At once terrifying and maddening, heartrending and ultimately exhilarating—including an unforgettable glimpse inside a maximum security prison—THE BEAST I LOVED is a book you won’t soon forget.
Praise For THE BEAST I LOVED:
“As gripping as THE BURNING BED.” —John Saul, New York Times Bestselling Author
Author Robert Davidson
“A superbly written, riveting—often horrifying—story urgently needed for our time. Davidson—with a reporter’s eye for detail—delivers a powerhouse page-turner about the limits of what a human being can endure…and still come out victorious. With mesmerizing suspense and the heart-stopping twists and turns of a fast-paced crime novel, here is an important book that ensnares the reader from the first page, and should be read, then read again.” —Susan Page, bestselling author of If I’m So Wonderful, Why Am I Still Single? and Executive Director of the acclaimed San Miguel Writers’ Conference
“The book is gripping; it reads like the best of mystery novels and the reader cannot wait to find out what happens in the next section or chapter. It is an excellent supplemental reading source for the upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses I teach on Family Violence. The author does a superior job of getting the reader into the mindset of a woman experiencing both the battered woman syndrome and learned helplessness…The outcome is totally unpredictable and a reader would be well-advised to avoid the temptation to turn to the end in order to learn the final outcome.” —Raymond Teske, Jr., Ph.D., Professor, Criminal Justice Center, Sam Houston State University
“Robert Davidson again demonstrates that he is a master of psychological horror in this riveting and hypnotic story. While exploring the depths of human depravity and fear that transcends all reason he also demonstrates that he is an exacting craftsman and editor who can tell a spell-binding story like few others. I was so enthralled that I finished the book in a single sitting. Without question, WildBlue Press is the premier publisher of breathtaking thrillers.” – James Byron Huggins, International Bestselling Author of THE RECKONING
