True crime author and conspiracy theorist Benson (Betrayal in Blood
) chronicles the real and disturbing life of Sheila LaBarre, who lured vulnerable men back to her remote New Hampshire farmhouse and abused them psychologically and physically. After some of her victims disappeared, a police investigation uncovered the remains of two young men in burn pits on the farm. In 2008, LaBarre—who believed that she was an “avenging angel” ridding the world of pedophiles—pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges of first-degree murder, launching one of the longest trials in New Hampshire's history. Benson commendably refrains from sensationalizing the shocking details of sadomasochism, pedophilia, incest and sexual abuse, but the brisk pacing suffers tremendously during some of the drawn-out trial sequences, and the ending to this “X-rated retelling of 'Hansel and Gretel' ” leaves some major questions unanswered. (Sept.)
