A deal with the Devil Part 2 by Netta Newbound and Marcus Brown

A Deal With the Devil: Discovering Chris Watts: - Part Two - The Facts by Netta Newbound
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 6 weeks

Pages - 506

Publisher - Junction Publishing

Source - Bought Amazon Kindle

Blurb from Amazon

During this series we will look at the facts, the police investigation, the evidence, hear Chris Watts’ explanation and his reasoning. We will try to make some sense of what occurred during the early hours of August 13th 2018.
We will endeavour to present to you all aspects of the case, right from the initial investigation and how it unfolded, to the first and subsequent confessions all transcribed word for word (where possible) from actual video and audio footage obtained from the FBI’s Discovery Files.

We will continue where we left off.

At the end of book one, Chris Watts had finally confessed to murdering them and disposing of their bodies at an oil field.
In part two, we will focus on…
•… the grim discovery and recovery of the bodies.
•… the chilling details of the autopsies.
•… the remaining police interviews of Nichol Kessinger.
•… the Plea Deal.
•… the sentencing.
•… Chris Watts Prison Interview.


Marcus and Netta have worked together for a few years now, mainly in a publishing capacity, but in 2019 they joined forces and wrote Avaline Saddlebags—the first in a psychological fiction thriller series.

Combining their joint obsession with this case, they studied the files together, often into the small hours.

We want to stress that if you have already read the discovery files, then this series of books is probably not for you.

As seen on the new Netflix documentary - American Murder: The Family Next Door



My Review

I read book one and it covered the interviews, verbatim up to the confession and where he put the weans. The book ended abruptly so I HAD to buy book two. This book is not for the faint hearted. It includes the autopsies and is very upsetting and disturbing. The interviews with Watts and his girlfriend, as with book 1 they are verbatim. If there is an um, throat clear, every single word/action is transcribed. That is partly why it took so long to read because it is very dry, repetitive but hard going and horrific.

The conditions of the bodies is very upsetting, the weans had been in oil tanks and whilst this was known from the Netflix documentary and the forensic files they took these interviews from you don't really (well I hadn't) think about the decomposition/injuries.

The interviews are so so so so so long that I think had they actually just written the heart of them rather than translating every word, pause, throat clear yes the book would be shorter but easier to read.

What I did find interesting is they cover sentencing etc that you see in the Netflix but after he is sentenced and jailed the officers go back to talk to Watts. They actually get details of what he claims happened, what he did, his thoughts on it and some background info on his relationships. The main thing I think and the detectives touch on this is that everyone says he was such a nice guy, never any of the stories some folk say once someone does something like that. Even after it everyone is shocked because "not Chris" he was always such a nice guy, quiet etc. He also talks about what was discussed with lawyers and how they went about his plea and what prison life is like for him.

It is an interesting read as most killers don't talk openly about what they did or speculate about themselves and their actions. I also hadn't realised there was some questionable stuff with the girlfriend and the authors include a few wee sentences commenting on the interviews.

Part three is apparently theories and opinions but not those of the authors, I wonder if this is just stuff lifted from online? The two books have literally been the interviews transcribed verbatim, including every pause with just a few sentences from the authors. Book three is likely the same as the blurb actually specifies "These theories are not the opinions of the authors and in no way are they saying these events are actually true. But they are most definitely food for thought…" for £6 despite this I know I will likely end up buying it for completeness, ugh! The authors do specify if you have seen the documentary (not the Netflix I think it is forensic files) then this book is not for you but I still think you would miss stuff - I doubt the program covered every pause/throat clear. Interesting read for sure, shocking and emotive but very dry at times just because of the fact it is the interviews turned into books, 3/5. Sorry I kinda went a bit long and on and on for this one, it is a shocking, devastating and heart breaking case - you could discuss it for hours!

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