Swamp Kings: The Murdaugh Family of South Carolina and a Century of Backwoods Power by Jason Ryan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Swamp Kings: The Murdaugh Family of South Carolina and a Century of Backwoods Power is a nonfiction book that explores the history of the Murdaugh family of Hampton County, South Carolina.
Many may be familiar with the Murdaugh name following Alex Murdaugh’s trial and conviction for the killing of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, in June of 2021. Several documentaries, podcasts and other media have been created examining this case and crimes.
This book differs in that it’s not solely focused on the recent murders, nor the boating accident in February of 2019 that resulted in the tragic death of Mallory Beach.
In Swamp Kings, the author, Jason Ryan, digs much deeper into the roots of the Murdaugh family’s power and legacy in Hampton County. I enjoyed learning about the family and their deep hold in the area. It also had a bit of history of the Lowcountry, which I found enlightening.
I think if you go into this just expecting a True Crime novel focused on the murders of Maggie and Paul, you may be disappointed, but if you are here more for the history and a better understanding of this family’s position within the community, you should be satisfied.
I hesitate to say enjoy, because of the content, but you should walk away having learned some new things in regards to the family.
I come away with what I believe to be a better understanding of the events and environment that shaped Alex, and even Paul, into the men they became. It certainly doesn’t solve anything, or explain anything, but perhaps puts a little more context to these brutal crimes.
I feel the author did a solid job researching and pulling together all this information in a fast-paced and engaging way. I certainly was never bored while listening to the audio. In fact, it kept me wanting to go back to it.
My one critique would be that I wasn’t crazy about the way the book was constructed, or laid out. I’m not sure how to explain it. The order in which the information was presented, I guess, would be fair to say.
For example, it’s going over things that happened in Paul’s life, Alex’s life, Alex’s father’s life and Alex’s father’s father’s life. The men’s names are all very similar and it would jump around in time, often feeling muddled.
Like we’d be at the boating accident, and then without any preamble, or title head, jump back to the 1960s, but there would be a Buster here and a Buster there. I always had to pay attention to dates mentioned to figure out exactly who we were talking about.
I think I would have preferred a more linear layout, maybe with it broken into Parts, starting with the great-grandfather of Paul and then moving forward through time to the present day.
With this being said though, that’s purely personal taste and I support the author’s freedom to choose how he thinks best to present his research. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the case, or maybe to people who want to know more about the Murdaugh family in general, or the history of the Lowcountry of South Carolina.
Thank you, Spotify Audiobooks, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m glad that I picked this up.
