Cleo Ray is a household name. She was trying to make a name for herself as a fitness influencer. But it wasn’t until her arrest for murdering her girlfriend that she finally achieved the fame she wanted.
Cleo and her girlfriend rented a canoe and went for a romantic ride in a quiet cove in a lake in California, outside of Los Angeles. Cleo is a rising internet star with her Instagram following, and Beck is a makeup artist. They had met on a video shoot where Cleo was working as a Production Assistant and immediately hit it off. But that day in the canoe, something went terribly wrong. Two women went into the water. Only Cleo came out. And when she did, instead of calling for help, she got in her car and drove away, to a house nearby where fellow influencers were spending some time in nature, unplugged, in order to recharge.
Cleo spent the rest of the weekend with her friends, and her boyfriend, YouTube superstar Sandy Finch. They made love and talked about their future and enjoyed some time together away from the pressure of the internet. That is, until the police show up to arrest Cleo.
Through the trial preparation, the trial, and the aftermath, Cleo maintains her innocence. Her uncle stands behind her and hires one of the best defense attorneys to make her case. The district attorney is ready for the fight. And once word gets out about the trial, the small courthouse in Inyo County was packed to the risers with spectators, the front of the courthouse packed with media.
Documentarian Duncan McMillan took Cleo’s story and turned it into a true crime docuseries, a journey through the trial of Cleo Ray, with detours through her past, where she was Mary Claire Griffith. She grew up in Kansas City, the daughter of super-religious parents, who gave their time and energy to the church instead of their daughter. When she was 15, she ran away and made her way to California, where she showed up at her uncle’s house and asked to stay there.
She became Cleo Ray and finished school. She studied what it would take to become a diet and fitness influencer, and then she spent years building up a following. And then she met Beck and fell in love. About a year later, she met Sandy and fell in love again. And then she found herself in a canoe in a quiet cove. And then she found herself in jail.
The Anatomy of Desire is a modern retelling of Theodore Dreiser’s classic An American Tragedy. Told through interviews and court transcripts, as if you’re reading the transcripts of a true crime podcast or documentary, this novel of love and ambition is a powerful look at relationships in the current age. The contrast of the smaller town and the big city, of devout church goers and internet influencers offers an interesting context to the story, and the framework of the documentary adds extra interest.
I really liked The Anatomy of Desire and found it very readable. The transcript told the story in short bursts, with the person speaking always obvious. Author L.R. Dorn (actually, a team of two authors) tried to stay as true as they could to Dreiser’s original story, and there were times that made this a little stilted, a little dated, but overall I thought the updating worked well. I found Cleo’s story compelling, and I greatly enjoyed the true crime documentary style to this one. I would definitely recommend The Anatomy of Desire to true crime documentary fans and podcast listeners as well as thriller and mystery readers.
Egalleys for The Anatomy of Desire were provided by William Morrow through NetGalley, with many thanks.
