Dear Cousin: The Stalking of Susan Fensten Audiobook By Ventureland cover art

Dear Cousin: The Stalking of Susan Fensten

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Dear Cousin: The Stalking of Susan Fensten

By: Ventureland
Narrated by: Susan Fensten
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About this listen

Dear Cousin: The Stalking of Susan Fensten is the gripping true story of one woman's quest for long lost family. After the deaths of her sister and estranged father, Susan searches for relatives on an early online genealogy forum. When she meets cousins from her grandfather's other family, they're everything she'd hoped for—until it all goes to hell.

Susan’s dreams are shattered when she learns her relatives’ dangerous history, and she is bombarded with threatening messages and sexually explicit content. When dozens more people contact her, Susan realizes she's stumbled into a real-life horror movie.

As Susan desperately searches for the truth, she struggles to determine who's an ally and who wants her dead, and she falls down a digital rabbit hole of career criminals, predators, and sexual cultists in the Tri State area. But given the cyber law landscape in 2003, the police are unable to help Susan despite violent phone calls, and unwelcome visits.

Things change when a plot to abduct Susan and her boyfriend comes to light. The FBI steps in, and Susan is given hope when a skeptical agent takes on her case. What he discovers upends Susan's reality forever.

Twenty years after events took place, this real-life thriller from the dawn of the internet serves as a shocking cautionary tale about survival and perseverance against all odds. Hear Susan’s story in her own words, with contributions from expert guests, and the FBI Special Agent and Assistant US attorney on Susan’s case. This is the story of how one woman survived a two-year torture campaign when no one else would help.

Please be advised, this program contains graphic sexual imagery, and discussions of violence, and death. Some names have been changed to protect their subjects’ identities.

©2024 Ventureland, LLC (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC.
Editor's Select True Crime Scary Exciting
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About the Performer- Susan Fensten

About the Narrator

Susan Fensten is a New York City native and a book publicist. She studied film and art at Hunter College and fine arts painting and drawing at The Art Students League. She is the author of You Have a Very Soft Voice, Susan: A Shocking True Story of Internet Stalking (WildBlue Press, 2019). Susan's photographs of gritty old New York City in the 1980s have been published in David Hammon's Bliz-aard Ball Sale (Afterall Books: One Work; distributed by The MIT Press., 2017), in New York Magazine, and in St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street (W.W. Norton & Company, 2015) along with stories from her downtown childhood in the 1960s. She lives in New York City.

What listeners say about Dear Cousin: The Stalking of Susan Fensten

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Interesting

This seemed much more like a podcast than a book. It is fairly bare bones and just tells the story straight up

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Shocking, humbling, and eye-opening

Susan’s voice and (true) story telling skill is wonderful. Her ability to express her anguish, confusion, and humor had me feeling every emotion she was.

I listen to audio books as I walk, and this story had me so enthralled I had to physically stop and go “oh my gosh! Wtf??” Several times. I could not stop listening and hoping for the best possible outcome for her.

Susan, thank you for your story and vulnerability. The ending of your book truly spoke volumes to the way victims feel and how we can overcome trauma moving forward. I really needed to hear it and felt myself tearing up the last chapter, then laughing at the end at how you thanked the actors. It was a great close out to an emotional journey.

Truly a magnificent listen!

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1 person found this helpful

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Engaging and frightening

This story is so twisted you wonder how the author kept timeline straight. At one point I was sure it was just over the top fiction. Well acted and read. Chilling thoughts afterwards.

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The cruelty of the people who have attacked ot others

The decision to send a message to the people involved an the details that were kept

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Shocking ending!

It was amazing to think back to the realities of the early days of the internet, and kudos to Susan for being a trailblazer in the world of cyber scams (although I’m sure she would love to have not been traumatized for years to do so)! Truly wish she had received more justice for the literal mind trauma she was (and I’m sure still is to some degree) subjected to! Hope that all involved have gotten the help needed to live healthier lives moving forward.

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Terrifyjng

I liked that the author/victim narrated the story herself. It was probably as therapeutic for her to tell it as it is for us to heed the warning of trusting those we only know through keyboard communication. It’s a new world/new crime and in his wisdom, the judge set a precedent through sentencing. Great ending too, we only have one life to live. Step out of the shadows and live it.

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Unbelievable & Frightening

This true story of fear, betrayal and stalking will leave you wondering how the author survived her ordeal as it began with limited support from law enforcement agencies. The reader will feel emotions through the eyes of the author who I wish her well.

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Wow! What a crazy story!

Very well written and narrated by the author Susan Fenston. A cautionary tale for everyone in our increasingly dangerous cyber connected world.

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Crazy story

I hate that the author endured such an experience, but she detailed an incredibly freaky story that kept me hooked until the end.

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Captivating!

Once you start listening, you can’t stop. This unbelievable story had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

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