wshier's review
2.0
4-star through the first 100 pages, then came crashing back to earth. The story of the gruesome unsolved murder of the Robison family at their summer cottage in Good Hart Michigan is super-creepy. The mysterious double life of the father, Dick Robison, an advertising executive, makes it a perfect script if they ever decide to cancel Mad Men.
giantsdancefarm's review
3.0
Another "local" book recommended to my friend Pam while visiting her favorite "up north" bookstore. I hadn't heard of the 7/25/68 murder of the Robison family, no doubt for 3 major reasons:
I was 8.
My 41 year old father died that same week.
The Detroit riots were closer to home and overshadowed the crime.
I found myself reading bit aloud to my husband, as all of the locales are familiar to us. Not a book I would necessarily recommend to someone unfamiliar with Northern Michigan unless they were a die-hard unsolved true crime junkie.
I was 8.
My 41 year old father died that same week.
The Detroit riots were closer to home and overshadowed the crime.
I found myself reading bit aloud to my husband, as all of the locales are familiar to us. Not a book I would necessarily recommend to someone unfamiliar with Northern Michigan unless they were a die-hard unsolved true crime junkie.
discocrow's review
3.0
This was a very, very good retelling of the mysterious full family murder of the Robinson's.
[a:Mardi Jo Link|6550474|Mardi Jo Link|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1352554498p2/6550474.jpg] meticulously goes through all of the evidence in the case, considering each of the theories that came up regarding who might have done it. She relies greatly on primary evidence, turning to secondary only when it's not available. She keeps her notes clear, and keeps herself largely outside of the story. By the end of the book I had drawn my own conclusions, and was genuinely curious whether or not anything new would ever come forth.
My only complaint about the book is the very ending, when she goes back to describing Good Hart and it's current demeanor rather than ending it with the final evidence of the murder. It did serve to lighten the mood, yes, and to show how thoroughly Good Hart was affected by what happened. Still, it would have served better during the initial description of the town rather than being part of the epilogue itself.
[a:Mardi Jo Link|6550474|Mardi Jo Link|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1352554498p2/6550474.jpg] meticulously goes through all of the evidence in the case, considering each of the theories that came up regarding who might have done it. She relies greatly on primary evidence, turning to secondary only when it's not available. She keeps her notes clear, and keeps herself largely outside of the story. By the end of the book I had drawn my own conclusions, and was genuinely curious whether or not anything new would ever come forth.
My only complaint about the book is the very ending, when she goes back to describing Good Hart and it's current demeanor rather than ending it with the final evidence of the murder. It did serve to lighten the mood, yes, and to show how thoroughly Good Hart was affected by what happened. Still, it would have served better during the initial description of the town rather than being part of the epilogue itself.
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