Reviews

this book has so many bad reviews. those reviews infuriate me. setting aside differences in taste, narration, nonlinear storytelling, et cetera - so many people just didn’t understand the point of the novel. I purchased this book as a “blind date book” at the long island city book culture so nothing really drew me into the story - it was just luck. I understand feeling disappointment towards the book not really being horror or even truly a murder mystery, but what the book was truly was even better. more than ever, we NEED critique and opposition to true crime. the author hits you over the head time and time again with the idea that true crime (whether it be books, podcasts, movies) is no different than the stories kids tell each other. true crime is the rumors kids spread about the old man that lives down the street. true crime is the tales kids share about the goat man that lives under the trestle. these stories we tell ourselves for entertainment - for closure, even - have real life impacts on communities and families affected by violence.

I also read many a negative review about how it ended - how the narration changed from the author to a random friend. I loved it. we finally get an outside look at this person who we have trusted with information for multiple chapters and realize that he’s basically fabricated entire sections of the story! he has understandable motives and I agree that were the kids not the suspects in the Devil House story, there wouldn’t be much of a pull to read their story. however, it highlights just how corrupting and easy it is to become susceptible to fabricating pieces of falsehood to fill in the blanks.

in all, I think it’s a great story that highlights the fact that life, for the most part, is incredibly mundane. we read true crime for many reasons, but primarily because it fills that hole for us. we want clear-cut and detailed answers to senseless violence. we want to have a figure to root for and see a villain get justice - but that’s not real life. it’s cruel to bring real people, real places, and real communities into the mix.

stiltowl's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I've struggled to read for years. I've reread The Secret History and Darnielle's Master Of Reality at some points but apart from those, I don't think I've read a new to me novel for about 9 years?
But I read this! I couldn't put it down sometimes! It's amazing! I'm going to have to sit with it some more as there's some things that happened towards the end which changed my perspective - but this is just fantastic. Wolf In White Van is one of my favourite novels of all time and this is nearly as good.

Content Warnings

postalblowfish's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

mecgunner's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

2.5

joshburnell's review against another edition

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3.0

An interesting commentary on the True Crime genre, with a pretty clever rug-pull but... I don't know. I might update this later, but right now, it felt like a big swing that didn't get entirely out of the park.

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