Emily G. Thompson

What is worse than the loss of a child? Sometimes not knowing what happened? And not having any sense of justice as the case remains unsolved even decades later.
This well written and well researched book relays just a few of the many unsolved child murders in the states. Refreshing everyone’s minds on these cold cases can give new awareness of these cases.
I don’t know how people can live with themselves knowing something and not revealing it to give peace to these families. Someone show more somewhere knows the answer and these families deserve closure. show less

I read (and watch) a lot of true crime. These have a format of kinda cautionary, morality tales. Evil is done and in the end, justice. Basically, most fit into that mold. It is rather psychologically bruising to take in such a large collection of cold cases where the victim is, typically, a brutalized young person.

There is an interesting history tying together the murder of Rachael Runyan led to an early child abduction alert system leading to the AMBER alert begun after the abduction and show more murder of Amber Rene Hagerman.

There is also a more lengthy exploration of the Johnny Gosh case. This case is intriguing and concerning to me as it seems to suggest long-lived, large scale organized child pornography and pedophilia rings at work even into the US heartland.

There is also a lot of detail on the Adam Walsh case which this book says is the only closed one while all the covered cases are unsolved. show less

This book gives an overview of twenty unsolved murder cases, spanning from 1912 to 2010. Some of the cases included here, particularly the older ones, are relatively unknown, while others have received extensive media coverage throughout the years.

The writing is straightforward. The approach is basic and the facts aren't extensive. This isn't a book with a lot of intensity or depth. What I found most interesting was the evolution of how crime scenes and victims were treated over the span of show more a century.

I want to give props to the publisher for the visual appeal of the hardcover format. The colors are eye-catching. And what I love most is that the cover is embossed. No dust jacket! I wish all publishers would do this with hardcovers.

*I received a review copy from the publisher, via Amazon Vine.* show less

This didn’t take me long to read because I like anything and everything true crime. I would love a part two about the solved cases (not that many were solved maybe 2-3 since the book came out). I knew about a good chunk of the cases but it was good reading on some I had no clue that existed.

Moral of the story: People are who hurt kids are scum.