Ellen J. Green

Murder in the Neighborhood by Ellen J Green offers a detailed look at a little-known mass shooting, with an emphasis on trying to understand what makes a person do such a thing.

This has everything most readers of true crime want, details on the actual crime as well as background and the legal proceedings. What set this apart for me was the presentation of the person of the murderer. Usually we get only what supports the idea of a mass murderer being a monster and very little of what makes show more him a human being. Presenting information that makes the reader more empathetic is not the same as condoning the action, it is helping us to see him as well as the victims as full-fledged humans. What might push me to curse out my neighbors might make you decide to move away and someone else decide to shoot them. Up to the point of those three decisions we should be able to understand and empathize with each other.

The writing is another key element in making this a good read, it flows almost novel-like, albeit one with two main narrators. You will want to keep turning pages both because of the information itself and how it is presented.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less

Green Finds The Eggs, Butter, and Sugar. Yes, the title here references one particularly poignant line deep in the text - just 7% or so from the final words. Through this point and after, Green has managed to tell the story of what happened on River Road in Camden, New Jersey on September 6, 1949 through the eyes of nearly all of the people who survived the events there that day. A bit later, she's even going to connect it to a more recent event that was in the news - and that the show more granddaughter of one of the survivors happened to be at. This is narrative nonfiction, and it has next to no documentation (and hence the star deduction), but it is structured and told much in the manner of a novel - which makes it infinitely more readable. But the most remarkable thing about this book is just how truly balanced it is. A horrible tragedy occurred that day, but rather than painting the perpetrator as some otherworldly monster as so much coverage of and conversation around more recent similar people does, Green builds the case that this man is just as human as the rest of us. There is no "other" here, simply a man - a man who had faults, but also a community that had faults too (and also had amazing things as well). Indeed, the entire reason I picked up this book was because I saw a Yankee author and British publisher working on a book about "the first" (not really) mass shooting in the US... and this defender of the US Constitution's 2nd Amendment worried that it would be just ever more anti-gun drivel. For those who may be looking at this book with similar thoughts, know that there is little of that here. Yes, Green calls a "magazine" a "clip" repeatedly, particularly when discussing the actual actions that day. But even when she brings in Stoneman Douglas (Parkland), she never actually goes those directions at all really. (At least one person she chronicles does, but it is clear that this is that person's position only and not an "official recommendation" from the book.) But even that speaks to just how well balanced the book overall is. Truly an excellent and admittedly unexpected work, and very much recommended. show less

Ava Saunders is driven by the need to know who her mother was, who she is, and what her real name is. Frustratingly her adoptive mother Claire dies without telling her. Ava has snatches of memories that don't tie in with what little Claire has told her. Something connects her to events happening over twenty years before, but Ava has never managed to get the true story.

The author manages to carry the mystery attached to Ava's origins almost to the end of the story, providing a number of show more puzzles for the reader to solve. At the centre of it all seems to lie a number of black and white photos of open doors taken by an old Polaroid camera.

Prior to her death her mother insisted that Ava return from Canada where she has been studying. She has never got on really well with her adoptive mother. They seem to have been on the move for much of her life. After Claire's death Ava gains a couple of friends, one a detective, who are willing to help her search for information.

While this novel is about a search for identity, it is also about revenge. show less

Book source ~ Kindle First

There was always something off about the story her family told about how Ava was adopted by Claire Lavoisier-Saunders. Ava wanted answers and her family wasn’t talking. So when Claire dies Ava starts searching in earnest. When her best friend and a detective from work pitch in to help, the mystery starts to unravel, but the past is filled with murders. Then Ava herself disappears and it’s up to Joanne and Russell to finish the job.

I don’t care for the way this show more story is written. I can’t say why because it would be a spoiler, but I’m not a fan. Also, I don’t like Ava. Not one bit. The twists and turns in this are decent, but the means to finding the answers just turned me off. Again, spoilers which I won’t reveal. It’s just too hard to swallow, and falls very close to what I consider ex machina. I think the plot could have been written a different way, making it more believable and still been a great mystery. As it is, I’m disappointed in the execution. show less