Vanessa Brown (2)

An interesting story with a weak structure. The Jackie English portion of the book is strong and engrossing. Unfortunately, when Brown tries to tie in other victims and make a case that multiple murders are connected, things become less coherent. I appreciate that part of this is going to be due to retelling old stories with missing files, but I found it hard to track which case happened when, and sometimes to even understand why particular incidents were being written about. I'm not sure I could tell you how many victims are ascribed to the Forest City Killer or why some of these cases are thought to be connected. It might, perhaps, have worked better to tell it in the form of a ripple effect--to start with Jackie and then the cases most strongly connected to her, and then gradually move out to the cases investigators believe are attached to other predators.

Still, even if I couldn't necessarily follow all of her research, I appreciate the dedication Brown put into unearthing this story and in humanizing the people involved. I hope very much that this renewed attention finally results in some DNA testing that might help the surviving loved ones find some closure.… (more)

This is a true crime account of a series of unsolved murders that happened from the late 60's to through the 70's in a small Canadian town. The author grew up there and knew nothing about the murders for many years. After she found out about them, she became obsessed with research and theories about possible perpetrators. This book is her collection and attempt to make sense of the years of research. She leaned heavily on the case files that the lead detective kept on the case. After the detective's death, boxes of files on these murders where found in his home. These detailed notes have shone a light on the case from law enforcement's perspective.

I thought this book was well written and researched, although there were a lot of characters and it became difficult to keep all the details straight. I also sometimes felt like the author was spending too much time on theories and gossip which could not be verified. Overall, it was an interesting read and a great example of the types of cases that might be solved if detectives use modern science to reexamine the remaining evidence.… (more)