Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders

At times this book is extraordinary: so well-written it's like watching a painting being created and, even though you know what it will look when complete, you can't turn away. The artistry is that masterful.
Another great aspect of this book is that you are not left wondering: you come to know the killers and understand their arrogance.
Where "Judgment Ridge" fails is the same place it succeeds: the details.
Many times non-fiction fails because it doesn't provide enough of those seemingly small items that, in fact, tell you everything you want to know: what did the killer have for breakfast? What music did he like? What did he see when he looked in the mirror?
"Judgment Ridge" is so well-researched that it's positively swimming in details. show more But sometimes, those plentiful details begin to obscure the story itself. The authors write on and on and on about one of the killer's interest in debate, for example, and I promise I got it - I understood how it shaped Robert, and it was important. But there's so much about it that it becomes tedious.
I wish this book had had a better editor. Clearly the authors know their material and they are wonderful writers. But an outside, objective eye is needed in any text. Had there been a competent editor in this case, "Judgment Ridge" could have been a book of genius. show less

Having lived near Dartmouth College for a good portion of my life, I became very interested in the Zantop case in 2001: two Dartmouth professors slashed to death in their homes for no apparent reason. But then the story took an unusual turn when it was announced that two teenagers from Vermont -- with apparently no ties to the professors -- may have been involved. And things just kept getting stranger when it was reported that those two kids were generally well-liked in their community, and aside from a few "boys will be boys" moments, had nothing in their past to give any hints they might become killers.

Two Boston Globe reporters stayed on the case. They cover impressive ground in this book, providing background information about the show more murdered victims as well as a thorough retelling of the boys' early lives. They take a little literary license in moving a few things out of chronology to get in some frightening chapters to keep the story moving -- the first chapter, for example, tells of the boys' aborted plan to kill a neighbor six months before the Dartmouth murders.

Interestingly, the book makes only passing reference to the Leopold and Loeb case from the 1920s, using it only to show how a simple piece of evidence (then, glasses; now, a special knife sheath) could be the undoing of a carefully-planned murder. It seemed strange not to make further connections, as Robert Tulloch, whom the authors paint as the more guilty party, shared with Leopold a fascination with the writings of Nietzsche, believing that laws don't apply to the super-men of the world. Both in this case and in the earlier one, the young men hoped to commit a "perfect" crime, mostly just for the fun of it.

Over and over, the authors tantalize the reader by giving little pieces of information about the boys' prior acts. Without the benefit of hindsight, Tulloch and Jim Parker (who pleaded for a lesser sentence; his tends to be the more sympathetic story of the follower caught up in a charismatic leader's evil plans) were perhaps more reckless and rowdy than their friends, but it's hard to connect teenage angst with murder. Many of the supplemental characters -- former teachers and friends -- are quoted as generally believing in the boys until the evidence proved to be too damning. And that may be the most chilling part of the book -- if cold-blooded killers can be found acting like normal Americans, how can anyone ever feel safe? show less

This is an examination of the murders of Half and Susanne Zantop, two popular faculty members of Dartmouth College, by Robert Tulloch and James Parker, two high-school students from a nearby town. The book is written by Dick Lehr and Mitchell Zuckoff, both of whom were reporters from the Boston Globe at the time of the killings, and are now professors of journalism at Boston University.

Judgment Ridge is an attempt to explain how two teenagers from a close-knit community could find themselves randomly looking for someone to kill, and how they happened to commit two heinous murders purely by chance. What also emerges is a picture of police investigation that managed - through two pieces of seemingly nondescript evidence - to identify the show more murderers.

The authors also manage to convey the unsettling nature of a crime that, through its pure randomness and lack of motive, is a true example of senseless violence. The reader cannot help but be taken aback by the complete lack of rationality behind this crime.

The only fault I find with the book is that it seemed to be written as if it were a murder mystery, which it is not. Since both authors are experienced journalists (who covered the story) I should think they could have managed to convey the incomprehensibility of the murders without some of the melodramatic elements they employ. The first chapter by itself shows just how terrifyingly inexplicable the murders were.

The authors do, however, give some excellent insights into the nature of the boys, the town in which they lived, and their families and friends.

An excellent description of an inexplicable event. show less

I liked this book overall. It was an interesting story with some interesting characters. It was, however, a little too long. As true crime books go, this one wasn't that thrilling. There was too much background information that didn't really seem to add much to the story. As an example, the authors went into a great deal of detail about Robert Tulloch and Jim Parker's high school exploits, which, beyond helping us understand why investigators were initially reticent to believe two high school kids could be killers, was not relevant. There was a lengthy and dramatic lead-up to Tulloch's big explosion at a high school debate tournament, but the actual incident itself, while noteworthy, was pretty anticlimactic for all the foreshadowing show more that took place before it.

I am giving the book three stars because it is an interesting story, but I think we could have gotten the same understanding of the crime, how shocking it was in this bucolic Vermont town, and how psycopathic one of the killers was in a 30-50% shorter book. show less

A quite readable story of the pointless murder of two Dartmouth college professors - a crime that received considerable press in the Boston area. The book suffers slightly because the author very clearly choses "sides" and proclaims one criminal (and his parents) less culpable than another.

The story behind the murders of a beloved husband and wife, both professors at Dartmouth College in 2000. It was shocking that these murders took place because two seemingly "normal" high school students were bored. This was a true-crime read. 432 pages