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trin's review against another edition
3.0
This book made me physically ill. When an account of the (mis)workings of the criminal justice system is more frightening than the details of four brutal rapes and murders, then said criminal justice system is seriously broken.
angus_mckeogh's review against another edition
5.0
A cold case murder. Loads of suspects. Coerced confessions. Petty thugs. Physical evidence that points elsewhere. Police foul ups. Law challenges. Exonerations. Leads that are apparent but are willfully not followed. New evidence decades old. Still no justice for the victims. Bull-headed State prosecutors and cops steadily following a narrative that is clearly wrong as demonstrated by the evidence. This book had it all. And it's true. Sad. Interesting. Makes you gag on reality.
eenicem's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Torture and Grief
librarymouse's review against another edition
The short amount of time spent humanizing the girls, as opposed to the long amount of time spent on exploring the investigator's methods and the history of violence in police work in the first 45% didn't sit right with me. It's also very slow and spends far too much time giving details of individual interviews and interrogations.
alexandrabree's review against another edition
4.0
Let's start with the cons : there are tangents, the roll out of all the information does meander a little, overall could use an edit here and there (mostly in the first half of the book)
I want to put this in a neutral zone. I think the intention in jumping around so much in the timeliness and facts, intermingled with opinion and aside personal information was to build suspense, to avoid a dry and clinical approach (think a John Douglas book step by step and so methodical it's painful). This was a poor choice as with all the families, histories, leads, investigators.. there is already plenty to keep straight without adding a further plot to follow.
Pros : The tangents do get to the point I'm short order (9/10 times), all the information is tied into the larger picture even while it took a minute to figure out why everything is relevant.
All sides, the parents, the accused, the girls, and the law, are fairly represented. You don't see the same fervent attacks that I think are more popular now in the age of documentaries (making a murderer, serial, the west Memphis three). Very professional approach even stating it was her son's murder that drew her towards this case. Very respectful of the girls' tragic passing, I would recommend this book to true crime fans.
Reminded me of Ann Rules style and John Grishams Innocent man.
I want to put this in a neutral zone. I think the intention in jumping around so much in the timeliness and facts, intermingled with opinion and aside personal information was to build suspense, to avoid a dry and clinical approach (think a John Douglas book step by step and so methodical it's painful). This was a poor choice as with all the families, histories, leads, investigators.. there is already plenty to keep straight without adding a further plot to follow.
Pros : The tangents do get to the point I'm short order (9/10 times), all the information is tied into the larger picture even while it took a minute to figure out why everything is relevant.
All sides, the parents, the accused, the girls, and the law, are fairly represented. You don't see the same fervent attacks that I think are more popular now in the age of documentaries (making a murderer, serial, the west Memphis three). Very professional approach even stating it was her son's murder that drew her towards this case. Very respectful of the girls' tragic passing, I would recommend this book to true crime fans.
Reminded me of Ann Rules style and John Grishams Innocent man.
readingjag's review against another edition
4.0
One of the most upsetting cold cases I've read about. Still unsolved after all these years, and most likely never will be. Nicely researched and sensitively presented.
justicepirate's review against another edition
2.0
2.75 stars.
While I appreciate descriptions and depth to stories, this one gets repetitive at times with details being explained all over again a few times. I feel it caused this book to be drawn out too much.
I honestly only recently heard of the Yogurt Shop Murders, as they are called. I am one who truly finds true crime really sad but intriguing at the same time, so I wanted to learn more about what this case was like and who the girls were and why they were murdered.
I think there are some things to plainly note about this story:
You'll find out only a portion of what the girls were like. The story mainly covers the case and those who were arrested as suspects and tried as criminals. The idea of how things were found that day and what led up to it for the girls is pretty much all we find out about them. I was hoping to learn more about what these young girls' lives were like. Whatever really happened that night is appalling and it is sad that there isn't enough information about what went on despite how long this book is!
I am starting to get more and more upset and annoyed about investigators and how they leak hints of things to suspects and seem to plant it into their heads that they did something they most likely did not do. What is sad as well is how they will state they did things that really, you can't even ponder wanting to do, yet this is not the first time I have heard of such instances. Did these guys really cause the crime? I don't know. Is there evidence they did? Not really, including the DNA. Confessions are pretty much all we have. Whoever really did this, we might not ever find out. The case is curious and the story was not written as well as it could have been.
While I appreciate descriptions and depth to stories, this one gets repetitive at times with details being explained all over again a few times. I feel it caused this book to be drawn out too much.
I honestly only recently heard of the Yogurt Shop Murders, as they are called. I am one who truly finds true crime really sad but intriguing at the same time, so I wanted to learn more about what this case was like and who the girls were and why they were murdered.
I think there are some things to plainly note about this story:
You'll find out only a portion of what the girls were like. The story mainly covers the case and those who were arrested as suspects and tried as criminals. The idea of how things were found that day and what led up to it for the girls is pretty much all we find out about them. I was hoping to learn more about what these young girls' lives were like. Whatever really happened that night is appalling and it is sad that there isn't enough information about what went on despite how long this book is!
I am starting to get more and more upset and annoyed about investigators and how they leak hints of things to suspects and seem to plant it into their heads that they did something they most likely did not do. What is sad as well is how they will state they did things that really, you can't even ponder wanting to do, yet this is not the first time I have heard of such instances. Did these guys really cause the crime? I don't know. Is there evidence they did? Not really, including the DNA. Confessions are pretty much all we have. Whoever really did this, we might not ever find out. The case is curious and the story was not written as well as it could have been.