Scan barcode
trin's review
4.0
Though true crime is still in the midst of a boom -- because the world is a nightmare -- anthologies like Best American Crime Writing have for some reason ceased publication. Journalist Sarah Weinman seeks to fill that gap with Unspeakable Acts -- and to my mind exceeds both expectations and the quality and ambition of those old series.
Pretty much every essay in this collection is meaty, well-written, and thoughtful in its analysis. Not merely a grim or prurient reporting of nasty details, every essay strives to connect the crime in question to larger social concerns -- which is exactly what good true crime writing can and should do. Weinman's selection includes an admirably diverse array of topics and tones. I don't usually do this with anthologies but the meta narrative of the chosen pieces is so interesting, I want to touch on each one individually:
Michelle Dean, "Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter to Be Sick, Gypsy Wanted Her Mom to Be Murdered"
This story is the basis for the Hulu show The Act, which I haven't seen, though I'd heard this horrible tale of Munchausen by proxy elsewhere. But Dean really broke it open -- this is excellent reporting.
Pamela Colloff, "The Reckoning"
Colloff profiles one victim of one of the earliest school shootings, the 1966 sniper attack on the University of Texas' Austin campus, and how the effect of this violence radiated out through the rest of her life. An interesting angle on an event that's receded into history (especially in the wake of more recent mass shootings) and a truly heartbreaking piece.
Karen K. Ho, "Jennifer Pan's Revenge"
A shattered Canadian dream story, in which the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants cracks under (extreme) parental pressure and orders a disastrous hit on her parents. Ho went to school with the perpetrator and one of her co-conspirators, but this barely factors into the narrative, which is interesting. This is a good essay, if not extraordinary.
Rachel Monroe, "The Perfect Man Who Wasn't"
A con man story! Monroe is such a good writer. Read Savage Appetites.
Alex Mar, "Out Came the Girls"
This covers the story of two preteen girls who stabbed one of their friends nearly to death because they believed creepypasta sensation Slenderman told them to. I already knew this story back to front, as I'd watched the 2016 documentary, Beware the Slenderman, which Mar cites. But she pairs this story with that of Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme (the inspiration for the film Heavenly Creatures) and draws some interesting connections about the consuming nature of girls' fantasy lives.
Sarah Marshall, "The End of Evil"
I'm a big fan of the podcast Sarah Marshall hosts, "You're Wrong About." This piece about Ted Bundy was a little uneven -- I wish it had focused more on the politics around his execution, without so much recapping of his crimes, which I will lay down money anyone reading a true crime book already knows far too well. I also think first person sections were unnecessary, though very Believer-y (which makes sense as this was first published in The Believer). But Marshall's indictment of the "psychopath" diagnosis is absolutely brilliant.
Alice Bolin, "The Ethical Dilemma of Highbrow True Crime"
This is the collection's meta-essay. It's pretty great.
Elon Green, "The Lost Children of 'Runaway Train'"
My least favorite piece in the collection. It's not bad: it's the story behind the band Soul Asylum's video for "Runaway Train," which featured pictures of real missing kids and actually resulted in some being found. But Green doesn't really explore this idea; the piece feels slight.
Sarah Weinman, "The True Crime Story Behind a 1970s Cult Feminist Film Classic"
As much as I admire Weinman, and the way she put together this collection, this is actually my second least-favorite piece. I think I may just find the story of Alma Malone -- terrible bank robber and inspiration for Barbara Loden's film Wanda -- one thousand times less interesting than either Weinman or Loden -- and Weinman doesn't convince me I should feel otherwise.
Jason Fagone, "What Bullets Do to Bodies"
A brilliant profile of a Philadelphia trauma surgeon, and a powerful indictment of gun violence. A terrific, unexpected piece. I love Weinman for including this in a true crime book. You watch Wanda all you like, girl.
Melissa del Bosque, "Checkpoint Nation"
Fuck US Customs and Border Protection: The Essay. Starting with Fagone's piece, above, every entry in this final section of the book, called "Justice and Society," is fire.
Leora Smith, "How a Dubious Forensic Science Spread Like a Virus"
A brilliant takedown of the junk science of blood spatter analysis -- and its inventor.
Emma Copley Eisenberg, "'I Am a Girl Now,' Sage Smith Wrote. Then She Went Missing."
A heartbreaking example of police and the public only caring about missing girls when they're white. When Eisenberg breaks down the statistical differences between the police effort to find Sage Smith -- who was trans, black, and poor -- and a young white woman who went missing around the same time, it's staggering. And devastating.
In case it's not clear: this is a stellar collection. It doesn't have the word "Best" in the title, but you should consider it implicit.
Pretty much every essay in this collection is meaty, well-written, and thoughtful in its analysis. Not merely a grim or prurient reporting of nasty details, every essay strives to connect the crime in question to larger social concerns -- which is exactly what good true crime writing can and should do. Weinman's selection includes an admirably diverse array of topics and tones. I don't usually do this with anthologies but the meta narrative of the chosen pieces is so interesting, I want to touch on each one individually:
Michelle Dean, "Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter to Be Sick, Gypsy Wanted Her Mom to Be Murdered"
This story is the basis for the Hulu show The Act, which I haven't seen, though I'd heard this horrible tale of Munchausen by proxy elsewhere. But Dean really broke it open -- this is excellent reporting.
Pamela Colloff, "The Reckoning"
Colloff profiles one victim of one of the earliest school shootings, the 1966 sniper attack on the University of Texas' Austin campus, and how the effect of this violence radiated out through the rest of her life. An interesting angle on an event that's receded into history (especially in the wake of more recent mass shootings) and a truly heartbreaking piece.
Karen K. Ho, "Jennifer Pan's Revenge"
A shattered Canadian dream story, in which the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants cracks under (extreme) parental pressure and orders a disastrous hit on her parents. Ho went to school with the perpetrator and one of her co-conspirators, but this barely factors into the narrative, which is interesting. This is a good essay, if not extraordinary.
Rachel Monroe, "The Perfect Man Who Wasn't"
A con man story! Monroe is such a good writer. Read Savage Appetites.
Alex Mar, "Out Came the Girls"
This covers the story of two preteen girls who stabbed one of their friends nearly to death because they believed creepypasta sensation Slenderman told them to. I already knew this story back to front, as I'd watched the 2016 documentary, Beware the Slenderman, which Mar cites. But she pairs this story with that of Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme (the inspiration for the film Heavenly Creatures) and draws some interesting connections about the consuming nature of girls' fantasy lives.
Sarah Marshall, "The End of Evil"
I'm a big fan of the podcast Sarah Marshall hosts, "You're Wrong About." This piece about Ted Bundy was a little uneven -- I wish it had focused more on the politics around his execution, without so much recapping of his crimes, which I will lay down money anyone reading a true crime book already knows far too well. I also think first person sections were unnecessary, though very Believer-y (which makes sense as this was first published in The Believer). But Marshall's indictment of the "psychopath" diagnosis is absolutely brilliant.
Alice Bolin, "The Ethical Dilemma of Highbrow True Crime"
This is the collection's meta-essay. It's pretty great.
Elon Green, "The Lost Children of 'Runaway Train'"
My least favorite piece in the collection. It's not bad: it's the story behind the band Soul Asylum's video for "Runaway Train," which featured pictures of real missing kids and actually resulted in some being found. But Green doesn't really explore this idea; the piece feels slight.
Sarah Weinman, "The True Crime Story Behind a 1970s Cult Feminist Film Classic"
As much as I admire Weinman, and the way she put together this collection, this is actually my second least-favorite piece. I think I may just find the story of Alma Malone -- terrible bank robber and inspiration for Barbara Loden's film Wanda -- one thousand times less interesting than either Weinman or Loden -- and Weinman doesn't convince me I should feel otherwise.
Jason Fagone, "What Bullets Do to Bodies"
A brilliant profile of a Philadelphia trauma surgeon, and a powerful indictment of gun violence. A terrific, unexpected piece. I love Weinman for including this in a true crime book. You watch Wanda all you like, girl.
Melissa del Bosque, "Checkpoint Nation"
Fuck US Customs and Border Protection: The Essay. Starting with Fagone's piece, above, every entry in this final section of the book, called "Justice and Society," is fire.
Leora Smith, "How a Dubious Forensic Science Spread Like a Virus"
A brilliant takedown of the junk science of blood spatter analysis -- and its inventor.
Emma Copley Eisenberg, "'I Am a Girl Now,' Sage Smith Wrote. Then She Went Missing."
A heartbreaking example of police and the public only caring about missing girls when they're white. When Eisenberg breaks down the statistical differences between the police effort to find Sage Smith -- who was trans, black, and poor -- and a young white woman who went missing around the same time, it's staggering. And devastating.
In case it's not clear: this is a stellar collection. It doesn't have the word "Best" in the title, but you should consider it implicit.
angus_mckeogh's review
3.0
Collection of magazine-length true crime stories. I’d say about a quarter were pretty good; another quarter left something to be desired; and the remaining half was mediocre. Perhaps just slightly better than just average.
claudiamccarron's review
5.0
6/2/2022
One of the rare anthologies that I a) reread in whole b) love every piece in it. Sarah Marshall's "The End of Evil" is still my personal standout, but everything in here is great.
One of the rare anthologies that I a) reread in whole b) love every piece in it. Sarah Marshall's "The End of Evil" is still my personal standout, but everything in here is great.
writingbookscoffee's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
So good, I loved getting all the different perspectives about cases. I did skip the essay on what bullets do to bodies though.
lizal33's review
4.0
Enlightening and infuriating in almost equal measure. Enough can't be said about the sensitivity with which the authors anthologized here examine the intersections of race, gender, and class for people who are victimized by crime and by the law enforcement bodies sworn to invetigate it. Absolutely required reading.
theboldbookworm's review
4.0
This book contains stories previously published in other places such as magazines and newspapers.
There are a range of different cases here including single murders, serial killers, mass shootings, and con men. I enjoyed most of the stories, although I could have done without very well-known ones such as Ted Bundy. One section is more about changes that need to be made and forensics rather than single cases.
This would be a great introduction to true crime since there are different types of cases and it's not graphically descriptive or gory.
There are a range of different cases here including single murders, serial killers, mass shootings, and con men. I enjoyed most of the stories, although I could have done without very well-known ones such as Ted Bundy. One section is more about changes that need to be made and forensics rather than single cases.
This would be a great introduction to true crime since there are different types of cases and it's not graphically descriptive or gory.
savannnah_reads's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
2.75
Not my usual vibe but I learned a few things