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myauntietaytay's review against another edition
5.0
Kept me guessing
The first work I’ve read by this author. Every time I thought I had something figured out there was a twist that I didn’t expect. I enjoyed the past story line mixed in with the current. Overall an enjoyable read. I will be reading more of her books.
The first work I’ve read by this author. Every time I thought I had something figured out there was a twist that I didn’t expect. I enjoyed the past story line mixed in with the current. Overall an enjoyable read. I will be reading more of her books.
destiny_hisey's review against another edition
4.0
This was a very engaging book. While it is going, it is a very fast read.
I loved the story being told from two points in history and seeing the story converge in the present.
I loved the story being told from two points in history and seeing the story converge in the present.
judithdcollins's review against another edition
4.0
D. M. Pulley returns following The Buried Book and The Dead Key with her latest historical fiction THE UNCLAIMED VICTIM—a blending of fact and fiction, history, a gruesome unsolved murder mystery, with dual timelines and dark hidden secrets.
“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” – Fredrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good, and Evil, 1886
Pulley is a pro at digging up the dark secrets of the past and blending with the present while intertwining her own fascinating "what if" shocking conclusion.
Cleveland, Ohio. In 1999 a man is found, Alfred Ray Wiley. The daughter Kris recalls the argument with her father. He wanted her to move back home. He did not like her wasting her time with starving artists.
A tattoo. Dark secrets. Her father’s obsession with the Torso Killer. The library books. and the Search for a Psychopathic Killer.
The Torso Killer got his name by cutting off his victims’ heads, arms, and legs. What did her father have to do with this horrible stuff?
Thirteen bodies from 1934-1938, victims of the serial killer dubbed as the “Torso Killer, and the “Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run.”
In the past, 1938 during the Great Depression. A madman terrorizing the city.
Ethel Harding, a prostitute. The monstrous Harmony Mission. She was desperate. A horrible mistake. Her mother had thrown her out onto the street.
A religious cult. Brutal slayings. White supremacist. Crime group. Unsolved murders. The casualties of the Depression littered the banks with starving children and battered women. Bodies found in the river.
From 1935 to 1938, bodies were dumped in the area known as Kingsbury Run, a creek bed that runs from East 90th Street and Kinsman Road to the Cuyahoga River.
The victims included seven men and five women. Most were hobos and prostitutes, people living on the edge at a time when Cleveland was hard hit by the Great Depression. Many weren't missed for months.
Pulley takes a real shocking story and adds her own unique spin. It's her second book that shines a light on Cleveland's notorious past; the first, 2015's "The Dead Key," was a thriller set in the old Cleveland Trust Tower.
From 1930’s Ethel and 1990’s Kris – how are the two cases linked?
As with Pulley’s other two books, they are well-researched blending mystery, intrigue, and history.
Creepy and haunting, based on the most gruesome crime spree in Cleveland history, making headlines across the nation--and still haunting the streets of Cleveland. The killer who was never caught.
For fans of historical mysteries with a twist of Gothic. Also, fans of Aimee Austin (Sylvie Fox)’s Casey Cort Legal series - set in Cleveland will enjoy (have read them all). Always interesting for readers located in the South to visit the shocking secrets of the Midwest. Found myself doing additional research to learn more.
The author includes additional research for those interested in this era. View Video with the author.
Looking forward to seeing what's next.
A special thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.
JDCMustReadBooks
“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” – Fredrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good, and Evil, 1886
Pulley is a pro at digging up the dark secrets of the past and blending with the present while intertwining her own fascinating "what if" shocking conclusion.
Cleveland, Ohio. In 1999 a man is found, Alfred Ray Wiley. The daughter Kris recalls the argument with her father. He wanted her to move back home. He did not like her wasting her time with starving artists.
A tattoo. Dark secrets. Her father’s obsession with the Torso Killer. The library books. and the Search for a Psychopathic Killer.
The Torso Killer got his name by cutting off his victims’ heads, arms, and legs. What did her father have to do with this horrible stuff?
Thirteen bodies from 1934-1938, victims of the serial killer dubbed as the “Torso Killer, and the “Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run.”
In the past, 1938 during the Great Depression. A madman terrorizing the city.
Ethel Harding, a prostitute. The monstrous Harmony Mission. She was desperate. A horrible mistake. Her mother had thrown her out onto the street.
A religious cult. Brutal slayings. White supremacist. Crime group. Unsolved murders. The casualties of the Depression littered the banks with starving children and battered women. Bodies found in the river.
From 1935 to 1938, bodies were dumped in the area known as Kingsbury Run, a creek bed that runs from East 90th Street and Kinsman Road to the Cuyahoga River.
The victims included seven men and five women. Most were hobos and prostitutes, people living on the edge at a time when Cleveland was hard hit by the Great Depression. Many weren't missed for months.
Pulley takes a real shocking story and adds her own unique spin. It's her second book that shines a light on Cleveland's notorious past; the first, 2015's "The Dead Key," was a thriller set in the old Cleveland Trust Tower.
From 1930’s Ethel and 1990’s Kris – how are the two cases linked?
As with Pulley’s other two books, they are well-researched blending mystery, intrigue, and history.
Creepy and haunting, based on the most gruesome crime spree in Cleveland history, making headlines across the nation--and still haunting the streets of Cleveland. The killer who was never caught.
For fans of historical mysteries with a twist of Gothic. Also, fans of Aimee Austin (Sylvie Fox)’s Casey Cort Legal series - set in Cleveland will enjoy (have read them all). Always interesting for readers located in the South to visit the shocking secrets of the Midwest. Found myself doing additional research to learn more.
The author includes additional research for those interested in this era. View Video with the author.
Looking forward to seeing what's next.
A special thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.
JDCMustReadBooks
liketheday's review against another edition
1.0
I'm looking at all the glowing reviews of this book on the site and I am like, well, obviously this book was written for People Who Are Not Me. And that's fine! If I weren't reading it for book club I would have just tossed it aside and gone on with my life, no worries.
Unfortunately, I was reading it for book club.
The book starts off decent, with a death (maybe???) and a mystery and sleuthiness and great references to my Cleveland hometown and also a narrative that switches between present day and many years ago and that stuff is CATNIP to me. Except, I don't know, this catnip was rancid and this metaphor is not really going to work but suffice it to say I didn't care about either story so the switching was just delaying me getting to the ending and the characters were just too much and the sleuthing was not very good and the Cleveland references started feeling shoehorned in and I was staring at the "minutes left in book" on my Kindle more than the words on the page.
On the plus side, now I get to yell during book club?
Unfortunately, I was reading it for book club.
The book starts off decent, with a death (maybe???) and a mystery and sleuthiness and great references to my Cleveland hometown and also a narrative that switches between present day and many years ago and that stuff is CATNIP to me. Except, I don't know, this catnip was rancid and this metaphor is not really going to work but suffice it to say I didn't care about either story so the switching was just delaying me getting to the ending and the characters were just too much and the sleuthing was not very good and the Cleveland references started feeling shoehorned in and I was staring at the "minutes left in book" on my Kindle more than the words on the page.
On the plus side, now I get to yell during book club?
fictionvictim's review against another edition
DNF @ page 34/ 9% I already read up on the murders and it's too detective for me.
b00knerd's review against another edition
5.0
THE UNCLAIMED VICTIM is a dual story line of both fact and fiction, history, and an unsolved murder, with dark hidden secrets giving you the perfect amount of mystery a reader needs.
Ethel set in 1938 and Kris in 1999 are the main characters in each setting both involved somehow in the Torso killings.
In the 1930's a killer is running loose, killing prostitutes and the homeless cutting off their body parts which names him to be the Torso Killer.
Your first are introduced to Kris Wiley who is asked to come identify a headless body, the police suspects that there is a possibility that it might be her father. Kris is dead set that this is not her father and refuses to identify which leaves the body in a stand still, stuck in the freezer. Kris then finds out some rather off-putting facts in her father's life that makes her re-think how well she knew the man she called father. Which leads her into a scary path that will put her life and other's in danger.
Ethel Hardings, a prostitute in the 1930's accidentally hears things she shouldn't and becomes part of the "torso" killer scene. You get tot travel through her time with what leads us all up to the ending 60 years later.
I enjoyed this story sooo much. I enjoyed the dual story line and trying to figure out what was going on and how it all connected. I'm a huge fan also of the time era of the 30's so it kept me fully intrigued with Ethel's story more so.
I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING THIS NOVEL!!!!
Ethel set in 1938 and Kris in 1999 are the main characters in each setting both involved somehow in the Torso killings.
In the 1930's a killer is running loose, killing prostitutes and the homeless cutting off their body parts which names him to be the Torso Killer.
Your first are introduced to Kris Wiley who is asked to come identify a headless body, the police suspects that there is a possibility that it might be her father. Kris is dead set that this is not her father and refuses to identify which leaves the body in a stand still, stuck in the freezer. Kris then finds out some rather off-putting facts in her father's life that makes her re-think how well she knew the man she called father. Which leads her into a scary path that will put her life and other's in danger.
Ethel Hardings, a prostitute in the 1930's accidentally hears things she shouldn't and becomes part of the "torso" killer scene. You get tot travel through her time with what leads us all up to the ending 60 years later.
I enjoyed this story sooo much. I enjoyed the dual story line and trying to figure out what was going on and how it all connected. I'm a huge fan also of the time era of the 30's so it kept me fully intrigued with Ethel's story more so.
I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING THIS NOVEL!!!!
jen776's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent. I stayed on the edge of my seat with this book. I loved the melding of fact and fiction.
debaloo2002's review against another edition
3.0
I like how D.M. Pulley writes about Cleveland history giving us two timelines, one during the time in history and another present day and weaving those two stories together. I thought the 1938 storyline was engaging with a character I just wanted to root for in Ethel. The present day storyline with Kris really just didn't work for me as much. Not only did it feel a bit forced, but a ridiculously large amount of stuff happened in a mere 3 days time. That being said, I would still recommend this book book especially if you enjoy Cleveland history or reading books that take place in multiple timelines.
mishkaroni's review against another edition
5.0
I thought this would be your typical crime thriller book. A predictable one. And maybe a few key players were, but overall I didn't see where this was taking me. Guess I should have known better since this is a historical fiction. There is basis off 1930s serial killer, amoung other historical accuracies, including the newspaper clippings.
There was a twist at the end that I absolutely did not see coming, though there was a hint once or twice about it. I thought I had it figured and while right on some parts, I was happily surprised by the end.
Top notch book.
There was a twist at the end that I absolutely did not see coming, though there was a hint once or twice about it. I thought I had it figured and while right on some parts, I was happily surprised by the end.
Top notch book.
destinyh's review against another edition
4.0
This was a very engaging book. While it is going, it is a very fast read.
I loved the story being told from two points in history and seeing the story converge in the present.
I loved the story being told from two points in history and seeing the story converge in the present.