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whewtaewoon's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Police brutality
Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Rape, Trafficking, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse
nic_blake's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
3.0
esselleayy's review
3.0
Well-researched and infuriating documentation of small town corruption and murder. The maze of names can be hard to follow, but a thorough timeline and list of players helps readers sort it out.
nattycran's review against another edition
4.0
I picked this book up in the Faulkner Bookstore near Jackson Square while visiting my sister who goes to Tulane. I've long been a fan of true crime in general and ate up True Detective weekly like it was my religion.
Needless to say, I was deeply interested by Murder in the Bayou. Brown does an excellent job explaining the culture of Jennings, Louisiana and the struggle with drugs and poverty in the community.
What made Murder in the Bayou so gripping was that any of the eight victims in Jeff Davis Parish could be your neighbor. They are such normal American women who are down on their luck and not receiving the healthcare that they obviously deserve. It is, truly, a testament to human compassion.
On the other hand there is the intrigue of these horrible political/community figures who play good Christians in the streets but pay for all kinds of escapes between the sheets. Pimping and lying are the main interests of half the men discussed in this book.
Reading this in 2017, I was so moved by the whistleblowers in the book. Normal people who are standing up for disenfranchised women. In all the darkness of this book there are little bits of light that are compelling enough to spurn the readers own investigations.
I wish there was a map in the book of Jennings. I wish there were family trees for the seemingly never ending familial connections.
Mostly I wish that there was an answer and some justice for the Jeff David Eight. These women deserved better. Ending this book without someone serving life in prison for homicide is a hard pill to swallow--surely for Ethan Brown more so than the reader.
I am so genuinely pleased that I picked this book up and I look forward to following the investigations in Jennings in the future.
Needless to say, I was deeply interested by Murder in the Bayou. Brown does an excellent job explaining the culture of Jennings, Louisiana and the struggle with drugs and poverty in the community.
What made Murder in the Bayou so gripping was that any of the eight victims in Jeff Davis Parish could be your neighbor. They are such normal American women who are down on their luck and not receiving the healthcare that they obviously deserve. It is, truly, a testament to human compassion.
On the other hand there is the intrigue of these horrible political/community figures who play good Christians in the streets but pay for all kinds of escapes between the sheets. Pimping and lying are the main interests of half the men discussed in this book.
Reading this in 2017, I was so moved by the whistleblowers in the book. Normal people who are standing up for disenfranchised women. In all the darkness of this book there are little bits of light that are compelling enough to spurn the readers own investigations.
I wish there was a map in the book of Jennings. I wish there were family trees for the seemingly never ending familial connections.
Mostly I wish that there was an answer and some justice for the Jeff David Eight. These women deserved better. Ending this book without someone serving life in prison for homicide is a hard pill to swallow--surely for Ethan Brown more so than the reader.
I am so genuinely pleased that I picked this book up and I look forward to following the investigations in Jennings in the future.
alxsrbraun's review
1.0
While the case may be very interesting and suspenseful and Ethan Brown may be a very fine journalist and writer, this book was organized in such a way that it both confused and disinterested me. The jumping around from victim 1 to early history of the parish to another victim to the history of the last few sheriffs of the parish introduced so many persons important to the plot so quickly and all at the front, which made it hard for me to follow the nuances of the plot. Ultimately, I just wish this book had been organized differently, because the story may be an important one about police corruption in America and the resulting stifling of justice in the communities affected by that corruption.
lcarslibrarian's review
3.0
Not your typical true crime book in that it's about police corruption, drugs, and disenfranchisement of the poor more than one horrible killer. It was both remarkable and expected that the police in this small town were (allegedly) involved in drugs and the murder of sex workers.