Reviews with content warning for Murder - Lay Them to Rest: On the Road with the Cold Case Investigators Who Identify the Nameless

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Lay Them to Rest: On the Road with the Cold Case Investigators Who Identify the Nameless by Laurah Norton

13 reviews

apersonfromflorida's review

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dark emotional informative medium-paced

4.25

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laurajeangrace's review

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dark informative medium-paced

4.5

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jhbandcats's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

3.25

This should probably have been marketed as a memoir of a crime researcher than as straight true crime. The great potential of this book was unrealized due to the inclusion of unrelated tidbits about the author’s life - things that had nothing to do with the investigation. Photos of the author and other investigators goofing around, decisions on what kind of toy to buy the author’s son, discussions of vegan vs keto diets. It was a big distraction. Yes, it’s important to see how the author is a part of the process but not to this extent. There were a lot of photos I’d like to have seen. The dog picture was not one of them, no matter how cute he was.

I found the sections about the case more interesting than those about the method, though I can see why the latter were included. (I *did* like the DNA / genealogy section, though.) The author does a good job showing the tedium of wading through the bureaucratic morass between multiple law enforcement agencies and research groups.

It was fascinating that the researchers (of data and of science) were able to identify a 30-year-old severed head from almost no information. The process was so complex. I commend them for following it to a conclusion.

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bookbrig's review

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

This wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but it was informative and the author's voice and reading narration were engaging. I didn't realize the author was also a podcast host, and I'm not sure I would have chosen this read had I known. I'm not particularly interested in cold case, murder, or true crime podcasts, and I find that reading true crime is something I prefer to approach sparingly because it can easily lead to me feeling a little paranoid or creeped out. I am more interested in forensic anthropology stuff when it pertains to larger, mass crimes instead of individual murders. So this wasn't quite the right book for me, but for a reader who's curious about the work that goes into cold case exploration this was very informative and felt respectful of everyone concerned.

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courtsport3000's review against another edition

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challenging informative slow-paced

3.0

I really enjoyed the true crime aspects of this story, but struggled with the memoir side of it. The author is knowledgeable and shares tons of interesting information, but I kept getting distracted every time she veered off into discussing reality shows, or whatever diet she was on at the time, or what kind of snacks people bought for a road trip. It felt pretty jarring to basically be like "I was feeding rotisserie chicken to this lady's dog. But anyways, back to unknown corpses!" I definitely would have enjoyed this much more had the book stuck to the facts and professional aspects of the author's work.

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charlatte_lee's review

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dark informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.5

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annajoyreed93's review

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dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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clarabooksit's review against another edition

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dark informative medium-paced

3.25

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ninjamuse's review

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informative medium-paced

4.0

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

A professor's journey into unsolved crimes and John/Jane Does.
The narrator, aka author, was okay but a bit boring on the reading.
The book overall was interesting but had a lot of lags where it got boring. It also meandered off the point quite a lot, which got a bit confusing if you stopped the book and came back to it. It was still a decent book, just not the best true crime I've read.

Extra ratings: Fluff - NA Heartfelt- 4/5 Helpful-NA Horror- NA Inspiration- 0.5/5 Love aka Romance-NA Mystery-NA Predictability- NA Spice- NA Suspense- NA Tear 3.5/5 Thrill- NA Humor-0/5

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