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71 reviews for:
The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths are Solving America's Coldest Cases
Deborah Halber
3.17 AVERAGE
71 reviews for:
The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths are Solving America's Coldest Cases
Deborah Halber
3.17 AVERAGE
A little hard to get through at times and somewhat difficult to follow. I so wanted to enjoy it, but I was a little lost with the writing style and it could be hard to keep track of the characters. It still was really interesting, and a great look into the subculture of the Doe Network and police relations. The success stories were the best part and kept me wanting more.
Intriguing premise without a strong execution. The author inserted herself into the story more often than necessary, and seems terrified and judgmental of any piece of America outside of New York. The whole thing was an avalanche of names, often jumping from one person's backstory to another's. No one who is not a devoted follower of an Internet forum cares about the politics of an Internet forum, yet we're treated to such minutiae often. Some interesting details, but they're lost in the weeds.
I learned more about human decomposition than I cared to know, but felt I didn't get much insight on the cold case solving. More time was spent on the characters of the internet sleuths it seemed.
I stopped when I realized I was reading pages and retaining nothing. It's neither a how-to book nor articles about successful cases nor a history of this niche group. It's a mash up of all these and difficult to follow.
Halber, a popular science writer, profiles the effect access to the internet has had on the growing community of people who, motivated by being touched by a crime, or just out of a love of solving puzzles, scour newspaper banks, local folklore, ancestry trees and police reports to match unidentified bodies with missing people, sometimes decades after their disappearances. I know very well the lure of crowdsourcing information, and how people can be motivated to do exhausting research work for free, so seeing it applied to cold cases is fascinating. Halber doesn't shy away from showing the price many of the participants pay--angry spouses, irritated local cops, grossed out relatives and victim's families who might not want to know all the details.
This novel took me quite a bit of time to get through. It's not that the subject matter is boring but, rather, that the book itself is incredibly dense; stocked full of information that made my eyes burn if I read too much of it at once.
If you are interested in true crime, I do believe that this non-fiction is an excellent book, it just took me time to finish it (which isn't always a bad thing). I believe that the author did an excellent job of proving her points through various real life examples but sometimes I forgot just what she was trying to prove because of how long these examples could be.
I found the different stories incredibly interesting and really enjoyed the encouragement it provides to those who are interested in the topic to just go out and try to connect some pieces. In the end, it didn't have an overwhelming effect on me but it did open my eyes a little to certain detective work and how hard cold cases can be to solve.
If you are interested in true crime, I do believe that this non-fiction is an excellent book, it just took me time to finish it (which isn't always a bad thing). I believe that the author did an excellent job of proving her points through various real life examples but sometimes I forgot just what she was trying to prove because of how long these examples could be.
I found the different stories incredibly interesting and really enjoyed the encouragement it provides to those who are interested in the topic to just go out and try to connect some pieces. In the end, it didn't have an overwhelming effect on me but it did open my eyes a little to certain detective work and how hard cold cases can be to solve.
I'm okay with authors switching between story lines to keep things interesting, but the author went way overboard in this one. I've never had to struggle so much to keep up with a narrative, and it definitely took away from my enjoyment of the story.
There are so many aspects of this book that spoke to me. First, one of the main characters, Todd Matthews, is from Tennessee. Livingston, TN in Overton County, to be exact. I also found interesting the concept of crowdsourcing as it relates to matching unidentified remains with known missing persons. It was a fascinating read. Recommended for anyone who enjoys the works of Patricia Cornwell and Bill Bass. The ebook is available on READS.
I was excited for this. I like watching real forensic shows, not the CSI fictional crap. So imagine my disappointment when lots of the cases described in this book continued unsolved! A network of people work on trying to name the unidentified bodies that pop up in the country every day. The people who did end of with a match, were commended and that's it, no further information about the crime. Interesting concept but let down when the stories weren't concluded.