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The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths are Solving America's Coldest Cases by Deborah Halber
mandimartin's review
I spent a year trying to finish this book before finally giving up. I loved the premise and the first chapter seemed promising, but then that same material was rehashed over and over and over again. I felt like I was rereading the same chapter, just reformatted. I got the impression that the author has a great idea for a book, soon realized she didn't have nearly enough material to make it novel length, then kept going anyway. Also, I got incredibly tired of reading the word "sleuth".
bethanyhyde's review
2.0
Hard to follow the format with all the stories intertwined. Too many characters. Good storytelling though for the smaller stories that were contained in a few pages.
jadecobain's review
5.0
The Skeleton Crew by Deborah Hallber
This book is all about internet sleuths and arm chair detectives. It was an insight on how the Doe Network and Nameus got started where thousands of people could look at unidentified bodies and evidence then try to match with a missing person case.
In the book they cover a story about a young mother who was found deceased and bound in a tent like bag back in May 1968. Years go by with out her identity being discovered until Todd Mathews comes on the scene just an average joe who painstakingly uncovers who tent girl is.
For anyone who watches true crime, reads true crim this was a very fascinating look into a world I knew very little about.
This book is all about internet sleuths and arm chair detectives. It was an insight on how the Doe Network and Nameus got started where thousands of people could look at unidentified bodies and evidence then try to match with a missing person case.
In the book they cover a story about a young mother who was found deceased and bound in a tent like bag back in May 1968. Years go by with out her identity being discovered until Todd Mathews comes on the scene just an average joe who painstakingly uncovers who tent girl is.
For anyone who watches true crime, reads true crim this was a very fascinating look into a world I knew very little about.
lawlipop7's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
3.25
The book jumps around a lot which was mildly confusing, and some parts read like a bad detective novel. Overall, an enjoyable read
kelseyemilia's review
3.0
An interesting view into the history of web sleuths and some cold case solves. I don't think it was meant to be "a history of" style book but listening to it in 2021 about the technology of and hurdles regarding the 2010 (most recent date I believe the book mentions and the copyright is listed as 2014) point of view kind of turns it into one. The style feels a little bit of a mix of first person and stream of consciousness which is a little different but the characterizations and descriptions of the places and people the author is describing paints a vivid mental picture. I think the topic is very fascinating and the true crime side of my brain appreciated the details of the cases that were being talked about in context. I think it's a decent read for someone wanting a true crime fix that's not quite as heavy as a lot of other true crime media tends to be.
kb_09's review
3.0
I received this book as a Goodreads First Read.
When I first read the description, I assumed it was a researched-based book on missing person cases: I was wrong.
The book was way more anecdotal than expected, and the stories jumped around too much - I found myself going back to remember what happened, or wanting to know what happened next, but not sure when I would know the answer. Although the book is very anecdotal, Ms. Halber is very passionate on the subject and it shows throughout the book.
I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in the topic, but looking to dip their toes in the pool rather than diving head first.
When I first read the description, I assumed it was a researched-based book on missing person cases: I was wrong.
The book was way more anecdotal than expected, and the stories jumped around too much - I found myself going back to remember what happened, or wanting to know what happened next, but not sure when I would know the answer. Although the book is very anecdotal, Ms. Halber is very passionate on the subject and it shows throughout the book.
I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in the topic, but looking to dip their toes in the pool rather than diving head first.
heidi_herbster's review
2.0
Difficult to follow the jumbled organization of this book. The stories of everyday “arm-chair” detectives solving cold cases could be really intriguing, but the author’s style didn’t hold my attention.
jaclynday's review
4.0
I loved this book. I’m someone that’s maybe a little too obsessed with true crime. I figured the people featured in this book were probably similar to me. Maybe the kind of people who started out watching a lot of Investigation Discovery in their spare time and it snowballed from there. That’s not the case. A lot of them began investigating because there was a local unsolved case that they couldn’t forget about. Some had family members or friends disappear and it pulled them into a labyrinth of other families and friends searching for people too. These sleuths are not really finding out the whodunit of cases. They’re instead solving bodies. They examine descriptions of unidentified bodies—some decades old—and match them up to missing persons reports. (This a simplistic description and doesn’t really convey the true scope of the hours of research and investigation they do.)
The book itself is a little jumpy and disjointed. There are a lot of people and a lot of unidentified bodies mentioned throughout and it would be hard to keep them straight anyway, but Halber has a tendency to make cosmic leaps through space and time without much warning. I got mightily frustrated at first (GIRL STAY ON TASK, PLZ) because it bounced around every 10 pages or so. Luckily Halber discovers the power of a cohesive narrative about halfway through and we became friends again.
Something this book drives home again and again is that there are an obscene amount of unidentified/unclaimed bodies in this country. Some are buried unceremoniously, some are reduced to bones shoved in a banker’s box in the back of a police station storage room. The estimated numbers in the book are mind-boggling. I can see why these armchair sleuths get sucked in. Don’t these people have someone, somewhere wondering where they went? They have to, right? It’s very sobering.
After reading this book, I looked up how many unidentified bodies have been found in Maryland since 2000. 15 women. 65 men. I clicked on a random woman, aged 25-27. She was assaulted. She had been dead for months when she was found. I hope someone finds out who she is. I hope her family gets to say goodbye.
And that’s why I’m glad Deborah Halber wrote this book. I hope these unsung detectives keep doing their good work. They deserve this recognition (and more) for all the years of research they do to try and bring people home to their loved ones.
The book itself is a little jumpy and disjointed. There are a lot of people and a lot of unidentified bodies mentioned throughout and it would be hard to keep them straight anyway, but Halber has a tendency to make cosmic leaps through space and time without much warning. I got mightily frustrated at first (GIRL STAY ON TASK, PLZ) because it bounced around every 10 pages or so. Luckily Halber discovers the power of a cohesive narrative about halfway through and we became friends again.
Something this book drives home again and again is that there are an obscene amount of unidentified/unclaimed bodies in this country. Some are buried unceremoniously, some are reduced to bones shoved in a banker’s box in the back of a police station storage room. The estimated numbers in the book are mind-boggling. I can see why these armchair sleuths get sucked in. Don’t these people have someone, somewhere wondering where they went? They have to, right? It’s very sobering.
After reading this book, I looked up how many unidentified bodies have been found in Maryland since 2000. 15 women. 65 men. I clicked on a random woman, aged 25-27. She was assaulted. She had been dead for months when she was found. I hope someone finds out who she is. I hope her family gets to say goodbye.
And that’s why I’m glad Deborah Halber wrote this book. I hope these unsung detectives keep doing their good work. They deserve this recognition (and more) for all the years of research they do to try and bring people home to their loved ones.