stacyroth 's review for:

Death on Ocean Boulevard: Inside the Coronado Mansion Case by Caitlin Rother

4.0

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Two days after her boyfriend Jonah's son suffered a tragic fall while in her care, 32-year-old Rebecca Zahau was found bound and gagged, with Adam Shacknai, Jonah's brother, claiming he found her hanging by a rope from a second floor balcony, near a message “SHE SAVED HIM CAN YOU SAVE HER”. Did Rebecca commit suicide, feeling guilty about 6-year-old Max's fall, or did someone murder Rebecca? Author Caitlin Rother lays out all the evidence in this case, which the San Diego Sheriff's Department ruled a suicide, while a civil trial jury found Adam responsible for Rebecca's death.

This was such a disturbing case, and I felt my opinion of what happened changing as more and more evidence was revealed throughout the book. Rother did a fabulous job of researching the book and presenting all the evidence that has been found by various resources. The only downside to the book for me was that Rother's ex-husband committed suicide sometime before Rebecca was found dead, and at a few points throughout the book, she would talk about how her experience with her ex-husband affected the way she felt about this case. Personally, that took me out of the story and did not enhance the book. Rachel Perry did an excellent job narrating the audiobook.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.