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A review by lilias
No Stone Unturned: The True Story of the World's Premier Forensic Investigators by Steve Jackson
4.0
This is a diamond in the rough for fans of true crime. It’s often overlooked in true crime lists, and that’s a shame because it is interesting, accessible, and emotional; signs of a good true crime book.
The beginning starts with the founding of Necrosearch International in the 1980s (the name came along in 1991.) You bet I gave it a goog, and, yes, it’s still going strong, and, yes, you’ll recognize some of the names after reading this book. The birth of the group is both endearing and hopeful; people who see a problem and work together to solve it, each one using their expertise in law enforcement or science. At one point I was thinking of them as an Avengers/Justice League kind of group, using their technology and experience to find clandestine graves.
Steve Jackson writes about the science in an accessible way, and looks at their efforts through the lens of law enforcement and science coming together in (then) rare teamwork. I used the word hopeful before, and that’s really what these individuals working as a team gave me: hope, and I attribute some of that feeling to the author’s way of telling their story.
And you’re going to need hope because once Jackson starts talking about individual cases the tone changes. He is really, really good at paying tributes to the victims and their families. He’s so good it’s difficult to read because of the level of emotion. But that’s part of what makes this book good. You should be identifying with the victims; not the perpetrators.
The beginning starts with the founding of Necrosearch International in the 1980s (the name came along in 1991.) You bet I gave it a goog, and, yes, it’s still going strong, and, yes, you’ll recognize some of the names after reading this book. The birth of the group is both endearing and hopeful; people who see a problem and work together to solve it, each one using their expertise in law enforcement or science. At one point I was thinking of them as an Avengers/Justice League kind of group, using their technology and experience to find clandestine graves.
Steve Jackson writes about the science in an accessible way, and looks at their efforts through the lens of law enforcement and science coming together in (then) rare teamwork. I used the word hopeful before, and that’s really what these individuals working as a team gave me: hope, and I attribute some of that feeling to the author’s way of telling their story.
And you’re going to need hope because once Jackson starts talking about individual cases the tone changes. He is really, really good at paying tributes to the victims and their families. He’s so good it’s difficult to read because of the level of emotion. But that’s part of what makes this book good. You should be identifying with the victims; not the perpetrators.