A review by oceanwriter
The Waltham Murders: One Woman's Pursuit to Expose the Truth Behind a Murder and a National Tragedy by Susan Clare Zalkind

dark informative mysterious slow-paced

1.0

This book immediately caught my eye around its release. I have a faint memory of the Waltham murders having grown up in Massachusetts. I was fairly young at the time, so the details are murky and most of what I remember are general comments made by family members. Now as an adult, I was curious to learn more. While the book provided a refresher, I don’t feel any more educated on the topic. 
 
Despite the tagline on the cover, I didn’t realize that this book was going to be more of a memoir than a walkthrough of the crime and all of those things that go into a true crime book. That’s not to say that the crime as a whole was not discussed, only that it was told in such a disjointed way that it was difficult to follow and left me feeling confused about what is fact and what is speculation. When the author came to her conclusion toward the end of the book, I felt blindsided. It lacked the evidence to back up the assured statements made. 
 
This isn’t a crime I’ve followed in any capacity so I’m not disputing any of the author’s claims. I don’t know what happened and that’s the main reason why I picked up this book in the first place. While I sympathize that the author had a connection to one of the victims and I admire her passion for her investigation, this was ultimately two separate books poorly rolled into one. 
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