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A Death in Belmont
by Sebastian Junger
The author of "A Perfect Storm" investigates the infamous Boston Strangler killings in the early 1960s, focusing on one murder in particular for which the wrong man may have been convicted.
W. W. Norton & Company, 320 pages
04/18/2006
$23.95
ISBN: 0393059804
Nonfiction
True Crime
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
Los Angeles Times Barry Siegel
Intensely absorbing and disturbing.
Library Journal Karen Sandlin Silverman
As usual, Junger has written a well-documented page-turner that leaves us wanting more. He kindly includes a reading list for those still curious. Highly recommended. [1 Apr 2006, p.110]
Kirkus Reviews
A meticulously researched evocation of a time of terror, wrapped around a chilling, personal footnote. [1 Mar 2006, p.221]
Publishers Weekly
This perplexing story gains an extra degree of creepiness from Junger's personal connection to it. [13 Feb 2006, p.70]
San Francisco Chronicle Heller McAlpin
A riveting -- but controversial -- mix of personal history, murder mystery and cultural record. It is also a fascinating legal primer on race and justice in America.
Daily Telegraph Dominic Sandbrook
Superbly researched and tautly written, A Death in Belmont reads like a classic whodunnit; but it is a hundred times more satisfying.
Daily Telegraph Sebastian Faulks
It is the richness of this material that makes one long for the writer to shape and orchestrate his themes, so that they both explore more deeply and transcend their specific origins to become universal.
The Guardian Jay Parini
Junger is a master of narrative, and his bold, clear-eyed prose never lags. His story tells us a great deal about America in the middle decades of the 20th century.
Sydney Morning Herald John Freeman
In this sense, A Death in Belmont might be too subtle a book, as it presents all the facts of the case and places the reader in the jury box.
Entertainment Weekly Chris Nashawaty
In the end, you can't help feeling that A Death in Belmont might have made a better magazine article than a 266-page book.
Salon Laura Miller
A true-crime yarn that never settles on a criminal, a murder mystery that remains unsolved -- these don't conform to anyone's idea of "interesting." This isn't the kind of story we expect to be told, not the kind of story we want. Which is probably the best reason to believe that it's the truth.
The Onion A.V. Club Noel Murray
As always, Junger writes in simple, measured prose that occasionally borders on the remedial. (At times, it reads like he's writing with book-on-tape listeners in mind.)
Washington Post Gary Krist
A book full of unanswered questions -- a book that is at once less satisfying and yet even more intriguing and unsettling than "The Perfect Storm."
The Independent Marianne Brace
A compelling reexamination of the facts.
Booklist Joanne Wilkinson
An intriguing crime story that also contains painful truths about race and justice in America. [15 Feb 2006, p.4]
The New York Times Book Review Alan M. Dershowitz
Nonfiction must be about actual truth, not about how coincidences could lead to a deeper truth. Junger should understand this...A Death in Belmont must be read with the appropriate caution that should surround any work of nonfiction in which the author is seeking a literary or dramatic payoff. Read in this manner, it is a worthy sequel to "The Perfect Storm."
Boston Globe Kevin Cullen
But while Junger's retelling of the story is interesting and very well-written, the case that he makes suggesting that Smith was wrongly convicted for a murder really committed by DeSalvo is not persuasive.
Chicago Sun-Times Mike Thomas
Junger's failure to couch his material in a consistently compelling narrative is the problem. And for all their fleshing out, his tragic characters remain curiously flat as well.
 The average user rating for this book is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
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