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Jennifer
Rating:
 
Review
Sebastian Junger, the author, was a small child when the "Boston Strangler" possibly killed an elderly lady named Bessie Goldberg in the neighborhood where he lived. A black man named Roy Smith, who was working at the woman's house that day, was convicted of the crime, although the possible true killer, and one who confessed to many other similar slayings, was Albert DeSalvo. DeSalvo also happened to work for Junger's mother at the time of the killings. Junger explores the evidence of the never completely solved crimes, and does his best to prove that the killings were done by DeSalvo, and that Smith was wrongfully accused of the Goldberg murder. The book is written to read very easily and is fascinating in its provision of facts to the never completely solved murders.
Best Line:
"The hand is at the exact center of the photograph, as if it were the true subject around which the rest of us have been arranged." This is describing a picture of Junger as a baby, with his mother holding him, and DeSalvo, who happened to have unusually large, strong hands, a factor explored in the strangling of many women.
Kim
Rating:
Review
From the author of A Perfect Storm, Mr. Junger's latest book reaches far beyond being a fact-based book about Albert DeSalvo, also known as the Boston Stranger, and becomes a compelling story about a woman who was slain in the author's neighborhood in true DeSalvo fashion, yet another man was convicted and imprisoned for the murder. Roy Smith was a petty criminal, had been in and out of prison a couple of time, and was living in Boston in 1963, during the time of the Boston Strangler killings. Smith did some work for the victim on the day she was killed, but always maintained that when he left her house that day, she was alive. What Smith did not know, but everyone else did, including the police, was that Albert DeSalvo was working in Belmont as well, at the Junger's home. Did I mention that Roy Smith was a Black man? And it was the 1960s? And he was found guilty of murder the day after President Kennedy was assassinated? This is a fascinating book, well-researched and written matter-of-factly, which I adore about Mr. Junger. He's mighty gracious at the end with his acknowledgements too, which is another way to tell a great writer from the ones who should just cut bait.
Best Line:
regarding the mind of a serial killer, "They are engaged in a chess game not only with their victims but with the authorities, and it's a game they wouldn't be playing if they didn't think they would win."
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