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A Death in Belmont
by Sebastian Junger


8.0

based on 18 reviews
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based on 1 vote
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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
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Cindra C gave it an8:
It was an interesting book. I was surprised by the connection to his family and yet sometimes the clues were so obvious that I wondered how they couldn't connect the murder Smith was convicted of to DeSalvo. I was glad that when Smith died he was a free man. Just knowing that he was free could take some weight off his shoulders and maybe he died with a little more peace. I was a little thrown when all of a sudden there was mention of DeSalvo's roommate possibly being the real killer. There wasn't enough information to actually back that up. Like it was more of a 'Oh by the way...'I still give it an eight just because it was still engrossing.

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A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger

A Death in Belmont
by Sebastian Junger