The usual blather and idiocy expected in a whole host of true crime books. Reminds me of the Maura Murray case in that it was closed due to incompetent police work and then a throng of interest has resulted in the case being reopened because of unconnected clues or idiocy. Interesting, interesting stuff.

All serial killings are frightening, but none as much as those unsolved, leaving us to wonder if the perpetrators are still out there, just better at hiding. Eight victims were claimed on the Colonial Parkway in Virginia beginning in autumn of 1986, all in pairs, ending Labor Day weekend in 1989. One couple's remains have never been found. The authors give us the opportunity to get to know the victims and detail the confusing and often fumbled evidence (or lack thereof) which leaves us wondering who the killer may have been. A wonderful but sad tribute to these men and women. 
This title was reviewed on the following blog link as well as Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing, Facebook and Twitter on 13 Nov 2017.

This was a fascinating book about the unsolved serial murders known as the Colonial Parkway Serial Murders. In these unsolved murders, there are 8 victims who have yet to receive justice. The authors talk about the victims and interview family members and friends. They talk about the evidence, It is a fascinating book and a good look at these unsolved murders.

This is the true story of the Colonial Parkway Killings. A father and daughter writing team have collated facts and background stories on the victims and there are also some theories as to what really happened in the hope that it will result in some new leads.

There are 3 sets of couples who were murdered but only two sets can 100% be linked. The first half of the book was a bit slow for me and although I felt it was important to have a bit of background on each of the victims, what we actually got was a mini biography. I was much more interested in the police reports, the suspects and what progress has been made on the case. The second half of the book got into this a little bit more. My heartfelt sympathies go to the victims families and I hope and pray that one day they get the answers that they deserve.

The book was a real life evil. It was a very well written book. The travesty of the colonial parkway killings. I read a lot of true crime and this one does a great job telling the story.

For four years a killer, or killers, stalked Virginia’s Tidewater region, carefully selecting victims, sending waves of terror into the local community

The Colonial Parkway Murders –the name given eight murders that took place in the Tidewater region in the late 1980’s, two of which were on the historic Colonial Parkway, the nation’s narrowest National Park. Young people in the prime of their lives were the targets. But the pattern that stitched this special kind of evil together was more like a spider web of theory, intrigue, and mathematics. Then, mysteriously, the killing spree stopped. The nameless predator, or predators, who stalked the Colonial Parkway stepped back into the mists of time and disappeared.

Now, father-daughter true crime authors Blaine Pardoe and Victoria Hester blow the dust off of these cases. Interviewing members of the families, friends, and members of law enforcement, they provide the first and most complete in-depth look at this string of horrific murders and disappearances. The author-investigators peel back the rumors and myths surrounding these crimes and provide new information never before revealed about the investigations

What did I think:
I remember watching a TV show about this case but can't re which one , to finally read about has bought the case to live more so than the TV show ever did, there's something about the way the author wrote this book that brings out everything the victims and their families felt or was feel doing the time it was happening, it also brings to mind that this case might never be salved and the families may never know who or why the killer did what he or they did. With that said I would love to think NetGalley for giving me a chance at reading and review this book.

Too often, we - readers of true crime and society in general - get caught up in the killer's vortex. We want to know how and why he/she wound up as a cold-blooded killer. We are drawn to and fascinated by that dark side. In the process, it's too easy to overlook the victims. We typically learn much about the killers, but little about the people he killed.

This book is the exact opposite of the typical true crime story. We learn nothing about the killer(s) because no one knows who he is. The murders remain unsolved. Instead, we get to know the victims as the people they were before someone made them a footnote in true crime history.

The book's format is well put together, and the writing is a conversational style. The authors introduce us to the victims and their families, showing us the lives lost and the devastation left behind by their murders. Instead of just 'victims', we have people with hopes and dreams, whose futures stretched out ahead of them with so much promise before a killer took it all away. Showing us this humanity is where the authors excel.

At times the writing gets slightly repetitive, with quotes and information repeated, but this is only a minor issue.

The problem I had with this book is not a fault of the authors. For reasons unknown, all law enforcement agencies involved in these murders refused to cooperate with the writing of this book. Despite this case being nearly 30 years old and as yet unsolved, the police would not share case files or any details at all that weren't already public knowledge. The authors were forced to rely on old newspaper articles and interviews with surviving friends and family members. Consequently, the story told feels lopsided. We're missing information typical of this genre about how the investigation played out. We also only see these crimes by way of media accounts, which are often unreliable, and family, who have their own biases. The authors do their best to navigate around the absence of the investigative viewpoint, though we're still left with a giant hole in the story.

Law enforcement's refusal to cooperate highlights and enforces how badly these crimes were handled by the organizations involved. (Local police, state police, and FBI) Long before these organizations refused to cooperate with the authors, they refused to cooperate with each other. This proprietary nonsense may well have allowed the killer or multiple killers to continue on the murder spree.

In reading this book, I found I'm not a big fan of a crime story told without the investigative elements. Really, shame on the quagmire of law enforcement agencies that refused to cooperate with the Freedom of Information Act requests submitted by the authors. Even though this book felt somewhat incomplete to me, I commend the authors for humanizing the victims and bringing their story to the masses. I hope someone out there, even after all these years, knows something that finally brings closure to these murders.

This book piqued my interest from the description but was a great disappointment.. Far too many un-necessary details i.e I did not need to know the entire life history of every victim. It did not grip me from page one which it might have had the Chapters been re-organised somewhat. It felt like a short book padded out with drivel to fill the pages. I would not recommend.

This isn't usually the type of book I would normally go for but I'm glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and read this!
The Colonial Parkway Murders are eight murders that took place in Virginia in the late 1980’s.
8 Murders that have never been solved.
The crimes had four pairs of victims over a four-year period, Cathy Thomas aged 27 and Rebecca Dowski age 21 in 1986, David Knobling age 20 and Robin Edwards age 17 in 1987, Keith Call and Cassandra Hailey age 18 (whose remains have yet to be discovered) in 1988, and Annamaria Phelps age 18 and Daniel Lauer age 21 in 1989.
And then the killings stopped completely.
Almost 30 years on Father and daughter true crime authors Blaine Pardoe and Victoria Hester have taken a fresh look into these cold cases and provide a complete in-depth look at the string of horrific murders and disappearances.
They have done a really good job with this book, it is well researched, going over the evidence and re interviewing people who were involved in the cases at the time.
They have given clear detailed descriptions of each crime scene and the investigations that took place.
But they have focused more on the lives of the victims and the impact that it has had on their families which is a credit to them.
Unfortunately there are still so many unanswered questions and no sign of being answered anytime soon.
A very interesting book, I just wish for the families that this case ends up with justice being served.

I don't really have much to say for this book so my review will be brief.

I found this book a little more daunting then informative. A lot of things were missed due to no fault of the author's bit to authority figures that refused to digress information. Therefore, I feel, the book was only written halfway as it should have been and shouldn't have been done without all information readily available... like the hundreds of other true crime books I've read over the years.

I'm an aspiring criminologist, and this book just made me bite my lip in frustration. It wasn't amazing, it wasn't completely terrible, the writing was great but you can tell the author's tried too hard; inciting big words that weren't necessarily needed.

I think their overall objective was ambitious; wanting to bring forth new leads or similar. But unfortunately this case is over 30 years old and I'm sure that wouldn't be possible but the authors' hearts are in the right place.

Thank you netgalley, and the publishers, for giving me a chance to delve into this true crime book, I'm just sorry I couldn't rate higher.

I had a special interest in this book as I travel the Colonial Parkway quite often. The authors bring together the facts and opinions of the many law enforcement agencies involved in these cases. Every so often the crimes make the headlines again. The research for this book seems quite extensive and covers all the options of one set of criminals, all disconnected cases , an authority figure as the criminal, and many more possible theories. After all theses years the cases are not solved and cold. Hopefully someday...

Father and daughter True Crime author team, Blaine Pardoe and Victoria Hester, explore the Colonial Parkway Murders that occurred in the late 1980s in Virginia. The eight victims ranged in age from 14 to 27 with only six bodies being recovered. The authors do a very good job going over the evidence and re-interviewing people involved in the cases at the time they happened. As quickly as the murders started, they suddenly ended. There was much speculation concerning the murders, were they connected, and who might have committed them although no one has ever been charged or convicted of them. This was a very informative read but there were a lot of grammatical errors in it.

A well researched book, which cannot have been easy to do. Very detailed and informative. The only criticism I will give is that it was a bit too detailed and too long., but overall very well written.

Edge of your seat read couldn't put it down. A real page turner

Well researched - a little too in depth in some parts describing the history of the area - but otherwise interesting read. Unfortunately the killer(s) have never been found.

I liked this true crime book. I think that the authors laid out all of the reasons why they think 8 murders can be attributed to one murderer (or a pair of killers). The authors spent time writing about the victims and law enforcement officers. Unfortunately, the reader can tell that the police, multiple jurisdictions, and law enforcement agencies did not cooperate, and let the murderer get away.
The families of the victims are left with nothing but memories and hope that this 30 year old mystery will ultimately be solved. A good book, easy read, leaves you frustrated for the poor families.

‘A Special Kind of Evil’ by the father and daughter team of Blaine L. Pardoe and Victoria R. Hester examines the so-called Colonial Parkway serial killings, named after the national park where two of the victims’ cars were abandoned.

The crimes had four pairs of victims over a four-year period, namely, Cathy Thomas and Rebecca Dowski in 1986; David Knobling and Robin Edwards in 1987; Keith Call and Cassandra Hailey (whose remains have yet to be discovered) in 1988; and Annamaria Phelps and Daniel Lauer in 1989.

These crimes have not been solved and Pardoe and Hester write that rather than theorising they will simply state the facts, in the hope that this might “generate new tips, new leads”, so as to bring closure to these cold cases and justice to their victims.

This is doubtless a noble aspiration but it seems a rather forlorn hope not only given the length of time since the offences were committed but also because some of those involved refused to be interviewed and the authorities (the FBI and Virginia State Police) have refused to open their files to the authors, despite Freedom of Information Act requests.

Superficially Pardoe and Hester appear to have been very conscientious in sifting through all the evidence that is otherwise available to them but alarm bells ring when they state that many quotations from contemporary newspapers come from “clipping files from a number of libraries around the country” but that often these clipping files “were incomplete in terms of identifying the source newspaper, date or page.” Are any libraries really so slapdash as not to provide such basic information? And if this is so, how were Pardoe and Hester able to locate this information in the first place?

Despite this not very promising framework for their investigations, the authors do manage to produce a readable narrative and deserve credit for managing to focus much of their attention on the victims and their loved ones rather than on their unknown killer or killers. Nevertheless, the open-ended nature of this case is bound to render any book on the subject leaving its readers feeling better informed by the end but still fundamentally up in the air.

3.5 out of 5 stars A father-daughter true crime writing team takes an in-depth look at a 30-year-old series of cases known as the Colonial Parkway Serial Killings. This was a group of murders that came in pairs until it suddenly stopped after there had been 8 killings total. The cases have haunted many of those left behind, not just the victim's families, but many of the investigators and others who cannot forget...the people left wondering is it really over now or not. Most especially the families of the 2 victims whose bodies have never been recovered. We can only hope that this fresh attention to these killings can trigger the right kind of information coming out, and help move this case forward to a conclusion. If the responsible people are still alive they need to be caught and made to pay. The families need to finally get an outcome.

This is the second family team of true crime writers I've encountered recently doing such work, as I just finished a book by another father and daughter team, Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James, authors of "The Man from the Train", due out on September 19, 2017. Perhaps it's a new trend in writing?

My thanks to NetGalley, BlueWater Press, and the authors, for making the ARC available to me for my review.