a deeply researched cold case that led to pornography rings and much more.. the author, who suffered tragedies of his own, was able to bring insight to this riviting book. My interest was held throughout.

I had never heard about these murders. In the mid 1970's I was too busy getting my career going. This book is a shocker! Four children kidnapped and murdered is beyond my imaginings. My big question is WHY? My second question is WHY WASN"T ANYONE ARRESTED FOR THESE CRIMES???? It all makes me sick to my stomach! J. Reuben Appelman has written a masterful book on the murders and all the possible monsters and their affiliated creeps that might have been guilty. The entire time I kept thinking...The poor families, the poor Moms and sisters, Dads and brothers....and family! The way Mr. Appelman weaves his own story in with the stories of these children, their families and the potential killers and creeps is well written. His research is incredible! Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

I have read a bit on these unsolved child homicides, and it is one that really interests me. I want all of those children to get justice. Will they? Ever? I do hope so. However, in this book, the author does drag out his own personal issues and relationships more than necessary, but he does keep it very interesting. One day I do hope that these children will have justice and never be forgotten.

Trigger warnings: child sexual abuse, child abuse and trauma, child abductions, and domestic abuse

In this novel, we follow Appelman as he delves into murders that happened in his neighborhood during his childhood. The four victims of the Oakland County Child Killer- or OCCK- were never given the justice they deserved. Appelman tries to remedy that in this novel.

This was not a case I went in knowing about. I was born in the 90s- almost two decades later than these murders- and also in a different state. So when I received a review copy the day before its publication, I was intrigued. However, it has taken me nearly four years to get through it.

At least half of this book followed the struggles Appelman goes through, whether it's from remembering his traumatic childhood or from his deteriorating marriage. I don't have any issue with this per se, but at times it seemed to overshadow the narrative of the case. I do understand that Appelman needed to confront his own trauma in order to research this case. He was heading back to his hometown where he himself had almost been kidnapped around the time of the OCCK, as well as having dealt with his father briefly being a suspect.

Once he finally delved into the case itself, there was much of the case that didn't add up once Appelman started researching. Sadly, there was mostly just speculation on Appelman's part rather than hard evidence. Even with years of research, it felt as if Appelman barely scratched the surface of this case.

The book itself felt very disorganized. Readers will notice a repetition of facts related to the case, but also be bombarded with the history of institutions that seemed out of place or just unnecessary. The chapters themselves were short and I felt as though many of them could have been combined in order to keep information together.

I certainly feel for this author and the way his life fell apart because of his obsession. But I feel more for the families that were likely hoping for this to be a breakthrough in the case forty decades later.

In an attempt to catch up with the reviews I fell behind on in 2020 I am only leaving star rating for the books that I didn't feel incredibly passionate about.

I read 20% of this book and then gave up. I usually like true crime books, but this was just lacking any suspense to keep me engaged. The author rambles on about things that really don’t matter. He also talks a lot about his own childhood. I gave up on this book because I was bored. An interesting topic, but poorly executed.

If you want to read a book that seamlessly combines true crime with the author's own demons, I'd suggest Michelle McNamara's "I'll Be Gone in the Dark." Unfortunately, "The Kill Jar" suffers from a confusing structure and a lack of clear connections between the crime that Appelman is investigating and his own story. The premise for the book is actually really interesting: four children within the same county were kidnapped and murdered in the '70s (spurring the nickname the Oakland County Child Killer). Appelman was almost abducted himself around the same time and believes he could have been one of the victims if he hadn't escaped. Because of this near-brush with death, Appelman had always felt a connection to the killings and had an invested interest in discovering the killer's identity. This all sounds really intriguing, but the execution just didn't work. Appelman never offers clear details surrounding the crimes (just a sprinkling of information here and there) and his focus on his own personal trauma (mostly about his abusive father) just didn't seem to gel. It also felt frustrating that the exact identity of the killer (killers?) has never been definitively answered (although McNamara's didn't either and that ending still felt satisfying). I wanted to be enmeshed in this story, but the structure was so confusing that I couldn't seem to hold onto any of the details. And instead of being transfixed by Appelman's own story, I felt frustrated by the feeling that he was almost inserting himself into the action unnaturally. A definite disappointment.

Excellent in depth background on a "still unsolved" serial murder. Lived in the area so there was somewhat of an affinity to the book and its author

A problem I have often with nonfiction books is that they claim to be about certain subject, but end up being far more about the author's life. This would not be an issue if the book were marketed as a memoir instead of as, say, an investigation into brutal murders. This book suffers from not really knowing what it wants to be. Appelman goes into great detail about his own life, the hardships he has experienced, and the mental illness he has. It's easy to see why he has such a fascination with this case; it's very personal to him.

If you've never heard of this case, you'll get a ton of information about it here. But if you have, there's nothing terribly new that Appelman brings to the table. He gets much of his information from the victim's families, which is heartbreaking to read. I think Appelman should have focused more on the case and less on his personal experiences of it in order to make this a compelling book.

Some true crime novels are a slow burn for me. Not this one! This book was very insightful, but I found myself engrossed in the story, continuously devouring the pages. I recommend this book to anyone who likes crime novels or really good thrillers.

**A fascinating look at a series of unsolved murders in Detroit from the 70's. A good mix of true crime retelling of the cases intermixed with the author's personal experiences. While not an easy read de to subject matter, it's a great way to bring renewed interest to cold cases.

The Kill Jar by J. Reuben Appelman provides information about the Oakland County Child Killers (four children abducted and murdered outside of Detroit between 1976 and 1977). However, he doesn't simply relay the details of the investigation. He provides information about the killings AND his own emotional journey. To do this, he alternates between the investigation of the crimes, his experience, and why these crimes were so compelling to him. He writes with such description, the reader feels like they are there with him. I highly recommend The Kill Jar.

I love true crime and thorough reporting. This is a welcomed edition to the genre. Well written and well researched.

The Kill Jar is a true crime memoir that revolves around the murders of four children in Michigan in the late 1970s. J. Reuben Appelman is unflinchingly honest in the turmoil and devastation caused by researching the Oakland County Child Killings (OCCK), which he died into his failing marriage and the parental abuse he suffered as a child.

The Kill Jar is very reminiscent of Michelle McNamara's book I'll Be Gone in the Dark, a blockbuster that was released in 2018. While I loved I'll Be Gone in the Dark, I just didn't feel the same connection with The Kill Jar though. I think this was for a few reasons. Although both books had a flow to them that reminded me of sitting down and having a conversation with each author, McNamara's book still was easy enough to follow. I didn't find that to be the case with The Kill Jar. Appelman had a lot of threads going, all of which made sense as far as the investigation went, but a few of them fizzled out with no resolution, and it also made the story difficult to follow.

I also think, that while I liked reading about Appelman's personal life and appreciate him opening up the way he did, it was a bit much. His investigation into the case took a back seat to his personal problems and it made em as the reader lose focus.

That ties into my last problem with the book. Because of Appelman's strong personal focus, the crimes themselves took a backseat to the narrative. Where McNamara laid each crime out solidly, Appelman really didn't seem to describe the murders in a strong way. I never felt like I truly knew what happened to the kids, the circumstances of each death, etc.

I always enjoy an engaging true crime read and this is exactly what I got with Appelman's book! Without an engaging and interesting writing style, books such as these wouldn't catch my attention. I appreciate true crime that reads like a novel and keeps me reading on.

The Kill Jar has all the makings of a great true crime story. The Oakland County Child Killer abducted and eventually killed 4 different children over the course of two winters in the 1970s, and he was never caught. The details of the story only add to the intriguing narrative, and the OCCK story could possibly involve the most extensive cover-up in the history of American crime. If you ever find yourself engrossed in true crime as I do, this description catches your eye. And it truly is, in theory, a compelling story. But, in the hands of J. Reuben Appelman, it loses more than a step with a misplaced and unnecessary focus not on the darkness of the child killings themselves but on the darkness within the author’s own life.

Appelman has a personal connection to the story, as he grew up in Oakland County (part of metropolitan Detroit) and he was almost abducted as a child. That story is compelling and relevant to the true crime narrative at hand, but it is when Appelman continues to tell about his own life that the book begins to lose its luster. He goes into detail on his investigative journey (a feature that I usually enjoy and Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark employed very well), but this includes a lengthy telling of his route to divorce and dating multiple ex-girlfriends along the way. His life is dark and dreary, and when held up next to the story he is telling, it is simply too much. He also seems to blame his father and his background for most if not all of the problems in his life, which is very off-putting to me.

If you enjoy true crime and don’t mind a very dark story, and if you’re a fan of anti-heroes, complex characters, et cetera, The Kill Jar could be for you. But if you want a more focused and, in my opinion, a more compelling first-person true crime narrative, I would suggest I’ll Be Gone in the Dark.

I received this book as an eARC courtesy of Gallery Books and NetGalley, but my opinions are obviously my own.

When I first saw this book available through #netgalley (thank you for the advanced copy), I knew I had to read it. I'm a fan of true crime and especially when it comes to serial killers. I like being able to get into their minds and seeing their thought process. Unfortunately, this was not the book I was expecting. I thought I would get something more along the lines of Ann Rule. Instead I got a memoir of a man that became obsessed with Oakland County Child Killings in Michigan in the 70's. The writer became so obsessed that his life changed and was never the same. I don't think I got more information on the subject, but more on the writer himself.

The book is a lot of conspiracy theories (since this is a crime that has never been solved) and it's mess of information about the writer. It doesn't always seem coherent and it doesn't have a real good flow. The writing seems a bit sophomoric and lacking in the actual depth of the serial killer that I thought it would be about. It does have research of a subject that I didn't know much about and it has theories that seem logical. It also brings up many ways the investigation into these crimes was botched or not followed through.
For that reason I have to give it more stars than I planned on.

Overall, the book wasn't one that was very captivating and felt more like the writer's fall from reality. This research took too much of his life and ruined what family he had. He was too close to the content with being nearly kidnapped himself. I wanted to know more about the OCCK and unfortunately felt that I didn't get it.

If you have a weak stomach or sensitive to the murders of children, put down The Kill Jar and walk away. In the 1970s, four children were abducted and murdered. With few suspects being discovered and a killer on the loose, Detroit was terrified. J Reuben Appelman has gathered together a well paced history of his obsession with a killer and his connections to the case. If you love true crime, this book is fascinating. I do not recommend it if you are the mother of a small child or sensitive to murder cases.

I was given an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I read it back in August and completely forgot to give my feedback. Well, the book is excellent. It’s melancholy at times, which I appreciated because it gave us insight into what the author was feeling and going through as he wrote the book. A great read for a true crime fan. 5 Stars, which I don’t give easily

Dark but fascinating, this book is not for the faint of heart. Appelman weaves in his own struggles with depression and darkness while he searches for the Oakland County Child Killer in Michigan. What emerges is an enormous web of depravity and deception.