A compelling read. One pet true-crime, one part memoir. After the tragic loss of her sister after an apparent suicide in Tijuana, Mexico, Betsy must overcome the overwhelming loss her sister left behind. But was her sister’s death as it seems?

I wanted to love this one but it was too disjointed for me. I can appreciate it as a way for the sister to tell the story about the death of Atlantis and trying to figure out answers but it fell flat. Yes, it is a mystery but not totally a true crime? Definitely has some heavy topics and it certainly pulls at your heartstrings, if you can keep up with it.

I enjoyed reading this book, it was a quick read.
I really don't have much more to say than that.
You end up questioning the author towards the end as well.

The Book of Atlantis Black is promoted as memoir/true crime as Betsy Bonner tries to uncover what really happened to her sister. In 2008, her family was notified that Atlantis Black died in Tijuana - or at least someone with her identification.

Betsy then takes us back to their childhood and shared more about her sister - first called Nancy Bonner and then eventually changing her name to Atlantis Black. The story was told in a disjointed and confusing way - jumping around through time and sometimes sharing something and then dropping it or sharing something contradictory soon after.

Betsy seems to alternate between trying to prove her sister didn’t really die or coming to terms with her death. Ultimately this feels to me like a sad story of a sister’s obsession and attempt to find answers.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

The author's journey of trying to find out the circumstances of her troubled sister's death is gripping. I was consumed with this book, as I wanted to find out what the author would discover next in her search for answers. I cannot imagine losing a sibling in a foreign country and trying to piece together their last days when you know little of how they lived them. The author's discovery of a woman that seemed to be interested in her sister for the wrong reasons was an interesting twist, as was that woman's relationship with the author's mother. I love true crime books and this one didn't disappoint! I highly recommend it!

This book was amazing and heart breaking. A dark story of strength and compassion from one sister to another. Loved it.

The Book of Atlantis Black by Grace Bonner is a heartbreaking memoir about the love between sisters. After Atlantis is found dead in a Tijuana hotel room, Grace wants the truth.

Haunted by her sister's past, Grace tries to find the people who have been in her sisters life in the last few months, but the more she finds, the more mysterious the death is.

This is an intimate look at a family struggling to make peace.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this beautiful book.

Talk about a binge-able book.

One that can make the reader go down that rabbit hole along with the author, and the book subjects sister.

Here’s the tagline: A young woman is found dead on the floor of a Tijuana hotel room. An ID in a nearby purse reads “Atlantis Black.” The police report states that the body does not seem to match the identification, yet the body is quickly cremated and the case is considered closed.

Now if that doesn’t get you interested, the sharp black and white photo of Atlantis Black will, or simply open the book and read the simplistic and engrossing writing of Betsy Bonner. Bonner is straightforward, she sugar-coats nothing, paints her sister in the light that you believe is real - A Mess. And yet, Atlantis is a real person, not some character wishing to see death, or so interested in depression that it overtakes her. Been there.

Atlantis Black was named Eunice Bonner, but changes her name. She’s a singer, musician, who is so in her head, wanting to control how people see her. She has demons, molested at a young age by the neighbor boy, a mom who is a bit unstable, a father who is religious to a fault. She moves around a lot, but the more interesting story here is Betsy, and her life which is entangled in with her sisters.

Betsy lives her own life, and yet drops everything when her sister is in need - the DEA building a case against Atlantis. In a desperate bid to escape prison, Atlantis disappears. And that’s where things get weird.

A memoir/true crime novel, full of shady characters and a Hollywood movie plot, THE BOOK OF ATLANTIS BLACK leaves you with an unsatisfied need to know more. The author gives you everything she knows, and that is what will keep you up at night skewering the web for an image, any clue that this girl existed, and could possibly still exist.

I didn‘t love it. I guess it‘s not great time to read a memoir about the mysterious death of someone‘s mentally ill, drug addicted sister. I spent the whole time impatient with Atlantis‘s grandiosity, narcissism, and manipulation.

If that kind of memoir is your bag, maybe you would enjoy it. I found it more and more tedious, and all the damaged people surrounding this poor woman disturbed me.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very creepy and haunting memoir. At times, I had to remind myself it wasn't fiction. The narrative was very haunting and lyrical. I really wanted to go and dig deeper along with the author. A lot of their upbringing was terrifying, but served as a great backdrop as things continued to unfold. I like true crime and I think a lot of fans of this will devour this book and left wanting more.

Author Betsy Bonner’s sister Atlantis (née Eunice) was an aspiring recording artist with substance abuse and legal problems when she was found dead in a Mexican motel room. The investigation was poorly handled, and Bonner was left wondering if the body in the motel room really was her sister’s. To find out more, the author reaches out to Atlantis’s “sketchy” associates, including people she dare not refer to by their real names. One such person, “Gretchen,” seems to hold the key to the mysteries surrounding Atlantis’s disappearance and/or death, but she is evasive and in Bonner’s estimation, “dangerous.”

Bonner weaves as compelling narrative as possible from the bare facts of her sister’s demise and her family’s suicide-prone history. The scene in which Bonner admits she had an abortion rather than risk giving birth to a daughter who would turn out like Atlantis, is particularly disturbing. I predict this book will be popular among those who are drawn to dysfunctional family stories.

I received an electronic pre-publication copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way.

I found this to be a rather gripping read that kept me coming back for more. I was always wanting to know what was going on, and what was coming next. Then it was the curiosity of how it was going to turn out. It really pulled me in, for sure. It certainly got my mind off of the stress of the things that have been going on around the US lately, what virus?! Takes you out of your own situation and that can be a good thing for the hours you are reading. A nice escape. This was a book that wasn’t available to request, I could only “Wish” for an advance electronic copy on NetGalley, and I got lucky and was chosen. Just thrilled. Advanced electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Betsy Bonner, and the publisher.

As a fan of true crime, particularly the woman-in-danger subgenre, I was happy to receive a copy of Betsy Bonner’s The Book of Atlantis Black from Tin House Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This sad story creeped me out a bit. The author’s sister disappeared, and after growing up together in an environment of abuse and mental illness, Betsy is perhaps the one person who understood her sister enough to make some sense of the rabbit hole she crawled into when she started her search. Along the way, she explored her sister’s social media accounts, testimony from DEA agents, photos and videos, and memories of conversations.

Atlantis was an artist (Bonner herself is a poet) whose short life was filled with sad events. Her apparent death from an alleged overdose in a Tijuana motel should have provided closure of a sort; but the body was quickly cremated and, since the police report stated that the ID for “Atlantis Black” found in a purse nearby doesn’t match the body, it’s not clear whether the mystery is actually solved. I can’t say I LIKED the book, because is was so unsettling – but the sisterly bond and the persistence the author has shown in her search is remarkable. Four stars.


Tagged DEA | Drug Addiction | Tijuana motel | True Crime | woman in danger

Wow, this book! It's so beautiful and so dark. I was left with more questions than answers, but maybe that's the point? I would definitely teach this book - the prose, structure, voice and use of emails/facebook posts and other "research" make for a great example for student writers.

The Book of Atlantis Black by Grace Bonner details the mysterious death of her sister, Atlantis Black. Atlantis Black, a troubled thirty-one-year-old woman, is found dead in a Tijuana hotel room. With the death investigation rapidly concluded and death believed to have been caused by a drug overdose. Without even being fingerprinted, the body is quickly cremated, even though reports drafted at the time reveal the physical appearance of the body does not resemble the different forms of identification found within the room with the body.

Grace Bonner then attempts to learn more about the final months of her sister's life and writes a book memorializing her sister's life. Along the way, Grace Bonner learns of the many strange and eccentric people that had come into Atlantis's life, one of them being a woman she identifies only as "Gretchen." Gretchen seems to be a strange, parasitic human anemone, not only able to deeply insert herself into Atlantis Black's life, but also into their mother's life as well. Soon Grace Bonner learns the more information she learns of her sister, the more mysterious her death becomes.

Early on in the book, it is revealed Atlantis Black was a troubled, talented musician, haunted by many life events while battling mental illness and substance abuse. Grace Bonner has written a poignant book detailing not only her sister's life but her entire family's as well. In the book, while other friends and family grew weary of the erratic life of Atlantis Black, Grace Bonner remained close to her and shows she is the type of sibling wished for by anyone.

The Book of Atlantis Black is lovingly written and tells a story that will not easily be forgotten.

NetGalley provided an ARC of this book for a fair and honest review.

This book is beautifully written and a is a honest tribute to Bonner’s sister and mother; however, in the end, it is just a story of a troubled young musician with a mentally ill mother that ends up spiraling downward due do drugs and bad choices. Moving.

I love Tin House, so I was excited to read this one! I was totally immersed into the dark and lonely world of Atlantis Black. A sad but engaging look at the world of mental illness meets the music scene meets drug addictions. Moving work.