Thank you Netgally and Atlantic Monthly Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Overall I enjoyed the text, however there are a few notations I believe that need to be addressed.

One of the first things I noticed was his very biased view on entrapment in the chapter “why don’t u tell me wht ur into.” Understandably the topic of pedophiles and the hunting of children is enough to raise passionate debate, and if that was the author’s intent that’s fine. However if his intent was to debate the ethics of police luring child molesters with online actors, it shouldn’t be relegated to only one chapter and it shouldn’t be so biased as to leave the reader with only view. I will say though it was refreshing to see that the author showed he was invested in the story he was telling. Thoughout the book I was given the impression that he was bored and being forced to write essays before moving on to something fun. If the author isn’t invested, why should the reader be?
My second issue is the chapter about Stephanie Lazarus. This story has been done. There is actually an entire book devoted to the subject and I believe it was released not long ago. This case has also been featured on podcasts and true crime tv shows. Since the author didn’t provide any new details, I wonder why it was included at all.
I really did enjoy the cases that included the Ken Brennan. I thought these very intriguing, and kept me guessing right until the end about who/what killed the victim. I did find it was not necessary to keep introducing him with each new story. That coupled with the fact that it cited the Magazine and the date it was published in said magazine at the top of the chapter led me to believe the author threw past articles together without editing them for the format of a book.
Thank you again for this opportunity.

“The Case of the Vanishing Blonde and Other True Crime Stories”—Mark Bowden [4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️] First off, this is my first read by this author and I’m very excited to start reading his many other books! This book is a collection of six true-crime stories that Bowden has covered during his career, which were all complex and varied in nature. I’ll have to admit, I didn’t know about these cases until I began reading, and I found each to be quite interesting. The first story covers a fraternity gang rape of a girl at the University of Pennsylvania in 1983, which sparked much debate on the nature of consent when drinking and drugs are involved. It then covers stories involving online child sexual predators, and cold-case murders which were quite the mystery, that feature the notable private detective, Ken Brennan. Each of these short stories were fast-paced, well-written, and very intriguing, and if you’re a fan of true-crime, this is definitely a good book to read! *Thank you to @netgalley and @groveatlantic for providing a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!*

I enjoyed this book and love true life crime. I am studying forensic psychology, and live seeing how investigations can progress with further information. The stories were new to me, but very informative. I don’t normally read short stories, but enjoyed this.

I hadn't realised when I requested this book that I was already a fan - three of the articles collected together here were ones I'd read online before, when they were first published, and had enjoyed. I hadn't realised they were written by the same person ('The Case of the Vanishing Blonde', 'The Body in Room 348', 'A Million Years Ago'). They were still fascinating, well-researched and well-told puzzles when reread; I was surprised at how well the details had stuck with me, even though they were published a decade to ten years ago. The stories I hadn't come across ('The Incident at Alpha Tau Omega', 'why dont y tell me wht ur into', 'Who Killed Euhommie Bond') were also good, save perhaps 'The Incident at Alpha Tau Omega'. By far the earliest of all these pieces, published in the early 80s, I'm sure it was well ahead of its time - then. In 2020, much of its insights about consent are no longer fresh (or indeed up for debate), and I spent most of my time reading it tense, waiting for the victim blaming to get worse. It didn't - indeed, it lessened, having begun with a focus on the victim's wildness - but it never strongly comes to a conclusion. The overriding message seems to be that yes, the assault it details was probably indeed an assault; certainly it was experienced as such by the victim; but the men who committed it are treated with the sense that they couldn't, shouldn't have necessarily known better. Again, probably wildly groundbreaking at the time in its awareness of the grey areas of consent, that non-perfect victims are still victims, that 'no' is possible even after 'yes' has been given, but I think these things are established now, and if Bowden wrote on such a case today, his conclusions would be far firmer.

I've been catching up on my reading because I'm confined, like so many of us, to staying in. I've been reading lighter fare, however, a Bowden book, I couldn't pass up.
This will take your mind off of current events - however, if you're already feeling doomed or paranoid, I'm not sure this is the book for you.
Mr. Bowden is skillful at storytelling. There were some details I wish he wouldn't have been so precise with, though I understand why he was graphic.
A very compelling fast read.

Six True Crime Stories that will shock and surprise.

Mark Bowden is a skilled author and journalist. He masterfully takes the reader through six true crime stories that profoundly affected the course of his career as a writer and journalist. These true crime stories are varied, diverse, and complex. One of the stories is about a rape on campus, which unfortunately is ever the more prevalent these days. I was absolutely riveted and glued to the pages. I really liked the style in which Bowden writes. Sometimes.. true crime really is stranger than fiction.

If you like true crime.. you'll love this book!

These were interesting true-life stories. I was particularly impressed by the private detective in several of the cases who persevered when law enforcement did not have the manpower and/or imagination to figure out what unusual crime had happened!

In Bowden's introduction, he talks emphatically about the difference between writing compelling fiction and compelling non-fiction. The key difference is that with non-fiction, one can only report the facts without adding a gloss to them. As a reporter, one can only with confidence tell a factual story with the details given by the eyewitnesses. One cannot utilize a non-fiction piece to fill in gaps in testimony, to add details that you think are true, but have not been proven. Following the introduction, Bowden, a reporter by trade, offers us readers six news articles about crimes.

The first couple of stories are difficult ones to read about, including a fraternity gang rape of a vulnerable girl, too drugged out to consent and an on-line predator caught in a sting operation. In particular, with these two stories, Bowden not only gives us the details in a compelling manner, often giving us both points of view, but offers an understanding of the policy difficulties. With the gang rape, which took place in 1983, we get a chilling story of what happens when society's unspoken rules are put aside, when there is no one in the building with the maturity to say stop, and how little understanding the fraternity brothers had of what they had done. With the online predator story, Bowden goes step by step through the on-line chats between the man who was caught and the actor pretending to be a woman with two young children and shows us how difficult it is to sometimes understand where the line is between entrapment and actively taking these people off the web.

The remaining stories are not so chilling. They are more along the lines of Sherlock Holmes mystery puzzles. Each is an unsolvable crime that lay dormant for years in the cold case bins till someone took a different perspective in looking at them. One is where a woman's body is found in the Florida Everglades, but there is no camera angle at the major hotel she was staying in which ever shows her leaving the hotel on the night in question. One is a man found in a motel room in the midwest with no explanation for how he got so beaten, no signs of the struggle in the motel room.

Each of these mini-stories is well-written, easy to read, and quite intriguing. This fairly short volume is a fascinating quick read.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

A true crime fan I found this book a fascinating and intriguing insight into several true crimes. Well written and I will definitely be reading more books by this author. Great read.

Bowden is at his best here! Six fast-reading, intriguing true crime stories that will keep you interested. Guaranteed you will not be able to put this aside. I really enjoyed his "Doctor Dealer" and "Killing Pablo" books, but here he really shines. And I really hope that, someday, he does an entire book on his private detective friend, Ken Brennan!

This was an interesting group of true crime stories that was entertaining to read. I think only one of them I had read before. There is a PI that is just astounding at solving tough cold cases that I think most will enjoy. He’s rather like a magician. I’ll be looking for more to read about him, I know, this Mr. Brennan. This was certainly worth the read if you enjoy true crime and are looking for separate stories. Advanced electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Mark Bowden, and Atlantic Monthly Press.

*Copy recieved from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Ok now, hear me out! Mark Bowden is as skilled writer as they come. I've been a fan for a while, so I may be a little prejudiced in saying this, but hey I think anyone who likes true crime should at least give this guy a try, just once and you probably won't regret it.

So, this is a compendium of six stories from Bowden's time at Vanity Fair. They all span from the eighties to almost the present days, somewhat, so there might be some googling to be done just to fall in line with the context of the times. They're all skillfully written, in my opinion, and engaging enough to keep you scheming in your mind as you turn the pages while commuting from work or downing your daily americano at your local coffee shop. What I loved most about the way in which they're written is how it in each account he creates enough buildup which practically forces you to wonder and start putting pieces together on your own because, honey no, Bowden does not give you all of the facts at once, he takes his precious time explaining even the smallest of nuisances while at the same time giving us enough background of each and every one of the individuals to leave us readers with enough cloth to cut, as my mama would say, thus resulting in an avalanche of intrigue.

If you're looking for well written and fascinating true crime accounts look no further. This is it.

The Case of The Vanishing Blonde: And Other True Crime Stories by Mark Bowden is a collection of six long-form true crime pieces of journalism previously covered during his long career. Five of these pieces were previously published in other forms elsewhere and Bowden has included short updates on those when applicable. Several of these stories have received wide media attention, with one of them turned into a movie.

With these pieces, as with his other non-fiction works, Bowden is consistent in his ability to craft compelling accounts of almost any topic he comes across. These tales include experiences with a tireless private detective with an uncanny ability to solve the unsolvable and other law enforcement agencies throughout the United States.

Recommended to those that enjoy true-crime tales.

This book had some quite fascinating elements and I read it quickly, but it was lacking something.
Ive read some better true crime accounts recently, and I think my expectations for this were too high.

Thank you Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for sharing this upcoming Mark Bowden compilation of true crime reporting. I am already a fan of the author, so it’s no surprise that I found this book great and would recommend to anyone who likes true crime reporting or non-fiction in general. The only thing that prevented me from giving a 5 star rating is that I had previously read 3 of the 6 stories, and that may be true of anyone who reads Vanity Fair.

Not a bad selection of stories, some are surprising. They are well written with no typos etc that I noticed. I would say in general they are on the bland side but worth reading if you are into short pieces that don't take too much time. Crime genre but pretty tame for the most part. Maybe too tame.