Book Review: THE CASE OF THE VANISHING BLONDE by Mark Bowden

THE CASE OF THE VANISHING BLONDE: AND OTHER TRUE CRIME STORIES by Mark Bowden (Atlantic Monthly Press, July 2020) Hardcover, 232 pages. ISBN #0802128440 / 9780802128447. 

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .  

From Mark Bowden, a "master of narrative journalism" (New York Times), comes a true-crime collection both deeply chilling and impossible to put down.

Six captivating true-crime stories, spanning Mark Bowden's long and illustrious career, cover a variety of crimes complicated by extraordinary circumstances. Winner of a lifetime achievement award from International Thriller Writers, Bowden revisits in The Case of the Vanishing Blonde some of his most riveting stories and examines the effects of modern technology on the journalistic process.

From a story of a campus rape at the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 that unleashed a moral debate over the nature of consent when drinking and drugs are involved to three cold cases featuring the inimitable Long Island private detective Ken Brennan and a startling investigation that reveals a murderer within the LAPD's ranks, shielded for twenty six years by officers keen to protect one of their own, these stories are the work of a masterful narrative journalist at work. Gripping true crime from a writer the Washington Post calls "an old pro."

My Five-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

Fiction writer Stephen King has the ability to make any subject he choses interesting and pull the reader in, compelled to keep turning the pages. Journalist Mark Bowden has the same ability, but his task is even harder as he can't create the story - - he just writes about what happened. However, just like King, Bowen can make any subject interesting and pull the reader in, compelled to keep turning the pages.

     In this collection, Bowder relates six different true crime stories of varying types, including three that feature the same investigator, private detective Ken Brennan, a true-life character to rival the best of fictional characters from Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, and the like. Bowden's detailing of three separate investigations featuring Brennan, exhibit that same ability to engage the reader as great detective fiction does. 

     Highly recommended for fans of true crime stories and/or detective fiction.