Tag Archives: Kensington Publishing

Jun11

Postmortem: What survives the John Wayne Gacy Murders by Courtney Lund O’Neil

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Postmortem.

What survives the John Wayne Gacy Murders by Courtney Lund O’Neil

Many thanks to Kensington Publishing and Penguin Random House for the ARC copy of this book for my unbiased review.

When the mother of the author of this book, Kim Byers, was in her teens she worked at a local drugstore in her hometown in Illinois. One of the young men who also worked in the store was a friend of hers who she sometimes hung out with when they weren’t at work. His name was Rob Piest.

One fateful night in December 1978, while they were at work, Kim was cold as she was working near the door and each time a customer came in, the chill wind made her shiver. Rob was kind enough to lend her his jacket.

When there was a lull in shoppers, Kim took the opportunity to put in the roll of film she took recently to be developed. She tucked the stub into the pocket of the borrowed jacket.

At some point in the evening, a contractor, a Mr. Gacy, who was measuring for a renovation to the store had a conversation with Rob about working for him for higher pay.

Rob wasn’t old enough to drive so his mother usually picked him up when his shift was over.

Rob got his jacket back from Kim and told her he was going out the back door to talk further with the contractor.

When he didn’t return, both Kim and his mother, who had arrived to take Rob home, became worried.

Unfortunately, Rob was never seen alive again. Kim’s receipt in his jacket pocket would lead to the end of John Wayne Gacy’s reign of terror and the discovery of the numerous young men buried under his house. Sadly, it was too late for Rob.

This meticulously researched book focuses on the aftermath of that night in December and all the ripples through time in a number of families due to the actions of the monster that was John Wayne Gacy.

This book is important as it doesn’t glorify Gacy and shows the reader the very real effect such encounters have in the lives of the survivors as well as the families they eventually create for themselves. The Postmortem of the title refers to the aftermath of violence on everyone touched by it.

The author is in a very unique position as she sees first-hand how her mother’s entire life has been affected by her friendship with Rob and her unintentional role in helping to bring down a serial killer.

Kim was a brave young woman to come forward and to testify in Gacy’s trial, but it affected her and her belief in personal safety, which also affected her children. She made a good life for herself, but she has definitely held on to some of the trauma of the days, weeks, and months after the incidents occurred.

This book is well worth a read as it deals with psychological trauma and how that can actually be passed on to the next generation without meaning to be.

I learned a lot about generational trauma in this book as the oldest daughter of Kim, Courtney Lund O’Neil, the author of this book shared her insights as well as information on her mother’s experiences in bringing down a serial killer. 

BLURB:

On a December night in 1978, Courtney Lund O’Neil’s mother, teenaged Kim Byers, saw her friend Rob Piest alive for the last time. At the end of his shift at the pharmacy where they both worked, fifteen-year-old Rob went outside to speak to a contractor named John Wayne Gacy about a possible job.

That night Rob became Gacy’s final victim; his body was later found in the Des Plaines River. Kim’s testimony, along with a receipt belonging to her found in Gacy’s house, proving that Rob had been there, would be pivotal in convicting the serial killer who assaulted and killed over thirty young men and boys.

Though she grew up far from Des Plaines, Courtney has lived in the shadow of that nightmare, keenly aware of its impact on her mother. In search of deeper understanding and closure, Courtney and Kim travel back to Illinois. Postmortem transforms their personal journey into a powerful exploration of the ever-widening ripples generated by Gacy’s crimes. From the 1970s to the present day, his shadow extends beyond the victims’ families and friends—it encompasses the Des Plaines neighborhood forever marked by his horrific murders, generations of the victims’ families and friends, those who helped arrest and convict him, fandom communities, and many others.

Layered and thought-provoking, Postmortem is a complex story of loss and violence, grief and guilt, and the legacy that remains long after a killer is caught.

Jun26

Familia by Lauren E. Rico, a Review

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Thank you to Kensington Publishing for the ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book was wonderful and enjoyable. I inhaled it in a couple of reading sessions.

We first meet Gabby, a fact checker for a magazine who has aspirations of being a writer for the same magazine. The problem is, she is too good at the job she currently holds and is being thwarted in making her dream come true. She is an only child and her parents are deceased.

The magazine editor decides to do a story on people finding relatives through the genealogy websites and asks all the staff to take the DNA test offered by one site to see what gets uncovered.

Isabella is a young, married women living in Puerto Rico. Her mother passed away and left her and a baby sister with their father. The father, in his grief, turns to drink. One night, while he is out at the bar with the baby, he passes out in the street and wakes up to an empty stroller. He can’t forgive himself for losing his daughter and life for the older daughter changes dramatically as her father isn’t there to protect her from the evils of the world as he is too busy drinking and grieving, now both for his lost daughter as well as his wife.

Isabella is able to make a happy marriage but she spends a lot of her life searching for her lost sister.

When Gabby receives the results of her DNA test, she is stunned to see that the company has indicated she has a relative. She can’t believe the test is correct. Isabella gets an email that there is a match for a sibling. While Gabby wants another test since the first one was in error, Isabella is hopeful that this Gabby person is her long-lost sister.

Gabby’s boss wants to send a staff member to Puerto Rico to get the story. Gabby wants to do it herself and, when she’s denied the chance by her boss, she quits her job. Skeptical that this is anything but a mistake, she goes to Puerto Rico anyway and meets Isabella.

The story takes off from there on the lives of these two women, solving mysteries for each, and learning about each other. One is convinced she has found her sister at last and one is convinced there’s been a huge mistake. This makes for some great conflict in the storyline.

The way the author weaves the stories of the two women is brilliant. As well, she has captured Puerto Rico and its beauty and culture and I’m not surprised to learn she spent a lot of time there over the years visiting her grandmother. The island becomes a character itself in the excellent descriptions of various places in the story.

If you enjoy multi-cultural stories with heart, this one is highly recommended.  Five Stars.

BLURB:

What if your most basic beliefs about your life were suddenly revealed to be a lie?

As the fact checker for a popular magazine, Gabby DiMarco believes in absolute, verifiable Truths—until they throw the facts of her own life into question. The genealogy test she took as research for an article has yielded a baffling result: Gabby has a sister—one who’s been desperately trying to find her. Except, as Gabby’s beloved parents would confirm if they were still alive, that’s impossible.

Isabella Ruiz can still picture the face of her baby sister, who disappeared from the streets of San Juan twenty-five years ago. Isabella, an artist, has fought hard for the stable home and loving marriage she has today—yet the longing to find Marianna has never left. At last, she’s found a match, and Gabby has agreed to come to Puerto Rico.

But Gabby, as defensive and cautious as Isabella is impulsive, offers no happy reunion. She insists there’s been a mistake. And Isabella realizes that even if this woman is her sister, she may not want to be.
With nothing—or perhaps so much—in common, Gabby and Isabella set out to find the truth, though it means risking everything they’ve known for an uncertain future—and a past that harbors yet more surprises . . .

Apr11

Zenith Man by McCracken Poston, Jr.

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I was given this book by Kensington Publishing in exchange for an unbiased review.

McCracken Poston, Jr. is lawyer who served in the State House for the State of Georgia and lost his bid for Congress. He practices law in Ringgold, Georgia

Alvin Ridley is a local man who lives in Ringgold, Georgia as well. At one time, he owned the Zenith dealership in town. He had always been a bit odd and not many people wanted to deal with him due to his eccentricities.

Ridley had some run-ins with the local sheriff. He’d sued the department and had a vehicle taken by a deputy when a suit ended with Ridley on the losing side.  This turn of events made him distrust law enforcement even more.

In October, 1997, a woman was found dead in Alvin Ripley’s house. He told the police it was his wife and she must have smothered herself during an epilepsy attack when her face turned into her pillow in the midst of the seizure.

The community was shocked to learn he even had a wife as they’d never seen her.  This was yet another strange thing about the loner, Alvin Ridley. Many years prior, his wife’s family accused him of keeping her a prisoner in their home, but a judge found the allegations untrue when the wife testified about their lives.

With Ridley charged with murder, McCracken Poston agreed to help Ridley because it didn’t seem anyone else would take on the case. Poston wasn’t sure about Ridley, but he was determined to try to assist the man.

And then the real story begins. The tribulations of Poston as he tried to represent this man who had many odd habits and lived in a place that was roach infested and filthy. It took a long while for Ridley to trust his lawyer and actually let him into his house.

Inside was a plethora of evidence that would help his client and Poston had a difficult time getting the man to even let him look at it, much less copy it for purposes of trial discovery.

This was a story of redemption for both the attorney and his client. It was a wild tale with a lot of ups and downs. From the roaches brought to court in the suitcase full of evidence that Ridley didn’t want to let go of, to the expert witness that Poston hired who was an expert in pretty much nothing, to the marital issues Poston had during the run up to the trial. This was a great book with a deep friendship that developed at the heart of it. Ridley was eventually diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and once the community learned of this, his life changed for the better. Both lawyer and client owe each other a debt of gratitude for changing each other’s lives for the better.  Highly recommend for the legal drama as well as the heartwarming outcome.

BLURB:

Was this small-town TV repair man “a harmless eccentric or a bizarre killer” (Atlanta Journal Constitution). For the first time, Alvin Ridley’s own defense attorney reveals the inside story of his case and trial in an extraordinary tale of friendship and an idealistic young attorney’s quest to clear his client’s name—and, in the process, rebuild his own life.

In October 1997, the town of Ringgold in northwest Georgia was shaken by reports of a murder in its midst. A dead woman was found in Alvin Ridley’s house—and even more shockingly, she was the wife no one knew he had. 

McCracken Poston had been a state representative before he lost his bid for U.S. Congress and returned to his law career. Alvin Ridley was a local character who once sold and serviced Zenith televisions. Though reclusive and an outsider, the “Zenith Man,” as Poston knew him, hardly seemed capable of murder. 

Alvin was a difficult client, storing evidence in a cockroach-infested suitcase, unwilling to reveal key facts to his defender. Gradually, Poston pieced together the full story behind Virginia and Alvin’s curious marriage and her cause of death—which was completely overlooked by law enforcement. Calling on medical experts, testimony from Alvin himself, and a wealth of surprising evidence gleaned from Alvin’s  junk-strewn house, Poston presented a groundbreaking defense that allowed Alvin to return to his peculiar lifestyle, a free man.

Years after his trial, Alvin was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, a revelation that sheds light on much of his lifelong personal battle—and shows how easily those who don’t fit societal norms can be castigated and misunderstood. Part true crime, part courtroom drama, and full of local color, Zenith Man is also the moving story of an unexpected friendship between two very different men that changed—and perhaps saved—the lives of both.

Jan29

Reasonable Adults by Robin Lefler- Review

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I received a copy of the book from Kensington Publishing in exchange for a fair review. It’s a contemporary romance. Or more accurately, it’s a rom-com. And it definitely deliveries on the comedy part as well as the romance. It’s one of the type of the genre I like. I’m not a huge fan of romances that have manufactured conflict and this book definitely has some great conflicts between not only the heroine and hero but also with a number of other characters in the story. It made for a rich tale with a lot of drama as well as a lot of fun.

The heroine, Kate, has a pet dog, named Eric of all things, who adds to the scenes he’s in and is a great character himself. He also helps to move the story along.

Kate, a marketing manager, has her life turned upside down when she catches her fiancé in his office in a compromising position. This situation finds her deciding to get drunk to drown her sorrows. While in that state, she posts some damning things on line about her fiancé. Plot twist: His law firm just happens to be one of the largest clients of her employer.

After losing her job, she takes another at an isolated, off the grid resort. A place that’s deep in the woods and is in desperate need of renovations. Never mind it’s soon going to be the off season and her task is to attract more business as occupancy of the resort drops dramatically in the winter months.

An almost impossible task, an office that’s woefully inadequate, and a cabin that’s hard to heat add to Kate’s woes and problems. While most of the other employees are friendly and approachable, there are a few who aren’t.

The stage is set for a lot of drama as well as humor.

The author is very witty and the dialogue —both the heroine’s internal thoughts and the interactions between her and the other characters—are well done and keep the story moving at a nice clip.

I enjoyed this fun read and hope for more from this writer as this was her debut. The underlying message of belief in self and redemption from mistakes made is served up in fine fashion.

BLURB:

The morning after a humiliating post-breakup social media post (#sponsoredbywine), Kate Rigsby learns she’s lost her marketing job along with her almost-fiancé. Worse, she realizes how little she truly cared about either. Craving a reset, Kate flees the big-city life she spent many years building—and almost as many doubting—to take a temporary gig at Treetops, a swanky, off-the-grid creative retreat in Muskoka, complete with meditation circles, deluxe spa, and artisanal cocktails. At least, that’s what the brochure promises . . .

The reality is a struggling resort that’s stuck in the 1990s, fax machine included. Kate’s office is a bunker, her boss is a nightmare, and at night she shares a freezing hut with her seventy-pound Goldendoodle. Then there’s the sexy, off-limits coworker whose easy smile and lumberjack forearms are distracting Kate from the already near-impossible task of making this snowbound oasis profitable.

On the upside, the surroundings are breathtaking. The Treetops crew is quirky and (mostly) kind. And somehow, Kate’s starting to feel new enthusiasm for her career—and her life. In fact, she’s daring to challenge herself in ways she never dreamed of before.

With wit and heart, Reasonable Adults explores the crossroads we all face—and how a detour born of disaster can take us just where we need to go.