Article printed this week in the Northern Kentucky Tribune
DON THEN: IF YOU LOVE TRUE CRIME WITH A NOVELIST'S FLAIR, ADD BRIAN FORSCHNER'S COLD SERIAL TO YOUR BOOKSHELF.
Writing true crime stories is a tough beat, one that requires diligence and stamina. Topics often curdle blood.
The truly successful writers of true crime insert a novelist’s flair into their stories, without trampling on the facts.
Ann Rule immediately comes to mind. Her books are truthful and captivating accounts of some of the most heinous crimes imaginable. Prime examples are Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me and If You Love Me, which focus respectively on the appalling crimes of Ted Bundy and David Brown.
Hellhound on His Trail, by Hampton Sides, easily matches any well-written novel. The engrossing story of James Earl Ray’s stalking and killing of Martin Luther King, Jr., is a distinct ‘page-turner.’
I would be remiss if I failed to cite Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. Capote’s chilling narrative mirrors his topic: the heartless murders of a family in Holcomb, Kansas.
If true crime occupies slots in your bookshelf, today’s a bonus day for you. Add local author Brian Forschner’s imprimatur to the list of those who anchor the true crime genre. His book, Cold Serial, the Jack the Strangler Murders, paints a gruesomely realistic yet masterful portrait of the deaths of five girls. Sadly, all were victims of rape and strangulation in and around Dayton, Ohio, between 1900 and 1909. As fate wills, one victim was Forschner’s distant relative.
Forschner’s narrative is riveting, his story the equal of more popular ‘bestsellers.’ His book, a five-story assemblage, rapidly describes crimes never solved, a serial killer unimagined. His descriptions of the victims and their families deliver a punch in the gut, a desired component when rendering true crime.
Walking in the shoes of modern criminologists, Forschner investigates century-old crimes and offers a front row seat to tender and intimate moments dripping with realism and sincerity: “Choking back tears, Jacob knelt next to Anna’s body. He then held her to his chest and gently shook her. “Anna, wake up,” he said. “Anna are you okay?”
Many comparable accounts permeate Forschner’s engrossing narrative.
And, questions do surface. Does a rapist/serial murderer materialize? Does the author uncover other tragedies? Does a suspect tiptoe through each crime scene? Does one girl’s dodge from the clutches of evil shine a light on a palpable solution? You must read the book to find out and, if you do, you won’t be able to put Cold Serial down. The book easily passes the 50-page test.
You can learn more about Brian Forschner at http://coldserial.com. Cold Serial is also available elsewhere.
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