The Last Stone
A Masterpiece of Criminal Interrogation
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
Published:7th May '20
Should be back in stock very soon
From the bestselling author of Killing Pablo, a haunting and gripping account of the true-life search for the perpetrator of a hideous crime - the abduction and likely murder of two young girls in 1975 - and the skilful work of the cold case team that finally brought their kidnapper to justice.
In 1975, sisters Katherine and Sheila Lyon, aged ten and twelve, vanished from a shopping mall in suburban Washington, D.C. As shock spread, then grief, a massive police effort found nothing. The investigation was shelved, and mystery endured. Then, in 2013, a cold case squad detective found something he and a generation of detectives had missed. It pointed them toward a man named Lloyd Welch, then serving time for child molestation.
As a cub reporter for a Baltimore newspaper, Mark Bowden covered the frantic first weeks of the story. In The Last Stone, he returns to write its ending. Over months of intense questioning and extensive investigation of Welch's sprawling, sinister Appalachian clan, five skilled detectives learned to sift fact from deception. How do you get a compulsive liar, desperate to protect himself, to tell the truth?The Last Stone recounts a masterpiece of criminal interrogation and delivers a chilling and unprecedented look inside a disturbing criminal mind.
True-crime writers in America face a high bar, set by illustrious predecessors such as Truman Capote. The author of Black Hawk Down rises to the challenge in this reconstruction of how a horrific crime - the disappearance of two sisters from a mall in Maryland in 1975 - was partially solved 40 years later. Dogged and ingenious interrogation of a mendacious suspect finally gets at the truth. * The Economist Books of the Year *
A stirring, suspenseful, thoughtful story that, miraculously, neither oversimplifies the details nor gets lost in the thicket of a four-decade case file. This is a cat-and-mouse tale, told beautifully. But like all great true crime, The Last Stone finds its power not by leaning into cliché but by resisting it. * New York Times *
With its blistering descriptions of an American special-forces operation gone wrong, Mark Bowden's 1999 nonfiction book Black Hawk Down made for excellent action-movie fare. The story told in his latest work, the deeply unsettling The Last Stone, unfolds more slowly but is no less potent. Bowden displays his tenacity as a reporter in his meticulous documentation of the case. * Time *
In 1975, Bowden was a young reporter on the Baltimore News-American, covering the fruitless search for the Lyon sisters. Almost half a century later, he has filed his copy - and it's gripping. * The Spectator *
A riveting, serpentine story about the dogged pursuit of the truth, regardless of the outcome or the cost. * NPR *
Bowden delivers a narrative nonfiction masterpiece in this account of fiercely dedicated police detectives working to close a cold case... This is an intelligent page-turner likely to appeal even to readers who normally avoid true crime. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *
Riveting...A keen synthesis of an intricate, decades-long investigation, a stomach-churning unsolved crime, and a solid grasp of time, place and character results in what is sure to be another bestseller for Bowden. * Kirkus Reviews *
an investigation worthy of Prime Suspect...a masterclass of interrogation * Strong Words *
Gripping, and a tribute to the tenacity of the detectives who really did turn every last stone -- Una Mannion * Guardian *
ISBN: 9781611854855
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 25mm
Weight: 326g
352 pages
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