The author of the acclaimed true-crime memoir, The Kill Jar, tells the inside story of the “University of Idaho Murders,” offering a memorable, thoughtful dive into our societal fascination with true crime, the media’s seeming blood-frenzy, and the future of homicide investigations, while cultivating an intimate look into the minds and hearts of the victims and their suspected killer alike.
Just after 4:00 am on November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were viciously stabbed to death in an off-campus house. The killings would shake the small blue-collar college town of Moscow, Idaho, dominate mainstream news coverage, and become a social media obsession, drawing millions of clicks and views. While a reticent Moscow Police Department, the FBI, and the Idaho State Police searched for the killer, unending conjecture and countless theories blazed online, in chatrooms and platforms from Reddit and YouTube to Facebook and TikTok. For more than a month, the clash of armchair investigators and law enforcement professionals raged, until a suspect—a 28-year-old Ph.D. candidate studying criminology—was arrested at his family home 2,500 miles away in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania on the day before New Year’s Eve.
While Idaho Slept is a thought-provoking, literary chronicle of a small-town murder investigation blistering beneath the unceasing light of international interest, as traditional investigators, citizen sleuths, and the true-crime media acted—sometimes together, often in conflict—to uncover the truth. As J. Reuben Appelman brings this terrible crime into focus, he humanizes the four victims, examining the richness of their lives, dissects the mind and motivations of their presumed killer, and explores the world of northern Idaho, a rugged, deeply conservative stronghold steeped in Christian values and American patriotism.
Going deep inside the case, Appelman addresses a crucial question: With so many millions of citizens armed by access and hungry to take part in a true crime hunt of their own, has the nature of homicide investigations permanently changed? Rising above the sensational, While Idaho Slept illuminates the intrinsic connection between today’s media, citizen sleuths, our societal mania for murder tales, and an impatient public’s insatiable appetite for spectacle as never before. Running beneath, the pulse of the story is a heartbreaking narrative of the people we love, the dreams we all share, and the uncertain time left for sharing them.
Ryan
4.8.2025
Here's what this book promised me: "With so many millions of citizens armed by access and hungry to take part in a true crime hunt of their own, has the nature of homicide investigations permanently changed?" Not only did it not even attempt to answer that question, it *didn't ask the question in the first place.* The book constantly sets up critiques of the true crime genre, our modern media landscape, and our victim-focused criminal justice system, but not once did it follow through. I don't enjoy true crime; I picked up this book because it promised to be about the consequences of true crime. It was not. I only finished the book because I wanted to see how it would treat the outcome of the trial given how much wild speculation the author indulged in, only to find out the book was published before the trial?? How can someone write a passage about a DA being worried about finding an impartial jury when the book itself is likely prejudicing the jury? Is this author completely lacking in self awareness? Don't read this book.
Tomi
19.1.2024
Ihan älytöntä julkaista kirja siinä vaiheessa, kun epäillyn murhaajan syyllisyys saati tuomio ei ole vielä edes selvillä! Ajanhukkaa!
Jotta voit kirjoittaa arvostelun, sinun täytyy lataa sovellus