An intriguing yet oddly rendered excavation of an unsolved crime.
Seeking closure, a journalist revives a cold murder case from his hometown.
For former Albuquerque Journal reporter Cosgrove, the interest in the 1982 disappearance of Frank McGonigle from his childhood town is both academic and personal. The author’s parents were friendly with the McGonigle family when they lived in the same neighborhood in Kansas City; seeking to possibly solve the mystery himself, Cosgrove made the investigation the subject of his master’s thesis, which he completed in 1995. The early part of the book, which the author finished after receiving a blessing from Frank’s mother, briefly retraces the McGonigle family history: Frank, the sixth of nine children, was independent and “did things differently,” and his brothers were his closest friends throughout grade school. As an adult, however, his familial ties became strained with jealousy and bickering. After one particular blowout in 1982, Frank left in a rage and was never seen again. A week later, an unidentified body was discovered 1,200 miles away in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. Cosgrove sifts through all the speculation and accusations, which both darkened and muddied the investigation. Culling through interviews with police and recalcitrant family members and dismissing Frank’s problems with mental health and frequent use of marijuana and LSD, the author re-creates the most plausible scenario that could explain his death. As the sheriff’s investigation fizzled out over the years, the family’s hope wavered despite several intuitive members seeing Frank in dreams. Nearly a decade later, the recovered body was finally identified as Frank McGonigle. Cosgrove’s text becomes unconventional and self-admittedly “weird” with the addition of supernatural elements, including his own communications with Frank’s spirit and his enlistment of an “energy reader” to provide psychic direction or enlightenment. These elements spin the narrative in a decidedly mystical direction, and whether or not readers believe in the efficacy of paranormal intervention in police investigations will determine if the book will fascinate or mystifyingly disappoint.
An intriguing yet oddly rendered excavation of an unsolved crime.Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-58642-324-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Steerforth
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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