The Waltham Murders by Susan ZalkindMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was not as enlightening or as true crime-ish as the blurb promised. The Waltham murders refers to a triple homicide that took place exactly ten years after 9/11 in Waltham, Massachusetts. It was extremely brutal. The victims, who were part of the drug culture, were also robbed, but the police did not seem to give the crime high priority. The case went cold, but the author, who was friends with one of the slain and who was also an investigative journalist, wouldn't let the case die, especially after finding what she considers ties to the Boston Marathon bombing.
There are a lot of characters, and the author gives complete backgrounds on all of them, including herself. The number of characters gets very confusing, particularly when she discusses parents of some of the victims and possible perpetrators that are tangential to the entire topic. It is difficult to tell who is who and how they relate to the murders, if they actually do. Some of the events have nothing to do with either the Waltham murders or the bombing.
The link between the bombing and the Waltham murders, according to this author, is that Tamerlan Tsarnaev is guilty of both crimes. That is the only connection between these two crimes. There is only circumstantial evidence in the murders, which also exists for a few other people besides Tamerlan who were in the same social circles and could just as easily be guilty. No one has ever been arrested or tried for the Walthum murders.
I feel for the author's personal situation, losing a friend to a heinous murder, but the book is mostly assertion of opinion as opposed to cold, hard facts. Much of the information is unnecessary and repetitive and does not point to any person definitively. No one was ever held accountable; in fact, both of the men the author believes to be involved are dead.
I was hoping to get more clarity on exactly what happened in Boston during the bombing and its aftermath, but the author was brief on that topic, nonchalantly stating where the bombs were placed, and that Dzhokhar was found in a boat. The book is based on hours and hours of interviews, and I respect that process, but the book is mostly the author theorizing on what could have happened. We will never know for certain. It is more memoir than true crime.
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It sounds like someone who had a story to tell and had to get it out, but the uncertainly makes it hard to get a serious audience.
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