Thank you to Hachette books for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.

If you go into this book expecting it to be solely a true crime novel, you are going to be sorely disappointed. Instead, what Eisenberg has presented us is part true crime, part memoir. While the basis of the book is the investigation of the murder of two women in Pocahontas County, WV, it is supplemented with the complicated history of the region as well as Eisenberg's own relationship with the area. The book functions like an anthropological study of Appalachia, with the Rainbow Murders serving as a way for us to examine life in this region and question stereotypes held by even those living in the community.

In writing any sort of non-fiction work, it is difficult to separate your own attachment to places and events from what actually happened there. Including the sections about Eisenberg's time in Pocahontas County as a young woman made it feel like a more honest account of her own biases and the place from which she was writing the book. This is a theme that comes up several times in the book, most notably in reference to how many working on the case became fixated on the idea that perpetrator must have been local. The different story lines at times don't seem related but they successfully came together at the end.

While the title, The Third Rainbow Girl, refers to the third woman who had been traveling with the murder victims, I think it should also be taken as a metaphor for Eisenberg herself, as well as those who were involved in the investigation of the murder (perhaps even the county itself).

There were times when the book was slow and times when it was difficult to follow. However, I enjoyed the way in which the different narratives were woven together. I recommend listening to the book on audio, which I did for part of my reading. Eisenberg has a very soothing voice and having her read her own work made the experience fuller for me.