I think this subject matter (possible epidemic, possible problem with vaccine) was a little too on-the-nose to be enjoyable right now. There was also something...missing from this novel. Can’t quite put my finger on it.

I wonder if the unusual name Deenie was a callback to the Judy Blume novel about scoliosis—disease and difference and mean girls?

The one thing they didn’t address is how satisfyingly similar Santino’s voice is to actor Penn Badgley, who plays Joe in the miniseries You.

“Intellectual gymnastics” is what this book is about, and how they killed two people. This is a fine dissection of a personality disordered woman and her drawing into a foile à deux her boyfriend.

I finished this book wondering what I believed and what I didn’t about what Elizabeth and Jens said over the years. Do I believe Elizabeth’s British accent is fake? Absolutely. She grew up in Virginia, and only went to high school in the UK. A complete put-on. Do I believe Elizabeth’s mother sexually abused her? No. Jens most likely took those nude photos of her and they planted them. Do I believe Jens was impotent until the murders, then hyperpotent? Perhaps.
What do I think about their obsessive, organized shoplifting? I think it was fetishized, sexualized control over others, hence the carefully labeled bags and not using the items.
I think one or both of them had hypergraphia, and that wasn’t fully explored.

These are two of the most deeply disturbed teenagers/young adults I have come across, and I have a master’s in counseling. Two personality disordered people in a perfect storm, and I still don’t think we have the full story because Elizabeth is such a manipulative liar.

Since the book ended before the conclusion of the case, here it is: https://web.archive.org/web/20170419013451/http://www.nydailynews.com/newswires/news/national/man-25-years-1979-case-missing-boy-etan-patz-article-1.3067605

I’m shocked. The civil case found Ramos guilty. Hernandez is schizophrenic, and delusions of sin are a symptom. Jim Clemente likened his confession to Carr’s confession to killing JonBenet Ramsey. There seemed to be no motive or evidence, and this article also gives neither. Hernandez said he placed Etan in a box, strangled but still alive, on a curb with the trash. Everyone tore that street apart! That’s impossible . I absolutely think Jose Ramos did it.

This could have been so much more than it is. If you are really into this sort of thing, I recommend the Weird USA series. This is more of a surface-level travel book than a collection of information of fascinating facts about our astounding world.

This is the definitive book on this case. The author explores all avenues—mental health, foul play, the paranormal, the outside role of websleuths muddying the waters, and the corruption within the LAPD and the coroner’s office—deftly and compassionately. He has a rich understanding of the role Elisa’s bipolar disorder may have played, because he, too, struggles with it. He also is an incredibly skilled writer, and some sentences are just truly beautiful.