A Death in Belmont

Starred review from June 5, 2006
In 1963, Boston was plagued by a serial killer known as the Boston Strangler. In the neighboring town of Belmont, there was the murder of a woman that fit the profile of the Strangler, but a young black man named Roy Smith was convicted of the crime, and the stranglings continued. Handyman Albert DeSalvo later confessed to being the Strangler, but he never claimed credit for the murder in Belmont. Junger's captivating and intricately researched audiobook explores whether the killing was done by Smith, DeSalvo or someone else. Junger has a personal as well as journalistic interest in this case: DeSalvo worked at his boyhood home for several months, and the Belmont murder was not far from his neighborhood. Conway reads with an intense, serious passion and a deep, resonant tone, ideally suited to the somber subject. He shifts his voice into a perfect Boston accent when relating DeSalvo's own words and employs a number of other subtle inflections for other characters. A fascinating insight into the terror inspired by serial killers, this compelling look at the Boston Strangler case asks as many questions as it answers. Simultaneous release with the Norton hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 13).

Starred review from February 13, 2006
Bessie Goldberg was strangled to death in her home in Belmont, a Boston suburb, in March of 1963—right in the middle of the Boston Strangler's killing spree. Her death has not usually been associated with the other Strangler killings because Roy Smith, a black man who was working in Goldberg's house that day, was convicted of her murder on strong circumstantial evidence. But another man was working in Belmont that day: Albert DeSalvo, who later confessed to being the Boston Strangler, was doing construction work in the home of Junger's parents (the author himself was a baby). Could DeSalvo have slipped away and killed Bessie Goldberg? Junger's taut narrative makes dizzying hairpin turns as he considers all the evidence for, and against, Smith or DeSalvo being Goldberg's killer; he also reviews the more familiar case for and against DeSalvo being the Strangler—for there are serious questions about his confession. As Junger showed in his bestselling The Perfect Storm
, he's a hell of a storyteller, and here he intertwines underlying moral quandaries—was racism a factor in Smith's conviction? How to judge when the truth in this case is probably unknowable?—with the tales of two men: Smith, a ne'er-do-well from a racist South who rehabilitated himself before dying in prison; DeSalvo, a sexual predator raised by a violent father who was stabbed to death in prison. This perplexing story gains an extra degree of creepiness from Junger's personal connection to it. First serial to Vanity Fair;
19-city author tour.

Starred review from April 1, 2006
Best-selling author Junger ("The Perfect Storm") gives us a fresh look at the Boston Strangler crime story by examining his own family lore. One day in 1963 in Junger -s hometown of Belmont, MA, a neighbor was raped and strangled to death. At the time, a man named Al -Albert DeSalvo -was working on a renovation project at the Junger house, where Sebastian was a baby in his mother -s arms. An eerie photograph marking the end of the project shows Al standing good-naturedly with Junger -s mother and baby, his enormous hand at rest against the front of his shirt. For the Belmont crime, a black man named Roy Smith was quickly arrested and convicted -wrongly so, the Junger family came to feel. DeSalvo later confessed to being the Boston Strangler but not to the killing in Belmont. Delving into his family -s memories of that time, Junger wonders if his mother narrowly escaped harm at DeSalvo -s hands after a disturbing encounter that she deftly broke off. He also carefully examines the life of Roy Smith and, while not able definitively to prove or disprove his guilt, makes a good case for Smith having tragically been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Junger also delves into DeSalvo -s life and raises issues about whether he was indeed the Boston Strangler. As usual, Junger has written a well-documented page-turner that leaves us wanting more. He kindly includes a reading list for those still curious. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 12/05.]" -Karen Sandlin Silverman, Library Svcs., Ctr. for Applied Research, Philadelphia"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2006
It has been seven years since Junger wrote the best-selling " A Perfect Storm" and he again turns his attention to the Bay State with this compelling look back at the Boston Strangler. Italian American carpenter Albert DeSalvo, long considered the modern progenitor of the serial killer, was working in the Junger home in Belmont on the day an elderly neighborhood woman was raped and strangled. The picture that opens this book, taken the day after the murder to mark the completion of work on Junger's mother's studio, shows one-year-old Junger seated in his mother's lap with DeSalvo standing directly behind them. Using this personal angle as his inspiration, Junger goes on to detail the rush to judgment that resulted in the arrest, trial, and incarceration of black cleaning man Roy Smith for the Belmont murder. Junger subsequently widens his focus to include signal events of the era, including the JFK assassination and the volatile state of race relations, and, in the process, delivers a stark portrait of America in the 1960s. In addition, Junger incorporates all of the messy details that prevent this from becoming a neat and tidy morality tale. Roy Smith, a heavy drinker and a vagrant with a criminal record, seems to have thrived within the structure provided by prison life, while DeSalvo ultimately retracted his admission to being the Boston Strangler and was murdered in prison by an unknown assailant. An intriguing crime story that also contains painful truths about race and justice in America.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)