The Spiral Notebook

May 11, 2015
The Singulars, a married couple, had a difficult conversation with their own 18-year-old son that raised concerns about the current generation of young men and women and led to this attempt to provide some way of understanding mass killers, specifically James Holmes, a former neuroscience grad student who shot up a Colorado movie theater in July 2012, killing people and wounding 58. The authors’ goal is to explore “a new form of American terrorism,” and thereby benefit “parents, educators, politicians, those in the media, and citizens young and old.” But instead of memorable or new insights, they provide less than profound commentary on the usual suspects—the easy availability of firearms, unrelenting exposure to violence at an early age through popular culture, alienation. The quotes from Millenials that they sprinkle throughout the book, in an effort to make that demographic’s voices heard, are often banal, and many readers will be uncomfortable at the categorization of “the mass shooting epidemic” as a “very loud and misdirected call from young people for change.”

Starred review from May 1, 2015
An investigation into the plague of violence engulfing a generation of American youth. When Stephen Singular (The Wichita Divide: The Murder of Dr. George Tiller and the Battle over Abortion, 2011, etc.) and his wife, Joyce, set out to write a book about James Holmes, who in 2012, walked into an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater where he killed 12 people and wounded another 58, they had no idea how little information about the case would be available to them. But they used the lack of accessible material as a starting point, with Aurora as the ever present backdrop rather than the sole subject. The spiral notebook of the title, a diary kept by Holmes, was presumed to hold the reasons behind the attack, but a court order kept it sealed from the public. With Holmes' motives obscured, the Singulars went in search of answers by exploring the nationwide epidemic of mass shootings. They spent time talking to their own 20-something son before embarking on a quest to engage with millennials in conversations about the tragic commonality of school shootings and other violent acts. The result is a disturbing yet fascinating treatise on the impacts of growing up in a world that previous generations would barely recognize. While violent video games get their due, the authors also pinpoint widely prescribed drugs, the pressures of social media, a world at war, and more. What makes this book special is that for every theory they present, the Singulars reference not only experts in psychology, sociology, crime, and other fields, but also 20-somethings, whose opinions seem at once benign in their simplicity and also imbued with the ability to shatter the worlds of their peers. These acts may never be fully understood, but this work certainly helps the process along. Tragic, gripping, and authentic, this book deserves a wide audience.

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May 15, 2015

Veteran Denver crime writers Stephen (Presumed Guilty; When Men Become Gods) and Joyce take on another high-profile case, the Aurora Theater shootings. In 2012, on opening night of The Dark Knight Rises, James Holmes, appearing as Batman character the Joker, burst into an Aurora, CO, theater and opened fire, killing 12 people and injuring 58. What prompted Holmes, a brilliant former PhD student in neuroscience, to commit this massacre? The authors attempt to address this intriguing question but can't completely succeed because the spiral notebook, the journal Holmes had mailed to his psychiatrist, has been suppressed, preventing access to key insights. Unable to explore Holmes's psychological history, the authors instead focus on sociological phenomena contributing to "the epidemic of mass violence committed by American youth." They query their college-age son for understanding into such brutality. He asserts that destructive thoughts are frequent among his peers. Violent video games, ready availability of firearms, and a militaristic culture all contribute to the escalation in mass murders, the authors maintain, advocating gun control legislation and, surprisingly, training in yoga and mindfulness techniques as potential solutions. VERDICT This title will be of interest to lay readers who are fascinated by works such as Matthew Lysiak's Newtown.--Lynne Maxwell, West Virginia Univ. Coll. of Law Lib., Morgantown

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Starred review from May 15, 2015
Husband-and-wife investigative reporters and veterans of the crime beat, the Singulars were compelled to look at violence from their perspective as parents when James Holmes, a young man dressed as a commando, killed 12 people and injured 58 others in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012. The Singulars have a son about Holmes' age who, unlike them, was not so surprised by the shooter's actions. The Singulars offer a harrowing look at the crime and the courtroom drama. They explore the complex legal battles, particularly over the issue of Holmes' sanity and a spiral notebook that might hold the key to determining his state of mind. Was the notebook, mailed to his psychiatrist, protected by doctor-patient confidentiality, or, having been found in the course of the investigation before the doctor received it, was it game for use by the prosecution? They address the broader debate about whether publicizing Holmes' diary or the videotapes made by the Columbine shooters glorifies the killers or offers valuable insights into their behavior. Interspersed throughout are comments from a cross section of young adults about the cultural forces, from drugs to video games to social media, that may have contributed to Holmes' alienation and violent actions. This is a compelling look at gun control, mental-health treatment, and the underlying social issues that contribute to rising violence, especially that committed by young men, in our nation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)