Losing Jon

March 30, 2020
Parrish debuts with a riveting personal story about a tragic death. In January of 1990, the Howard County, Md., police raided a teenage party at a rural Red Roof Inn. According to the teens, two officers beat up and arrested twins Jon and Mickey Bowie for no reason. In May of that year, Jon Bowie was founded hanged at his school, after having filed charges against the officers and claiming that one of them was harassing him. The police insist it was a suicide, but much of the town disagreed. Parrish, who had coached Jon in baseball, recounts the lawsuits, the cover-up, and the amazing response from the community that followed. He himself set up a town hall meeting, made up petitions for state police intervention, and worked closely with Jon’s mother to find answers. Eventually, procedural violations were filed against the officers, but they stayed on the force until retiring years later. The lawsuit the Bowies filed against the county for the excessive force used when the twins were arrested was finally settled for $6 million. This account of a frustrating fight for justice should resonate with many true crime buffs. Agent: Rachel Cone-Gorham, RXD Agency.

May 8, 2020

Jonathan Bowie, 19, was found hanging from a backstop on a high school baseball field in Howard County, MD; police declared the death a suicide, but Bowie's family and debut author Parrish, a family friend, suspected there was more to the story, and they tried to get the police to change the cause of death to homicide, as well as consider one of the police officers a suspect. Parrish covers the police's failure to properly investigate the death, the family's struggles with local law enforcement, community meetings, and eventually the involvement of the FBI, all without a resolution that satisfied the family. Unfortunately, Parrish gives the same weight to facts, gossip by teenagers, and information gleaned from psychics, including both the victim's mother and the author's mother. VERDICT Parrish is unable to take himself out of the situation enough to tell a coherent story. Readers will be unable to draw a conclusion and struck with disbelief that things could have been handled so poorly, as well as irritated that a large group of people were manipulated by messages from beyond. Not recommended.--Amelia Osterud, Milwaukee P.L.

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