Assassinations

May 15, 2020
Celebrity deaths, notorious murders, and unexplained alien encounters are not just the stuff of tabloids; they are also the subjects of investigations by recognized authorities or reporters. Redfern (Area 51, 2019) tells 50 of these stories, from theories surrounding the deaths of well-known figures like Marilyn Monroe, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Princess Diana, to speculation about two girls who attempted a Slender Man-inspired human-sacrifice ritual in 2014, a man who claims to have predicted the loss of the Challenger space shuttle, and the 1995 sarin gas attack unleashed on Tokyo by the Aum Shinrikyo group. Stories that have earned massive publicity (or controversy) receive in-depth attention: anyone associated with the John F. Kennedy assassination and its aftermath is covered, as are the drowning deaths of CIA director William Colby and Australian prime minister Harold Holt, and even a claim that a heart attack was caused by a monster appearing in a bedroom. Allowing for uncertainty in some of the tales he relates, Redfern cites sources for further exploration, leaving opportunity for readers, especially fans of true crime and conspiracy theories, to judge for themselves.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)