Anyone who has read Blackhawk Down knows that Mark Bowden is a master at documentary non-fiction. This is certainly the case for this book, The Last Stone: a masterpiece of criminal interrogation. Here, Bowden takes on the disappeared of the Lyon sisters from a mall in Maryland in 1975. The investigation produced dead ends for years, until a group of investigators zeroed in on a young man who approached police a few days after the girl’s disappearance. He said he witness the abduction. They did not believe him, and sent him away with a stern warning about giving false statements to police. He was a young man who like to talk.
Thirty-eight years later, the investigators found his statement, and wanted to talk to hi; they found him in a Delaware prison, and he still liked to talk. And talk. Bowden’s prime source for this book is the hours and hours of taped conversations between the suspect and police. The suspect really should have taken his right to remain silent, and gotten a lawyer. But he kept talking until all that remained was the truth, or some form of it.
Ultimately this is a sad story about two little girls kidnapped and horribly abused. At times it is very difficult to read. A nightmare. Bowden is aware to this, but plots a steady course. The book is about justice… even if it is delayed.
Thirty-eight years later, the investigators found his statement, and wanted to talk to hi; they found him in a Delaware prison, and he still liked to talk. And talk. Bowden’s prime source for this book is the hours and hours of taped conversations between the suspect and police. The suspect really should have taken his right to remain silent, and gotten a lawyer. But he kept talking until all that remained was the truth, or some form of it.
Ultimately this is a sad story about two little girls kidnapped and horribly abused. At times it is very difficult to read. A nightmare. Bowden is aware to this, but plots a steady course. The book is about justice… even if it is delayed.
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