Thursday, January 26, 2017

Who Killed Christopher Goodman?: Based on a True Crime Story by Allan Wolf

Here is the review I sent in for the ALAN Picks website.  This is a really quick read, told from six different viewpoints (including the killer), and one that I really enjoyed.



Christopher Goodman is a good kid.  Those that know him well, like him.  Those that have only crossed his path from time to time can recognize the good and kind nature he possesses.  As the summer is ending and school is about to start, the small town of Goldsburg, Virginia celebrates the annual Deadwood Days.  Christopher enjoys the day, hanging out with new friends and speaking with casual acquaintances.  Unfortunately for Christopher, at the end of the night, his kindness may have cost him his life.

Wolf gives us a fictionalized version of a true crime from his hometown, a crime that still resonates with him and many others to this day.  Who Killed Christopher Goodman? is told through the differing viewpoints of six different characters (including the 15 year old killer), all who had crossed the path of this special young man both in the days leading up to the festival and on the actual day of his murder.  Beginning weeks before his death, and ending weeks after, the six characters tell about their experiences with Christopher and discuss the grief and guilt they each felt afterwards, each trying to come to grips with it in their own personal way. 


From Amazon:

Inspired by a tragic true event in his past, Allan Wolf examines the circumstances of one boy’s inexplicable murder and the fateful summer leading up to it.

Everybody likes Chris Goodman. Sure, he’s a little odd. He wears those funny bell-bottoms and he really likes the word ennui and he shakes your hand when he meets you, but he’s also the kind of guy who’s always up for a good time, always happy to lend a hand. Everybody likes Chris Goodman, which makes it especially shocking when he’s murdered. Here, in a stunning multi-voiced narrative — including the perspective of the fifteen-year-old killer — and based on a true and terrible crime that occurred when he was in high school, author Allan Wolf sets out to answer the first question that comes to mind in moments of unthinkable tragedy: how could a thing like this happen?

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