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While Idaho Slept: The Hunt for Answers in the Murders of Four College Students Paperback – October 3, 2023
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The author of the acclaimed true-crime memoir, The Kill Jar, tells the inside story of the “University of Idaho Murders,” offering a memorable, thoughtful dive into our societal fascination with true crime, the media’s seeming blood-frenzy, and the future of homicide investigations, while cultivating an intimate look into the minds and hearts of the victims and their suspected killer alike.
Just after 4:00 am on November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were viciously stabbed to death in an off-campus house. The killings would shake the small blue-collar college town of Moscow, Idaho, dominate mainstream news coverage, and become a social media obsession, drawing millions of clicks and views. While a reticent Moscow Police Department, the FBI, and the Idaho State Police searched for the killer, unending conjecture and countless theories blazed online, in chatrooms and platforms from Reddit and YouTube to Facebook and TikTok. For more than a month, the clash of armchair investigators and law enforcement professionals raged, until a suspect—a 28-year-old Ph.D. candidate studying criminology—was arrested at his family home 2,500 miles away in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania on the day before New Year’s Eve.
While Idaho Slept is a thought-provoking, literary chronicle of a small-town murder investigation blistering beneath the unceasing light of international interest, as traditional investigators, citizen sleuths, and the true-crime media acted—sometimes together, often in conflict—to uncover the truth. As J. Reuben Appelman brings this terrible crime into focus, he humanizes the four victims, examining the richness of their lives, dissects the mind and motivations of their presumed killer, and explores the world of northern Idaho, a rugged, deeply conservative stronghold steeped in Christian values and American patriotism.
Going deep inside the case, Appelman addresses a crucial question: With so many millions of citizens armed by access and hungry to take part in a true crime hunt of their own, has the nature of homicide investigations permanently changed? Rising above the sensational, While Idaho Slept illuminates the intrinsic connection between today’s media, citizen sleuths, our societal mania for murder tales, and an impatient public’s insatiable appetite for spectacle as never before. Running beneath, the pulse of the story is a heartbreaking narrative of the people we love, the dreams we all share, and the uncertain time left for sharing them.
- Print length288 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarper Paperbacks
- Publication dateOctober 3, 2023
- Dimensions5.35 x 0.49 x 7.94 inches
- ISBN-100063346699
- ISBN-13978-0063346697
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Editorial Reviews
Review
This is an extremely rigorous book. Appelman uses first-hand sources (police files and interviews with people involved in the case) whenever possible, and, while he rightly gives credit where credit is due, he also doesn’t shy away from revealing the investigation’s weaknesses, including the fact that the prosecution’s ongoing case isn’t airtight. A chilling, haunting work of crime nonfiction. — Booklist on While Idaho Slept
Appelman’s fastidious attention to detail here is admirable, but what really sets this apart is his examination of the tension between Moscow police and the self-appointed investigators who descended on the town. The result is a propulsive real-life thriller with a conscience. — Publishers Weekly on While Idaho Slept
"J. Reuben Appelman has successfully captured the strained relationships between police, media and victim's families during the investigation into the deaths of four Idaho students and how the forensic sciences identified the perpetrator." — Michael Baden, M.D., Former Chief Medical Examiner, NYC and author of American Autopsy, on While Idaho Slept
About the Author
J. Reuben Appelman’s true-crime memoir, The Kill Jar, inspired the popular Hulu docuseries, “Children of the Snow” (2020), with Appelman serving as an on-camera investigator and Executive Producer. He received an MFA in poetry from Boise State University and has published across all genres. Appelman currently works as a private investigator in the state of Idaho, where he has lived for nearly twenty-five years.
Product details
- Publisher : Harper Paperbacks (October 3, 2023)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0063346699
- ISBN-13 : 978-0063346697
- Item Weight : 8.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.35 x 0.49 x 7.94 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #16,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #82 in Murder & Mayhem True Accounts
- #93 in U.S. State & Local History
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![J. Reuben Appelman](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/soc5m6gj975982ttnefobd2cv4._SY600_.jpg)
J. Reuben Appelman has published across genres and has written and produced multiple feature documentaries. He executive produced Children of the Snow, the Hulu-streamed docuseries based on his research for his true-crime memoir, The Kill Jar, about the Oakland County Child Killings. The Kill Jar was named among the best true-crime books of the year by the New York Times Book Review, Elle, Oxygen, Bustle, Crime Reads, and USA Today. Appelman has been an ongoing special lecturer on the issue of Human Trafficking for the Honors College at Boise State University, is a two-time State of Idaho Literature Fellow, and works as a private investigator. His most recent work, While Idaho Slept, is due for release by HarperCollins on October 3, 2023.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book informative and well-written, mentioning that it tells us about the victims and the impact they all left behind. They also appreciate the victims' stories and the effect they left behind, which makes the book a good read.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the writing quality of the book well-written.
"This book is incredibly well written! I am a true crime follower and I have to say, J. Reuben Appleman is the real deal!..." Read more
"Book was well written but it would have been a better book if it had been written after the trial...." Read more
"...Well written. Much of the middle of the book goes into more extraneous details about the early lives of the four victims than was necessary...." Read more
"...This book was an easy read, but did not give any new information that isn’t already in the news. I enjoyed this book because I am very in the case...." Read more
Customers find the book informative, well-written, and informative. They also appreciate the good reporting and details surrounding the case. Readers also mention the author is a master of true crime investigative journalism.
"...He has proven himself to be a master of true crime investigative journalism!..." Read more
"...It also tells us about the victims and the impact they all left behind. Very enjoyable read - I hope he updates this after the trial." Read more
"good reporting" Read more
"...This book was an easy read, but did not give any new information that isn’t already in the news. I enjoyed this book because I am very in the case...." Read more
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Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2023
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The trial didn't even take place yet, how is there already a book written about this? The gag order is here for a reason. Stop spreading lies.
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Reviewed in Germany on October 22, 2023
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