Stephen Bowman

Interesting fantasy about the Villisca Axe Murders. I have been fascinated by the actual, unsolved murders for years. I was looking forward to reading this fictionalized account of what could have happened. The actual description of the murders was well written. The author was able to bring forth a vivid description of them that makes it difficult to forget. I felt like the author was trying to hard to make me believe the story. I was left feeling the ending was a forced wrap up so I was not satisfied with it. The book dragged a bit at times as much involved the court part and court can be very long. It is worth reading if you keep in mind it is a fictionalized account of what could have happened.… (meer)

This is a novelized account of a real event, a multiple axe-murder that took place in a small Iowa town in 1912. The book was published in 1988. How much Bowman researched actual events and worked them into his story and/or how much is his imagined take on the gruesome proceedings I have no idea. At any rate, the story is an interesting one, and it's mostly well told, especially in the book's second half. The narrative suffers from the fact that no protagonist emerges until about the midway point. Also, there are islands of clunky writing and even some slipshod copy editing/proofreading. I note via LT that this seems to be Bowman's only novel, which doesn't surprise me much. On the other hand, that's one more novel than I've ever written. And once things get going in the second half, the story moves along nicely.… (meer)