#The Man from the Train

[quoteablebooks]

Genre: Non-Fiction, Adult, True Crime

Rating: 4 out of 5

Content Warning: Murder, Blood, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Drug use  

Summary:

An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, this “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” ( The Wall Street Journal ) shows legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applying his analytical acumen to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history.

Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Jewelry and valuables were left in plain sight, bodies were piled together, faces covered with cloth. Some of these cases, like the infamous Villasca, Iowa, murders, received national attention. But few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station.

When celebrated baseball statistician and true crime expert Bill James first learned about these horrors, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. Applying the same know-how he brings to his legendary baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter Rachel made an astonishing they learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal. In turn, they uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in America.

Riveting and immersive, with writing as sharp as the cold side of an axe, The Man from the Train paints a vivid, psychologically perceptive portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, when crime was regarded as a local problem, and opportunistic private detectives exploited a dysfunctional judicial system. James shows how these cultural factors enabled such an unspeakable series of crimes to occur, and his groundbreaking approach to true crime will convince skeptics, amaze aficionados, and change the way we view criminal history.

*Opinions*

The Man from the Train is a book that has been recommended on a podcast that I listened to multiple times. I bought it a couple of years ago when I was just starting to shop at my local indie book store and thought that I would only like non-fiction that was in the true crime genre. For some reason, I always like to read true crime books in the summer so as the weather got warmer I finally cracked into this book to see what all the fuss was about. For an almost 500-page book I got through it pretty quickly and I was interested in the information that was presented, though I have a few personal gripes. 

This book is written in a very conversational tone, something that someone who might be intimidated by non-fiction books would be able to get into without a lot of difficulty. I think this would be a great audiobook listen as James has passages that seem like a friend telling you about something they are very knowledgeable about instead of a heavily researched book. However, at times that very familiar tone didn’t hit for me and took away from the information that James was attempting to get across. I understand that this is a personal issue and I am sure a lot of people will probably enjoy the jokes and asides that are included. 

The information is presented in a pretty concise and digestible manner for the large number of crimes that were covered in this book. While this is told in an almost linear manner (and the authors explain the breaks in that) it never gets bogged down as we talk about the numerous families that lost their lives to what is believed to be the same man. James tells the gruesome details that are needed, but he also tries to be as respectful to the victims as possible, and the individuals who had been falsely accused of the crimes. James also works to give details of the time and place so that the reader can get an idea of the time period that which these murders happened. The whiplash I got when I read that the Villasca axe murders happened BEFORE Rasputin was murdered. 

James also argues against his conclusions multiple times throughout the book which I love in a non-fiction work. Unless it is a memoir, and especially when people are attempting to convince the reader of something, I want the author to tell me why I should believe them. Sometimes it is in the way that the story was written that shows the amount of research that is done and sometimes it is when the author comes in and goes “now I know what you’re thinking…” At the end of this book, I am still a little skeptical about the individual who they believe is The Man from the Train just because it has been unsolved for so long, they make a very compelling argument. James is very clear that their conclusion could be wrong, but they don’t think that it is. I appreciate that. 

As always, I feel weird rating non-fiction books because I am not an expert on the topic. That being said some non-fiction books just have this magic quality that makes it a five-star for me and this didn’t get over that invisible line. It was a really great book and I enjoyed everything I learned while reading it, this was a solid four-star read. If you are interested in true crime or the mystery around the Villasca axe murder, I would strongly suggest picking up this book. If you are an audiobook reader, try to read it that way and tell me how it goes. 

[bubbarnes]

“... so you can either do something about it now.”

[000marie198]

I don't care how excited it might make some people, I don't like this remake

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Ooh, you want to know what happens at the gay bar run by ex-pirates, ooh...You'll just have to read Tiger Tiger to find out...

(Inspired by this Disco Elysium comic)

[josephconrads]

Title: The Man from the Train

Author: Bill James & Rachel McCarthy James

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Review: I bumped up the rating by a half star only because the singular chapter that was written by Rachel McCarthy James happened to save me from under anger at the rest of this book. On the surface it’s a great premise with the promise of revealing the killer for a decades old unsolved murder but the nonsensical execution destroys the entire thing. The authors bounce around years so much that the solving of the puzzle becomes a puzzle of its own with trying to remember who is who and what came when. The colloquial nature of the writing might be fine with some but the jokes around every corner and often at victims expense rubbed me the wrong way. While a name is tossed out as the probable culprit it seems flawed as only one murder is adequately tied to the man before he disappeared. Not to mention that name is brought up only in the last three chapters. The statements made in this are all written as though fact however a vast majority (I’d say 90%) are pure speculation. Not to mention that while some resources are cited in the text itself there’s no bibliography at all to give any notion that any of the facts can be researched by a curious reader. All in all, a disappointment when I was looking forward to an intriguing true crime read.

[sboochi]

Even more dnd-inspired designs! You might recognize Hiccup from an old post, I redrew him to match my current style (this started as a game where I assigned not-first-choice classes to the characters, that's why he's a druid and not an artificer or smth else!)

See more: RotBTD / Rise of the Guardians / Red Shoes and the 7 dwarfs

[tea-cat-arts]

Shen Yuan getting transported into pidw isn't "the system punishing him for being a lazy internet hater," but instead representative of "step 1 of the creative process: getting so mad at something you decide to go write your own fucking book" in this essay I will

[unclassedguy]

Sukuna and Yuji use public transportation

[xxplastic-cubexx]

doodley

[everyonesadoptivedad]

andrew wondering how Neil can fall asleep in such conditions [heatwave when their dorm doesn’t have ac and they are out of ice cream]

ft. kevin who got plastered so he could sleep

[fatedroses]

zenos, but he's getting spammed by his weirdly tech savvy great-grandfather.

[quoteablebooks]

We are all heirs to the racism of the past, and unable to decline the legacy

The Man from the Train by Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James

[o3o-lapd-o3o]

okay here's part 3! (still no dinner scene sorry, but we're slowly getting there!) (this is a long one heads up)

the post/thread that started this whole au

dinner scene: part 1 | part 2 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8

there's a masterlist now!

*back at the palace*

penelope: i wonder how it went…

penelope: *starts walking toward the entrance for the palace gardens*

penelope: *notices odysseus running through the gardens towards the very same entrance*

penelope: *was concerned until she could clearly see a joyful look on her husband’s face*

odysseus: *sees penelope and heads towards her*

penelope: *notices and opens her arms for an embrace*

odysseus: *grabs penelope by the waist and twirls her around in the air* good morning wife, did you miss me?

penelope: *holding onto odysseus’ shoulders laughing*

penelope: good morning husband *leans down to kiss odysseus*

penelope: *looks him in the eyes with a smile* more than you know.

odysseus: *smiles back with eyes full of adoration*

odysseus: *goes in for another kiss*

*a while later after many more morning kisses between the two*

*penelope & odysseus now walking arm in arm back into the palace*

penelope: so, i’m assuming by the look i saw on your face, your friend agreed to dinner?

odysseus: uh yeah, surprisingly he did. no forcing or threats needed.

penelope: *hums and holds a finger to her chin in slight thought*

odysseus: *wondering what she’s thinking of* penelope?

penelope: *giggles and looks at odysseus* maybe you’re already more friends than you thought?

odysseus: *blinks repeatedly and then shakes his head*

odysseus: my love, trust me… the god of the seas and i are not friends

odysseus: *looks down in thought* after everything that’s happened, i don’t think we could ever be

penelope: *stops walking and turns to odysseus who has also stopped walking*

penelope: *holds her hand to odysseus’ cheek* i thought you said after all these incidents on the sailing trips with our son, that you had put that behind you?

odysseus: *leans into her hand and reaches to hold it with his own*

odysseus: *sighs* i- i have. i admit that while it’s a lot of fun being able to mess with him… all that anger & resentment i held has left me.

penelope: *gives a small smile*  

penelope: how do you know that lord poseidon hasn’t too? maybe he’s learnt to forgive?

odysseus: *thinks back to the moment he held his hand out to poseidon while on his raft, asking him the same question*

odysseus: … *blinks the memory away*

odysseus: yeah… i don’t think so, i tried that once already…

odysseus: *grabs both penelope’s hands* anyway! that doesn’t matter-

odysseus: *lets go of her hands and once again links his arm with hers*  what matters is… what the cooks have planned for breakfast!

penelope: *letting the subject drop for now*

penelope: *smiles* i don’t know about breakfast… but i’m sure that after you and our son’s fishing trip, i would say fish is the plan again for lunch *laughs*

odysseus: *laughs with her* yes, we certainly brought enough back.

odysseus: though speaking of our son. just how excited do you think he’ll be when i tell him the good news?

penelope: oh, i am sure he’ll be delighted! why don’t you go wake him for breakfast and let him know?

penelope: *unlinks their arms, turns and gives odysseus another quick kiss* i shall see you soon my dear husband

odysseus: yes soon, my lovely wife *watches her go down the hall until she out of sight*

odysseus: *turns to head the way to his son’s bedroom*

*odysseus arrives at the door leading to telemachus’ room*

odysseus: *knocks on the door*

odysseus: telemachus? are you awake yet?

*after hearing no response & no noise to signal movement*

odysseus: *gently opens the door and heads inside*

odysseus: *looks across the room to the bed and sees his son still fast asleep*

odysseus: *makes his way over, while looking at the walls covered tapestries of monsters, -also seeing ones he himself has faced- all slightly starting to fray from the years they’ve been hanging there*

odysseus: *sees the newest tapestry above telemachus’ bed -one he knows that penelope and athena had weaved together- the tapestry of him, penelope & telemachus also including a owl sitting on telemachus’ shoulder*

odysseus: *smiles* *gently sits down on the edge of his son’s bed*

odysseus: *reaches his hand out to stroke telemachus’ hair, like he would do when he was just a baby*

odysseus: *in a soft voice* telemachus, son it’s time to wake up

telemachus: *makes a small groan at being woken up*

telemachus: *voice heavy with sleep* father?

odysseus: *pulls his hand back & chuckles to himself at his son’s sleepy confusion* yes, it’s me, did you sleep well?

telemachus: *now slightly more awake* yeah, i dreamt of the dolphins we saw a while ago-

telemachus: *sleepiness long gone and now slightly excited* -did you manage to speak to lord poseidon?!

odysseus: *smiling at his son’s excitement* i did indeed

telemachus: annnnnd?

odysseus: he will be at dinner tomorrow

telemachus: *leaps forward at his father and hugs him* yes! thank you for asking him!

odysseus: *hugs his son back* i promised i would didn’t i?

telemachus: *lets his father go and gets ready to get of bed* i need to start planning for tomorrow-

odysseus: *laughs and stops his son from running off* yes you can, but later. first you need to wash yourself up and get down to dining hall

telemachus: how come?

odysseus: it’s morning remember? the cooks have made us breakfast and your mother is waiting for us to join her

telemachus: oh yeah! that makes sense.

telemachus: *gets out of bed more calmly* okay well i’ll wash up quick and be there shortly

odysseus: okay i’ll see you there *watches his son leave*

odysseus: *to himself* i guess i’d better make my way there mysel-

*a small breeze hits him and then a soft hoot of an owl sounds out*

odysseus: *turns to see athena in owl form sitting on the perch by the balcony, that odysseus had made for telemachus’ room*

odysseus: *hands on hips* so how come when i was young, you had me up for training everyday before sunrise, yet my son gets to lay in?

athena: *turns back into her normal appearance* good morning to you too odysseus

odysseus: don’t change the subject ‘thena

athena: *shrugs* what can i say? times have changed

odysseus: *drops his arms and laughs*

odysseus: *looks back to the (family photo) tapestry* indeed they have

odysseus: *looks back to athena* so, breakfast?

athena: *smiles* let’s go.. my friend

odysseus: *smiles back and then heads out telemachus’ room with athena*

[lelianasbong]

i DO think it's going to be funny to watch the dragon age fandom explode when people finally get their hands on veilguard. and realize all of the companions have Opinions

[maplemaplemaplemaplemaple]

coloured my doodles of @beebfreeb 's trans woman oleander design she is so canon to me,,,

[youreastargirl]

Hey Jeff Davis one note among many, but did you know that for a wound made with wolfsbane, you actually need to burn it with the ash of that specific strand of wolfsbane to heal it?

This particular piece of knowledge comes from the tv show you created called Teen Wolf which you may or may not be familiar with.

Ten thousand fanfic writers have gotten this particular piece of lore correct for a decade since you invented it. There are fics where Stiles’ love language is gathering different kinds of wolfsbane to always be able to save Derek Hale.

Truly, get yourself sorted sir (disrespectful).