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A Death in Belmont

by Sebastian Junger (Goodreads Author)

3.43 of 5 stars 3.43 · rating details · 2,236 ratings · 358 reviews

A fatal collision of three lives in the most intriguing and original crime story since In Cold Blood.

Imagine how strange and frightening it would be to see a picture of yourself, not quite a year old, with your mother and two men, one of whom is a confessed serial killer. This is what happened to Sebastian Junger, and only a small part of what he recounts in A Death in Bel...more A fatal collision of three lives in the most intriguing and original crime story since In Cold Blood.

Imagine how strange and frightening it would be to see a picture of yourself, not quite a year old, with your mother and two men, one of whom is a confessed serial killer. This is what happened to Sebastian Junger, and only a small part of what he recounts in A Death in Belmont.

The quiet suburb of Belmont, Massacuusetts, is in the grip of fear. The Boston Strangler murders have taken place nearby, and now there is another shocking sex crime, right in Belmont. The victim is Bessie Goldberg, a middle-aged woman who had hired a cleaning man to help out around the house on that fall day in 1963. He is a black man named Roy Smith. He did the appointed chores, collected his money and left a receipt on the kitchen table. Neighbors will say that he looked furtive when he walked down the street, that he was in a hurry, that he stopped to buy cigarettes, that he looked over his shoulder. They didn't see a black man in Belmont very often, so, of course, they noticed him. So the story went, and on these slender threads, and his own checkered history, Roy Smith is convicted of the Belmont murder and sent to prison.

On the day of the murder, Albert DeSalvo, an Italian-American handyman, is also in Belmont, working as a carpenter in the Junger home, where the picture is taken. Two years after his work for the Jungers, he confesses in vivid detail to the crimes of which the Boston Strangler is accused, and sent to prison, where he is stabbed to death by an inmate. But he never confesses to the Bessie Goldberg murder. Could he have left the Junger home, committed the murder a few blocks away and calmly returned to finish his day's work? Could Roy Smith really have been the guilty party, even though his sentence was commuted after De Salvo confessed?

In the grand tradition of his bestselling The Perfect Storm, Junger tells a terrific story, lining up all the elements, asking all the pertinent questions, digging into the backgrounds of both men, retelling his mother's very strange encounter with Albert when she is home alone with Sebastian. He then asks the larger questions: Was Roy Smith convicted summarily because he was black? Was Albert De Salvo really the Boston Strangler?

Junger cannot answer all the questions, as no one can. Without DNA, there is no way to be certain of which of the two men might have committed the rape and murder of Bessie Goldberg, or if neither of them is guilty. While it is frustrating not to know for sure, the story is fascinating, reads like a tautly plotted mystery thriller, and Junger's close connection is downright creepy. --Valerie Ryan

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Hardcover, 288 pages

Published April 13th 2006 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published April 12th 2006)

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Dec 09, 2008 Nomi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

I NEVER read true crime or anything resembling it. But this is such a well-told and little known situation that I was captivated. The author tells the story of two men-ALbert DeSalvo who confessed to almost all the Boston strangler killings except for the one in Belmont that was pinned on African American Roy Smith who was the only suspect (or the only one police were interested in convicting). This is not just a story of the wrongly accused suffering at the hands of a racist judicial system but...more

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Mar 12, 2012 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio, time-4some-nonfic

Not completely sure I understand the low ratings for this book. I will assume they are from regular readers of the True Crime genre.

I think the main difference this book has from other True Crime novels--and it is certainly a perk--is that the author is not writing this book third person. He is not simply reporting a compilation of events and articles. The book is completely autobiographical but it's so thorough on the research you are often surprise when the first person "I" comes up every now...more

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Feb 16, 2011 Walter rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book, essentially the examination of the Boston Strangler case of the early 1960s (but with a personal twist), is very well-written, a page turner, in fact. Yet, upon finishing it, one can't help but be a tad disappointed, as the concluding chapters lack the decisive, incisive and compelling quality of what precedes them. So, the book starts strong and stays that way until the very end, ultimately ending with the reader feeling a little bit disappointed that Junger becomes more (/too) equiv...more This book, essentially the examination of the Boston Strangler case of the early 1960s (but with a personal twist), is very well-written, a page turner, in fact. Yet, upon finishing it, one can't help but be a tad disappointed, as the concluding chapters lack the decisive, incisive and compelling quality of what precedes them. So, the book starts strong and stays that way until the very end, ultimately ending with the reader feeling a little bit disappointed that Junger becomes more (/too) equivocal at the end.

Yet, before the end of the book, it is hard to put down. Junger's style is brisk, straightforward and at time piercingly insightful. The characters are drawn vividly and the era is conveyed so evocatively that one can picture oneself there. There are dozens of passages in the book that I had to underline and review repeatedly because of their searing perceptiveness. As such then, it's a good and very enjoyable read.

The only problem with the book, in my view, is the ending. Junger never really tells you what he thinks after his exhaustive research. He surmises, he prattles on about what is possible (and, only very occasionally about what is likely because, presumably, this would lead him into the murky mess of drawing a more concrete conclusion). It's basically like reading a great detective story - which, in this case, has the advantage of being true - and then getting to the end and the author says something like "we'll never really know who did it" - what?!? Isn't that why I just read your 260 pages, to learn whom you thought did it and why?!? Of course, we can all infer what Junger thinks, but, honestly, having to speculate after such a powerful telling of the tale is a most disappointing experience. And yet, it's so good that it's worth reading right up to the conclusion....

So, on the whole, though mildly disappointed with the ending, I recommend this book highly. For 90% of its 260 pages I almost couldn't put it down, which is why I recommend it to others. For the last 10%, well, I guess that we'll all just have to remember that a 90 is an "A"....(less)

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Mar 02, 2010 Krista rated it 4 of 5 stars

Sebastian Junger grew up with a family legend. When he was a small boy, a neighbor was strangled in her living room in Belmont, Massachusetts. A man was convicted of the crime. But the day of the murder, another man was working in the Junger house, a man who would later confess to being the Boston Strangler. Could that man have committed the murder of the neighbor? Could an innocent man be in prison? The justice system never reached a satisfactory resolution of that doubt.

Over forty years later,...more

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Jul 22, 2008 Katherine rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Nonfiction Readers and Thriller/Murder/Mystery Readers

I had a hard time in the beginning immersing myself in the story, perhaps owing to the fact that this is a rare example of nonfiction verging on fictionalized writing, which was something I had to get used to. Having favored fiction in the past few years, it took me a while to settle into the journalistic fiction style reminiscent of Joan Didion's writing and Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood."

But after reading a couple of chapters, I found myself really enjoying the story and how author Sebastian...more

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Jun 15, 2011 Suzanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011, nonfiction

This is a fascinating piece of true crime writing centered around the 1960's Boston Strangler case. It has a personal twist, as Junger's young mother had briefly hired a handyman who later confessed to many of the killings. Although it was a more transient relationship than Ann Rule had with Ted Bundy, there were moments where the author (and of course, the reader) are left thinking, "Oh god, what if..."

Those encounters, of course, became part of the Junger family lore, which prompted the autho...more

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Jul 28, 2009 Emily C. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Sebastian Junger goes on a a quest for the truth based on his mother's brief, terrifying encounter with the Boston Strangler during Junger's childhood. A spate of gruesome strangling murders causes great alarm in the greater Boston community. Yet when the title murder occurs, law enforcement officials are so desperate to solve a case that they arrest and charge a black man on circumstantial evidence. Junger follows the path of that man, and the man later arrested for all of the other Boston stra...more

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Mar 10, 2009 Janellyn51 rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought this was really good. It mainly apealed to me because I remember the Boston Strangler time so well. I've spent the night in an apartment where one of the girls was found, I knew someone who discovered one of the bodies....and when Albert DeSalvo broke out of Bridgewater Correctional Institution for the Criminally insane...I lived one town over. I remember my mother saying If anyone comes to the door, you go upstairs and throw the kids out the window and I'll call the police. I had no i...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Coralie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was an amazing true crime story. Sebastian Junger was a baby when the Boston Strangler terrorized Boston. There was a murder right in his neighborhood. A black man was arrested, prosecuted and convicted for this murder, yet women were still murdered after this man was behind bars. Eventually, another man was arrested for the crimes committed by the Boston Strangler. This man claimed to be the Boston Strangler. Horrifyingly enough, the second man arrested for the crimes had done some remodel...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Cindy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was shocked when I heard that Sebastian Junger (journalist for National Geographic, and author of “The Perfect Storm”) had written a book about the Boston Strangler I could not help wondering why he would pick such a topic to write about. It ends up that he has a very good reason to write about him…it is because he knew him. Well at least he knew Albert DeSalvo who was convicted of being the Boston Strangler. Junger gives the history behind Albert DeSalvo and his victims. He also goes into gre...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Owen Spencer rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book examines the minds and behaviors of two men who were convicted of crimes attributed to "The Boston Strangler". The author does a good job of identifying ways that culture, human psychology, racial prejudice, and politics may have influenced the legal and judicial systems that convicted the two men. Ultimately, more questions are raised than are answered, which is not the author's fault, because the facts don't paint a clear picture. If there was more certainty that De Salvo was telling...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Edward rated it 4 of 5 stars

An excelent book that lead me down the path to read several other books on the Boston strangler(s).
It Tells a very interesting story of a black gentleman who happens to be working in Belmont (a very white affluent subburb of Boston) on the day that a woman is murdered. He is seen in the area and as a result, convicted of a murder that may have been done by the Boston Strangler. Coincdentally, the man arrested for being the Boston Strangler (DeSilva) was also working at Junger's house in Belmont...more

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Sep 06, 2008 Pat rated it 3 of 5 stars

All you fans of true crime will dig this mockumentary set in the Bean at the time of the Boston Strangler. Junger's writing is fierce. In another life he chased rebels and hung out with the likes of Foday Sankoh in the jungles of Sierra Leone. And he doesn't overuse commas which is sweet!

Regards friends

prp

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Oct 13, 2010 Astraia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Really well written novel about the Boston Strangler. Junger elevates the so-often told tale by adding an insight into the society of Boston during the hunt for the killer. I also really enjoyed it because I used to live on the Arlington/Belmont line (so I may have bumped up the star by a half.)

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Apr 05, 2008 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Dennis Hultstrom

Really good non-fiction crime drama. Different than his others, but just as compelling - maybe a little more readable than "Perfect Storm" (I would get distracted by the several-pages long tangents on the physics of waves).

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Nov 12, 2012 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: Ultimate Reading List - Crime

Shelves: crime, ultimate-reading-list, biography, history, non-fiction

Junger wrote one of my favorite books, The Perfect Storm. (Made into a mediocre film, but that shouldn't be held against it.) I can't rate this book quite as high--that book had some absolutely awesome, spine-tingling moments I'll never forget, and this book doesn't match it. I also wouldn't agree with the blurb inside that called it reminiscent of Capote's In Cold Blood, which I read only a few days ago. It might similarly be about a gruesome murder, but their virtues are quite opposite. Capote...more Junger wrote one of my favorite books, The Perfect Storm. (Made into a mediocre film, but that shouldn't be held against it.) I can't rate this book quite as high--that book had some absolutely awesome, spine-tingling moments I'll never forget, and this book doesn't match it. I also wouldn't agree with the blurb inside that called it reminiscent of Capote's In Cold Blood, which I read only a few days ago. It might similarly be about a gruesome murder, but their virtues are quite opposite. Capote claimed to have invented a new from, the "non-fiction novel." As a novel I'd rate it highly--the writing is first-rate and worthy of being called literature. But as non-fiction I consider it unreliable for a number of reasons. With Junger's A Death in Belmont, I'm not particularly impressed with the prose--indeed on that dimension it falls short of The Perfect Storm. But as non-fiction, as a work of journalism, it's first-rate and convincing in ways I feel Capote's classic book is not.

The origins of the book lie in a piece of Junger's family lore summed up in a photograph in the book--of Junger as an infant held by his mother, and caught also in the photograph Albert DeSalvo, the Boston Stranger. While DeSalvo was working for the Jungers in the Spring of 1963, Bessie Goldberg was raped and strangled to death little more than a mile from their home. A black man, Roy Smith, was convicted of her murder. Junger's mother has always believed Smith was innocent and Goldberg another victim of the Boston Stranger. In telling the story of these two men and the crimes of which they were convicted, Junger examines the American justice system and its flaws: "Between 1973 and 200 more than one hundred people have been released from death row--over 3 percent of the current death-row population--because they were later proved to be innocent." He later adds that of those found to be innocent "one out of five confessed to the crime." Those are sobering statistics. Moreover, half-way in the book given the evidence Junger had related, I thought Smith was probably guilty--although I wouldn't have voted for conviction had I been on the jury--by the end of the book Junger convinced me he was probably innocent.

Note the qualification "probably" and one thing Junger wrestles with throughout is the question not simply of guilt and innocence but doubt--particularly that elusive definition of "reasonable doubt" and how society comes to terms with it. For the "ability of citizens to scrutinize the theories insisted on by their government is their only protection against abuse of power and, ultimately, against tyranny." I do like how Junger used the cases involving DeSalvo and Smith to examine that issue. If I have any complaint, it's that I wish Junger had included his sources--there are no notes of them. At one point for instance, he stated that the polygraph has "error rates of 30 percent." I have no problem believing that--polygraphs after all don't really measure truth--only a physiological response. But I'd have liked to have known on what basis that and other claims were made. Definitely an engrossing book that asked questions every citizen that has to sit in a jury box should think about.(less)

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Apr 19, 2013 Janet rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fascinating study of Junger's family story about the man who was reputed to be the Boston Strangler working for his family and a murder that happened nearby and the black man,Roy Smith, who went to prison for the murder...in a thorough analysis of all the players, the sociology of the times, the minute to minute behaviors of those accused, the flaws in the justice system of this time, the influence of the Kennedy assassination on one of the verdicts, the prison system of Massachussetts, and the...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a book about the Boston Strangler. A black man was accused of (and punished for) raping and strangling a white woman, based on circumstantial evidence, during the time that the Boston Strangler was committing his crimes. It was mostly a matter of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time, since they really had no concrete evidence. It just goes to show how unfairly African American people were treated in the early 60's. The book was very interesting, showing how they did their inve...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Marcia rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: BZ

Shelves: audiobook, nonfiction, grown-up-books

What a story! Junger is such a terrific journalist, and as he did in War and The Perfect Storm, he weaves a great narrative from headline stories. The Boston Strangler had Boston in a frenzy in the 1960s and this story takes us to Belmont, where confessed strangler Albert DeSalvo worked as a handyman in the Junger home- a creepy person connection. Although DeSalvo confessed, there is still uncertainly if he committed all the murders and the truth went with him when he was murdered in the infirma...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Leslee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Book gave me nightmares. If I owned a gun, I might be spooked enough to shoot through a locked door at a potential intruder... Well, never mind. Junger can spin a good story, and the book starts out well. But after about two-thirds or so of it I got impatient with all the reported details, besides being creeped out, and probably won't finish it (I googled for a nutshell). I should know better as I tend to avoid "special victims unit" crime drama in TV or movies. But since it's part of local lore...more

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May 12, 2013 Drick rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book a few years ago. What struck me this time was the injustice of the criminal justice system that kept an innocent black man, Roy Smith, in jail for 10 years despite a very weak case. Junger does a great job of presenting all the evidence and the controversy around the case, but it was depressing what our system had done and still is doing to poor people of color. The real killer, Junger shows probably was Roy DiSalvo, the so-called Boston Strangler, though he never confessed the...more

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Jan 20, 2008 Kristin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Freaky stuff, man.

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Jun 24, 2012 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

As much as I love mysteries, I've never been a huge fan of true crime books. I think it has something to do with not wanting to contribute to voyeuristic, tabloid culture. After all, you can hardly turn on the television without seeing a 20/20, 48 Hours, etc...special dissecting in minute, excruciating detail every thrilling part of the crime. But sometimes a book comes along that intrigues me enough to pick it up. A Death in Belmont is one of those books.

A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger t...more As much as I love mysteries, I've never been a huge fan of true crime books. I think it has something to do with not wanting to contribute to voyeuristic, tabloid culture. After all, you can hardly turn on the television without seeing a 20/20, 48 Hours, etc...special dissecting in minute, excruciating detail every thrilling part of the crime. But sometimes a book comes along that intrigues me enough to pick it up. A Death in Belmont is one of those books.

A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger tells the story of The Boston Strangler, but using the context of a black man named Roy Smith, who was convicted of a murder in the suburb of Bemont, MA. The murder fit the profile of the Strangler murders, but there was enough circumstantial evidence to convince police that TBGDI-"the black guy did it". Later, when Albert DeSalvo confessed to the killings, he never confessed to the killing that Smith was convicted of. What made gave it a personal twist was the fact that during the time of the killings, DeSalvo was working on a construction project for Junger's family, and may in fact have left the Junger home to commit the Belmont murder. All pf the principle players died before the complete story was revealed, and experts differ on whether the Belmont murder was a miscarriage of justice against a black man by a racist justice system, or whether Smith did in fact commit the crime.

A Death in Belmont is well researched, and Junger doles out the facts and his own speculation in a well-paced account. He goes back and forth recounting the movements of Smith, DeSalvo, the detectives, and his own family from chapter to chapter. In the end he makes a pretty good case for his theory of the crime. And, of course, what makes the whole things that much creepier is the idea that while he was an infant, his mother spent her days caring for him in the company of one of the most prolific serial killers of the 20th century. Junger's writing is compelling, and even though he goes into pretty exhaustive detail I never felt bogged down by facts or overwhelmed by the amount of information. If true crime is your thing, this book will probably suit you quite well.(less)

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Mar 25, 2012 Eva Nickelson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

True crime isn't a genre I normally gravitate towards, and this was a book club read. I found the story somewhat unsatisfying. As one member of the book club put it, it felt as though this was a really, really long article about the Boston Strangler. An article on the subject may have made for a punchier, more forceful book. Instead, this book meandered through a number of subjects about the Boston Strangler, the Jungers's handyman, Roy Smith, trial law, prison conditions in Massachusetts and th...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Christine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: true-crime

This is the story of the Boston Strangler. The author, Sebastian Junger, has an interesting storyline in this book because he and his mother had one of the suspects in their home during the time a murder occured in their neighborhood.

I enjoyed reading this book because I never really knew the full story of the Boston Strangler, the victims, his signature, etc. Junger does a good job in building up the story and having the reader constantly turning pages for more.

My complaint about this book is t...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Nikitabanana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Imagine how strange and frightening it would be to see a picture of yourself, not quite a year old, with your mother and two men, one of whom is a confessed serial killer. This is what happened to Sebastian Junger, and only a small part of what he recounts in A Death in Belmont. A Death in Belmont” is about the brutal rape-murder of an elderly woman named Bessie Goldberg just blocks from his childhood home in an affluent suburb of Boston. A black man named Roy Smith, who happened to be working i...more Imagine how strange and frightening it would be to see a picture of yourself, not quite a year old, with your mother and two men, one of whom is a confessed serial killer. This is what happened to Sebastian Junger, and only a small part of what he recounts in A Death in Belmont. A Death in Belmont” is about the brutal rape-murder of an elderly woman named Bessie Goldberg just blocks from his childhood home in an affluent suburb of Boston. A black man named Roy Smith, who happened to be working in the Goldberg home that day, was quickly convicted of the crime and sentenced to life in prison. But the killer may well have been someone far more intriguing. The time was the early 1960′s, when the Boston area was traumatized by a series of rape-murders believed to be perpetrated by a single predator who came to be known as the Boston Strangler. The man who eventually confessed to being the Boston Strangler worked on a construction job in the Junger home. Indeed, he was working there on the day of the Goldberg murder. There is even a chilling photograph, included in the book, of a smiling Albert DeSalvo standing over the baby Sebastian and his doting mother. Although DeSalvo did not confess to the Goldberg murder, Junger explores the likelihood that the man in the photograph killed Bessie Goldberg on the day he was working in Junger’s home. To raise the stakes even further, Junger tells us, in his mother’s words, about the day, before the Goldberg murder, when DeSalvo was alone with his mother in the Junger home:

“I heard him come in, and two or three minutes later I heard him call me. So I opened the door to the cellar, and I saw him down there at the foot of the stairs and he was looking at me. And he was looking in a way that is almost indescribable. He had this intense look in his eyes, a strange kind of burning in his eyes, as if he was almost trying to hypnotize me. As if by sheer force of will he could draw me down into that basement.”

Junger then adds his own words:

“Clearly he wanted to get her down into the basement, and clearly if she did that things could go very wrong. My mother told him that she was busy, and then she closed the basement door and shot the bolt.”

These descriptions were, of course, made with the benefit of hindsight, years after DeSalvo confessed to being the Boston Strangler. At the time of her encounter with the workman, Junger’s mother, though concerned, told no one — neither her husband nor the construction boss — about DeSalvo. “Did she really want to get a man fired for the look in his eyes?” Junger asks rhetorically.

“A Death in Belmont,” though nonfiction, reads like a novel. Its narrative line is crisp. Junger takes us through the trial and conviction of Roy Smith, the series of stranglings in and around Boston, and the arrest and confession of Albert DeSalvo. However, I was a little frustrated in the end; although Junger hinted at times that he thought Ray Smith was innocent and DeSalvo guilty, he later lays out all of the reasons why Smith might have done it and why DeSalvo did not. Although he repeatedly cautions the readers that the truth is messy, I wished he could have cleaned it up a little more.
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Apr 26, 2011 Kate rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: graduate-school-reading

Though there is no doubt Sebastian Junger is masterful at the precise, clinical detail, the plot wandered around through historical details which were ultimately irrelevant to the narrative arch. As a study of detail and successful expository writing, this book balances both with skill. The book is almost entirely exposition, but the details draw a reader in so that it feels more like a camera panning across a scene, rather then someone standing in front of the class relating details. Two things...more

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Mar 29, 2011 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars

While I put 4 stars down, it's really 3.5 for me. I love Junger as an author and journalist. I probably would not have been as into this book as I was if I were not from the Boston area and had not gone to school about half a mile from the murder scene the book revolves around.

The murder is that of Bessie Goldberg in Belmont, Massachusetts that appeared to be a typical Boston Strangler case until the police picked up a black vagrant by the name of Roy Smith who had been cleaning Goldberg's house...more

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Nov 20, 2010 Jim rated it 3 of 5 stars

The hook for this “true crime” story is that Junger’s childhood home was once worked on by the man who was convicted of being The Boston Strangler, and that he may have murdered one of his victims while employed by the Junger household. To be fair, this isn’t the focal point of the book – it’s much more a modern account of the crimes of The Boston Strangler and the man who may have been falsely convicted of the murder in Belmont that Junger became fascinated by.
Despite the connection, Junger rem...more

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Apr 12, 2010 Eric Klee rated it 4 of 5 stars

On March 11, 1963, a woman by the name of Bessie Goldberg was murdered in the surburban town of Belmont, outside Boston, Mass. "A Death in Belmont" examines her death, along with flashbacks and asides about the U.S. justice system, U.S. law, and related crimes. Sebastian Junger, the author, has a personal interest in the subject matter of this non-fiction book. He lived in the same neighborhood of Belmont as Bessie Goldberg when she was murdered and possibly even met the real Boston Strangler in...more

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About Sebastian Junger

Sebastian Junger is an American author and journalist. He graduated from Concord Academy in 1980 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University in cultural anthropology in 1984. He received a National Magazine Award in 2000 for "The Forensics of War," published in Vanity Fair in 1999. In 1997, with the publication of his work, The Perfect Storm, he was touted as the new Hemingway,...more

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