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The Forest City Killer: A Serial Murderer, a Cold-Case Sleuth, and a Search for Justice

Vanessa Brown (Goodreads Author)

3.90 · Rating details · 130 ratings · 43 reviews

Dig deep into the unsolved murder of Jackie English and join the hunt for a serial killer

Fifty years ago, a serial killer prowled the quiet city of London, Ontario, marking it as his hunting grounds. As young women and boys were abducted, raped, and murdered, residents of the area held their loved ones closer and closer, terrified of the monster -- or monsters -- stalking ...more

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Paperback, 360 pages

Published October 4th 2019 by ECW Press

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Sep 13, 2019 Valerity (Val) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1900-s, netgalley, non-fiction, 2019, true-crime, mystery, canadiana

London, Ontario, aka Forest City and the setting of this particular book, back in the late 1960s and early 1970s as it follows a string of tantalizing unsolved murders there which left some believing that there was a serial killer plying his trade. It gives a good account of the murders it goes into, giving background detail and a good amount of local color. Some happen in small towns very nearby, but seem to be obviously linked. There are good debates about different suspects that Detective ...more

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Sep 01, 2019 Krista rated it really liked it

Shelves: can-con, nonfiction, 2019, arc

Perhaps because of its unique social geography, the degradation of mid-sized city economies, or the silo effect of the city's makeup, London seemed the perfect place for sex traffickers, drug dealers, and serial killers. They stopped here on their way through, as Ontario's superhighway 401 connects us easily with Detroit and Toronto. The Forest City was made a safe haven for the worst criminals by the covered eyes and ears of our citizens. Londoners can be remarkably incurious people.

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Perhaps because of its unique social geography, the degradation of mid-sized city economies, or the silo effect of the city's makeup, London seemed the perfect place for sex traffickers, drug dealers, and serial killers. They stopped here on their way through, as Ontario's superhighway 401 connects us easily with Detroit and Toronto. The Forest City was made a safe haven for the worst criminals by the covered eyes and ears of our citizens. Londoners can be remarkably incurious people.

My husband was born and raised in London, Ontario, apparently at the same time that that small, conservative city was unofficially known as the serial killer capital of Canada (and perhaps even of the world), and while reading Vanessa Brown's account of those still unsolved murders, The Forest City Killer, I couldn't help but wonder what those years must have been like for my inlaws: bringing children into a world where the daily headlines warned of young people being found raped, murdered, and left, half-naked and bloodied, exposed to the elements. When I asked my husband about this, he said he had never heard of any connection between London and supposed serial killers while growing up (giving credence to Brown's assertion that Londoners are particularly good at ignoring their city's unseemlier side), and it seems outrageous that fifty years later, these victims' families are still awaiting justice. As Michelle McNamara did for the Golden State Killer in I'll Be Gone in the Dark (who was eventually found as a result of the attention McNamara brought back to those murders now attributed to him), Brown's primary purpose seems to be to revive these cold cases and put pressure on the various police departments to retest evidence, follow up on new connections, and get the public talking again, perhaps prompting people to finally reveal what they know. With a respectful discussion of the various crime scenes and an always empathetic narrative around these victims and their families, Brown strikes just the right balance between relaying information and maintaining dignity for those involved; a worthwhile project, done well. (Note: I read an ARC and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)

Someday, someone is going to write a book about the English case, as we are dealing with some of the wackiest people that existed. Mrs. Harrison and Glen Fryer were both insane. Even a TV drama could not come up with weirder people. – Dennis Alsop Jr

As an amateur historian, journalist, and trained antiquarian who runs an independent used bookstore in London, Ontario, Brown has both officially and informally spent her life collecting the stories of the locals she meets and talks to every day. After learning about London's history with serial killers from Michael Arntfield's Murder City, Brown eventually arranged a meeting with Dennis Alsop Jr: the son of a detective with the Ontario Provincial Police who investigated many of London's murders in the late 60s/early 70s, and who is now in possession of his deceased father's personal archives. With the aid of this new information (including Alsop Sr's personal theories; those things the police know but can't prove in court), Brown develops and relates her own theories, apparently unique in the online sleuthing community, and if any of this can catch a killer while he may still be alive, it seems a worthy project. What I might object to is the middle chunk of the book – focused on the strange and coincidence-laden story of “the wackiest people that existed” – that makes for interesting reading, but may only be tangentially related to the case that Brown is building.

And while I appreciate the frustration that the victims' families and modern researchers might feel towards what they now regard as shoddy police work at the time, Brown spends a lot of ink editorialising about those investigations when she could just let the facts speak for themselves. It would seem that at the height of the runaway hippie days, the police were unwilling to search for missing young women until weeks passed (assuring a family that their long-missing daughter “is probably off somewhere married by now”, or in the aftermath of a church group needing to organise its own search party when the police refused, officially commenting, “If three hundred men couldn't find her, I doubt three hundred and six could have either”). There's no arguing that victim shaming and moral relativism were prevalent in those chauvinistic days: A coroner sneers that a teenaged murder victim hadn't been a virgin, a divorcee probably wasn't the victim of rape because people knew she liked to sleep around, it's implied that a sex predator could have been contained if his wife had met his needs, a judge cautions a jury that they couldn't add rape to a murder charge if it's found that the body had only been violated after death. Weird and nasty stuff to the modern reader. When an adolescent is found dead, bloody and bruised, her genitals exposed and her mouth stuffed with pink tissue, the police reaction is incredible, but I didn't need Brown to spell it out for me:

Detective Herb Jeffrey said, “We feel the victim knew the person who picked her up.” When asked about the type of person who would commit such a disgusting, violent act, Jeffrey ruled out an abnormal mind. He said, “Perverts destroy. This was more like the work of a healthy male.” The implication was that a man had been overcome with lust and arousal, that this kind of behaviour – kidnap, murder, and sexual assault – was just a natural offshoot of a healthy man's desires.

Inserting herself into the narrative did add interest for me – learning the history of Brown's research made the subject matter more relatable, as did the local colour she could provide as a resident of the setting – so it's not that I wanted Just the facts ma'am, I just found the running commentary about the state of police work back in the day to be too often snide. I was fascinated to learn that the first detective to respond to a murder case back then would write his name on the victim's hand before anything else to claim the case (talk about corrupting a crime scene!), and I agree with Alsop Jr's assertion that the police often forget that investigations belong equally to victims' families and information and evidence shouldn't be so jealously guarded from them (nor, for that matter, should the victims' non-evidentiary belongings be held indefinitely as their families plead for their return). Brown quotes often from Murder City, makes reference to coverage of some of these murders on the television show To Catch a Killer, and discusses the online sleuthing devoted to London's serial killers on the website Unsolved Canada: it would seem that even if people can live their entire lives in London without knowing it had been the serial killer capital of Canada, there are still many people committed to solving these decades-old cold cases. If, as with the Golden State Killer, the Forest City Killer is caught as a result of this fresh focus on the facts, any narrative quibbles I might have would be moot. I hope that is the case. ...more

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Aug 22, 2019 Christine rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime-and-trial, 2019, netgalley-and-arcs, women-writers, history-canada

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley

If you are American (and maybe if you are not), Brown’s book is going to remind you on some level of the Golden State Killer. Which is strange because the only thing that the two books have in common.

Brown’s book details the unsolved killings of young people, mostly girls, in London Ontario that occurred in a period starting the 1960s. While Brown does work as a bookseller, she is also a knowledge local historian. She brings a local’s knowledge to the story, and ...more

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Oct 04, 2019 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, arc-are, netgalley-reviews

London, Ontario earned its nickname ‘The Forest City’ during its establishment in 1826, when it was little more than a village among the trees. Today, London is a mid size city with a population of about 400,000 that spreads out along the River Thames. London is a community much like any other, but from 1959 to 1984, the town was said to have had more active serial killers than any other locale in the world. It was reported by criminologist, Michael Arntfield in his book Murder City, that there London, Ontario earned its nickname ‘The Forest City’ during its establishment in 1826, when it was little more than a village among the trees. Today, London is a mid size city with a population of about 400,000 that spreads out along the River Thames. London is a community much like any other, but from 1959 to 1984, the town was said to have had more active serial killers than any other locale in the world. It was reported by criminologist, Michael Arntfield in his book Murder City, that there were at least six serial killers active in London during this era, including Russell Maurice Johnson known as ‘The Bedroom Strangler’, Gerald Thomas Archer known as ‘The London Chambermaid Slayer, and Christian Magee known as ‘The Mad Slasher’.

The Forest City Killer explores the murders of several young women and children, linked by location and manner of death, whose killer/s were never officially identified. Amateur historian, writer, and antiquarian bookseller Vanessa Brown presents Information about several of the cases that remain unsolved from the late 1960’s drawn not only from public record but also her own interviews with relevant persons, and from the personal files of a (now deceased) detective who played an active role in the investigation of these crimes.

Brown begins with the murder of fifteen year old Jackie English, who disappeared on her way home from work one evening in 1969. Her nude body was found under a bridge a few days later, she had been beaten, raped and strangled. Her unidentified killer, is who Brown calls ‘The Forest City Killer’, and it is this case that she finds the most compelling.

Brown’s personal theory links the murder of Jackie English with the murders of at least two other teenage girls, Jacqueline Dunleavy, and Soraya O’Connell, as well as a woman in her mid-thirties, Helga Beer, and three young boys, eleven-year-old Bruce Stapylton, nine-year old Frankie Jensen, and sixteen year old Scott Leishman. I’m not sure I agree that all the murders, and at least one other disappearance, are the work of a single killer, but Brown does suggest points of comparison that could be of significance.

Unfortunately the investigation of the cases were cases were uneven, largely a byproduct of the times. The police chief was uninterested in the disappearance of young women in particular, quick to suggest they were off partying, or were simply runaway’s, so official searches were delayed. The London police force also generally lacked experience, and an understanding, of sexually motivated crimes, evident by some shocking statements of victim shaming. While blood, fluids, and other evidence were collected from many of the scenes, forensic investigative techniques at the time were primitive, and it is unclear if any of it still exists.

Brown’s material on these unsolved cases is interesting and readable, though at times the narrative feels a little cluttered with extraneous personal detail. I do think the book would benefit from summary’s of each case’s details, and perhaps a comparison table, or something similar.

Brown states that her main purpose in writing The Forest City Killer is “…to renew interest in these unsolved cases and to urge the Ontario Provincial Police to re-investigate these crimes vigorously, using all DNA and other evidence in their possession.” I hope that her aim is achieved and the family’s may finally get the answers they have long hoped for. ...more

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Aug 25, 2019 Amie's Book Reviews rated it really liked it

Researcher Vanessa Brown grew up in London, Ontario, Canada and resides there to this day. It is in her beloved city where she owns and operates a used book store and as an avid local historian, she has authored and/or edited several local history books. London, Ontario is also known as "The Forest City" hence the title of this book.

I have a keen interest in True Crime, biographies and historical non-fiction. It is because of this that I was drawn to THE FOREST CITY KILLER.

Also, since I live Researcher Vanessa Brown grew up in London, Ontario, Canada and resides there to this day. It is in her beloved city where she owns and operates a used book store and as an avid local historian, she has authored and/or edited several local history books. London, Ontario is also known as "The Forest City" hence the title of this book.

I have a keen interest in True Crime, biographies and historical non-fiction. It is because of this that I was drawn to THE FOREST CITY KILLER.

Also, since I live in Ontario, Canada and have visited all the locations mentioned in this story, and in fact, I attended the same high school (Sir Frederick Banting High School in Alliston Ontario) as convicted murderer, David Bodemer, I knew I just had to find out the details of the murders which took place only a few years before I was born.

Author VANESSA BROWN has taken the story of murder most foul and crafted a true tale of intrigue with so many twists and turns that it is almost unbelievable. It is said that "Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction," and in the case of the FOREST CITY KILLER this statement proves to be true.

Untangling the web of murders as well as entertaining multiple theories, the writing of this book must have been a monumental task and yet Vanessa Brown proves herself as adept in not only untangling the many strands of the web, but also in providing readers with a chohesive and coherent timeline and a theory that comes across as convincing. In fact, maybe Vanessa Brown has missed her calling - she would make a phenomenal cold-case investigator.

My only negative feedback about THE FOREST CITY KILLER is the overabundance of footnotes. In my opinion, if the note is worthy of being included in the book, then it can easily be added to the main narrative. I found the footnotes interesting and was glad the information they contained was included, however I found them overly distracting. Hopefully, since the copy I received was an ARC (Advance Review Copy) that these footnotes will be worked into the body of the book.

Included in the book are many photographs including pictures of the eleven victims and photos taken at the time the bodies were found. This allows readers to feel an extra connection to the cases.

I rate THE FOREST CITY KILLER as 4 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐

** Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book.**

To read more of my reviews and to enter some awesome giveaways, visit my blog at http://Amiesbookreviews.wordpress.com

Follow me on Instagram @Amiesbookreviews ...more

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Nov 18, 2019 Peacegal rated it really liked it

This is a haunting, impassioned story of a cold case and a writer's commitment to justice for the victims. As with all violent crime of the pre-DNA testing era, you get so frustrated reading about the wealth of evidence the murderer left behind and how pretty much nothing could be done.

I hope this book works in the way I'LL BE GONE IN THE DARK did and renews interest in a partially-forgotten cold case, leading to the conviction of the murderer.

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Sep 29, 2019 Tom rated it it was ok

Shelves: non-fiction

This book seriously suffers from discontinuous story lines. It puts forth the theory that a string of sexual murders in the 1960s in London Ontario were all committed by one individual. I found it unconvincing and frustrating to read. It seems to be more an outline or notes for a book rather than finished work.

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Oct 07, 2019 Lori L (She Treads Softly) rated it really liked it

The Forest City Killer: A Serial Murderer, a Cold-Case Sleuth, and a Search for Justice by Vanessa Brown is a highly recommended examination of cold cases and the likelihood that a serial killer is the culprit.

Fifty years ago, a serial killer prowled the quiet city of London, Ontario, making it, unofficially, the serial killer capital of Canada. Young women and boys were abducted, raped, and murdered, beginning with the 1969 murder of 15-year-old Jackie English. Homicide Detective Dennis Alsop The Forest City Killer: A Serial Murderer, a Cold-Case Sleuth, and a Search for Justice by Vanessa Brown is a highly recommended examination of cold cases and the likelihood that a serial killer is the culprit.

Fifty years ago, a serial killer prowled the quiet city of London, Ontario, making it, unofficially, the serial killer capital of Canada. Young women and boys were abducted, raped, and murdered, beginning with the 1969 murder of 15-year-old Jackie English. Homicide Detective Dennis Alsop spent the next 40 years, until his death, hunting for her killer - and the killer of the other victims. Author Vanessa Brown was allowed to look through Alsop's case files, revealing previously undisclosed evidence and statements from witnesses. Alsop believed that there were seven homicides that were linked. The questions remain though. Was it one killer or two? And could a DNA test reveal the identity of the killer? Brown believes that there were two killers.

The stories of the victims are heartbreaking, especially in terms of the time in history that they occurred. Parents weren't concerned about stranger danger or advising their children to be careful and watch their surroundings. I know this simply because I was a child at this time and actually had an abduction scare. Brown does a good job describing the town, the setting, and placing herself personally in the cases while researching them because she knows the area and the stories swirling around the community about the murders.

While there is no conclusive answer as to the identity of the killer(s), Brown brings many facts to light about the investigations, suspects, and the cases. In some instances, some of the information is unnecessary or unfocused, but that could be because I had an ARC. Brown knows a lot about the cases and she does include a lot of information and the book includes copious footnotes. There are also many photos, which help to focus on the area and what Brown is pointing out. Now I'll be following any news on the Forest City killer cold cases to see if the killer(s) is ever identified.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of ECW Press.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/1... ...more

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Oct 08, 2019 Nikki Stafford rated it it was amazing

An astonishing look at a series of murders in what feels like small-town London, Ontario, "The Forest City Killer" is a fast-paced, remarkable read that makes you rethink the idea that the world was a better, purer place in the 1960s. Author Vanessa Brown has meticulously compiled each of the dozen murders that happened in this Southwestern Ontario city, pulled out new clues that I hadn't read before, and managed to string them all together and point out links between them all, along with ...more

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Oct 11, 2019 Cassandra Struble rated it liked it

Shelves: true-crime, netgalley, mystery

I had never heard of The Forest City Killer until this book. It follows a string of murders and disappearances in and around a small town in Canada.
This book gives detailed information into a lot of the cases. It tries to show connections between them all, but that gets a bit muddied up by not knowing who actually committed the crimes. It also follows the notes from Detective Alsop, so it gave some insight into the investigation. She also brings up some of the DNA samples, but then mentions how ...more

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Sep 16, 2019 Rachael rated it really liked it

The Forest City Killer details a set of events so chilling and mysterious that I found myself sitting up at night, afraid to go to sleep. Vanessa Brown writes with compassion for the victims and their families while also maintaining a ruthless hunt for truth and fact (difficult though it must have been considering some of the police work in the cases). While non-Londoners with a taste for true crime will undoubtably appreciate TFCK, it truly hits home for us who live in the Forest City.

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Nov 27, 2019 Marguerite Giguère rated it really liked it

I thought this was a very interesting book. I did find it a bit confusing to read some of the time because of all the stories that were mixed up together. It did make me really sad to read about all those murders and also gave me nightmares... Especially since I live in London. I really hope that those cases will be solved some day to bring justice to the victims and their families.

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Sep 29, 2019 Michel rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019-reading-challenge

The fairest City Killer takes on a chilling journey into London’s recent past as a seedy hunting ground for the Forest City Killer. The events in the book are grotesque and captivating, and Brown does her best to honour the stories for the families who survived them. I came away with a better understanding of the city and the resilient people who lived here in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

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Aug 26, 2019 Sarah rated it liked it

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I hadn't heard much about this case until recently so I was interested in reading the book, some may say it is similar to the Golden State Killer. While it was an interesting read, there was a few downfalls, there was too many footnotes and couldn't interview many of the witnesses. Overall though still a decent book.

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Nov 28, 2019 Brandon Forsyth rated it really liked it

I think Goodreads erased my original review - suffice it to say that this is empathetic, feminist true crime in the spirit of Michelle McNamara that raises some interesting questions about these cases in particular and the way cold cases are investigated in Ontario in general.

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Oct 01, 2019 Tiffany rated it it was ok

I received an ARC from Netgalley called The Forest City Killer by Vanessa Brown. This is a true crime about a serial killer and rapist operating in Canada in the 1960s and early 70s. Vanessa Brown is not a journalist but a citizen who lives in the same area where the serial killer was targeting victims. She interviewed surviving family members, read detective's notes, and even tried to interview potential suspects.

Unfortunately, this case is still unsolved which made me feel very unsatisfied ...more

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Sep 28, 2019 Dominique rated it it was ok

This book was difficult to read due to the Kindle formatting. Footnotes would appear in the middle of a paragraph and were often incomplete.

I found the topic of the Forest City Killer fascinating. However, I had great difficulty following the storyline. It seemed to hop, skip, and jump around quite a bit. The author draws some strong conclusions which seemed to be based on conjecture rather than evidence, including drawing connections between cases that are most likely unrelated. The author ...more

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Sep 21, 2019 Shauna Roth rated it it was ok

As a true crime reader, I was very surprised to learn about the Forest City murders. I appreciate the fact that the author put these unsolved murders back into the public eye. This is the first advanced reader copy that I have read that was draft-like in presentation. It required a little more focus as I was reading it. Captions for photos would be inserted in the middle of page and footnotes also in strange placements, as well as sentences ending mid-sentence, to be picked up later on, but ...more

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Sep 30, 2019 Natalie Hébert rated it it was amazing

Brown weaves a coherent narrative from the many threads she has gathered over the course of her investigation. The details of London, Ontario in the 60s & 70s make the setting another important witness to the many murders Brown recounts.
In The Forest City Killer Brown builds a compelling case that justice has not been served for the victims and their families. Her tender treatment of those left behind is contrasted effectively with the brutal details of each death. A gripping read that ...more

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Aug 28, 2019 Jen Juenke rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

I am really struggling with this review. I feel that in some parts the author did a GREAT job. Covering Jackie's murder.
Then in other areas, I feel the author spent too much time on the crazy lady who framed Glenn Frye.
I completely understand that the author does NOT know who the Forest Killer is/was....but I felt that there could have been more emphasis on the victims, the stuffed tissues in the throats of at least 2 victims, whether or not there was other unsolved murders around Canada with ...more

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Sep 04, 2019 Michayla (WaitingfortheSecondStar) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Very engaging and full of possibility. Not a good read if you want definitive answers! ;) I liked Brown’s narrative voice and the way she set up the story and the history. A few too many digressions to feel completely cohesive, but a good read for the true-crime fanatic.

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Sep 11, 2019 Michayla (WaitingfortheSecondStar) added it

A big “Thank You” to ECW for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

The Forest City Killer is a true-crime book detailing the mysterious and unsolved murder of Jackie English in 1969--a disappearance and death that our author and many others believe was a single incident among several acts of a serial killer. With several people disappearing and turning up dead, the probability of such speculation feels high. Setting her book against a backdrop of small-town living, Brown A big “Thank You” to ECW for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

The Forest City Killer is a true-crime book detailing the mysterious and unsolved murder of Jackie English in 1969--a disappearance and death that our author and many others believe was a single incident among several acts of a serial killer. With several people disappearing and turning up dead, the probability of such speculation feels high. Setting her book against a backdrop of small-town living, Brown details the series of events recorded and revisited over the decades, highlighting suspicious characters and chilling “coincidences.” While the book ends with an arrest, it also ends with a lot of open-ended questions that never got answers. The reader is left to speculate, to guess, and to investigate--what really happened in London, Ontario, and who was responsible?

I don’t read a lot of true crime, but I was intrigued by the premise of this particular work and enjoyed reading it immensely. It reminds me in many ways of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, a book recounting the mysterious circumstances surrounding the Golden State Killer. This book also doesn’t offer conclusions, because we don’t have any! For that reason, I would recommend this to thrill-seekers and mystery-lovers; if you need hard-and-fast solutions, you will probably want to look elsewhere! :)

Brown does an excellent job drawing several strings of story together, taking police reports, newspaper articles, and interviews, and bringing to life the scenes they describe. These people feel real (which is good, because they were), and those still around are as desperate for answers as ever. Some of the stories Brown shares are chilling, some haunting, some heartbreaking, some all three. This book also reminded me in some ways of Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil by John Berendt, because both authors find themselves inextricably placed in the midst of the story. Plus, since each focuses on a specific location, the history of the town becomes as significant to the mystery as the literal accounts. It’s so easy to fall into the midst of the history of this town and to start hunting for answers.

There’s a lot going on in this story; there are many moving pieces and many aspects to consider. As someone who struggles to remember names, I found it hard at times to keep track of who was who. For those like me, I would recommend a system of noting “characters” and their “roles” so that you don’t have to double back to frequently. I would also add that a particular string of stories felt like a deep digression from the central story, and I struggled to find the connection to the rest of the case.

Despite some of the convolution, I felt this was a very compelling read. It’s powerful because it’s true, and because it remains unsolved. I would recommend this book to fans of true crime, both in print and in film, and to anyone who enjoyed the two books I mentioned above. Again, this is not for those who need someone else to tell them the answers--you have to want to solve the mystery on your own, or much like the family members left wondering, you’ll feel unsatisfied.
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Nov 30, 2019 Navarra rated it liked it

London, Ontario appears to have drawn a lot of interesting characters in its history and much was afoot there around the time of my birth in the same province. Vanessa Brown illuminates a true crime period of history that appears to have been kept relatively well hidden in general Canadian history. When I was learning the urban legend of the psychiatric escapee with the hook by campfire, I think that learning that a city not even 130 km from my hometown was a hotbed of serial killers might have London, Ontario appears to have drawn a lot of interesting characters in its history and much was afoot there around the time of my birth in the same province. Vanessa Brown illuminates a true crime period of history that appears to have been kept relatively well hidden in general Canadian history. When I was learning the urban legend of the psychiatric escapee with the hook by campfire, I think that learning that a city not even 130 km from my hometown was a hotbed of serial killers might have been more terrifying. If the reader is interested in exploding their notions of Southern Ontario in the 1960s and 1970s as a seat of innocence and small-town virtue, this book will be an eye-opener.

While not an extraordinary standout author stylistically, Vanessa Brown offers a thoroughly well-researched, polished, mostly fluidly-moving book. In many ways, it is a nice departure from the variety of hackneyed writing techniques used to hook readers and is journalistic without the textural version of 20-second sound bites. Brown chronicles the victims more comprehensively and compassionately than in structurally similar serial cases such as that found in Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery. Here, we get relevant data and—where the author really shines—a full contextualization of the location and time (one of my particular preferences in true crime media), as well as a three-dimension view of all those involved. One gets the real “feel” of London, Ontario and even Canada of the late 1960s, a time that felt far more comfortingly homogenous than it was.

I especially appreciated Vanessa Brown’s archivist/journalist approach and loved the footnotes, particularly ones at the bottom of the page (thank you, Vanessa Brown!). These and her sources at the end of her book demonstrate a systematic and well-researched approach, which makes her book much more credible to my mind. When dealing with a particularly twisty, complicated chapter she also enumerated the persons involved, another helpful tactic when dealing with a close network of persons in complex circumstances. Unfortunately, the book still suffers from a a slowing of pace at times due to the detail and less narrative style of writing. Trying to keep track of the threads can sometimes lead to confusion, despite Vanessa Brown’s best efforts (and there is real effort) at clarity. ...more

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Sep 02, 2019 Shelby rated it it was amazing

During the 1960s in London, Ontario (“The Forest City”), numerous young boys and women were kidnapped, raped, and murdered by the Forest City Killer. Some cases were thought to be connected, some weren’t. Although his identity remains unknown, Vanessa Brown has combed through police files, conducted her own interviews, and found missing links between cases that just may help reveal the FCK’s true identity.

As true crime is one of my favorite genres to read, I tend to be stingy with five-star ...more

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Dec 01, 2019 Karissa Costa rated it really liked it

"Someday, someone is going to write a book about the English case, as we are dealing with some of the wackiest people that existed."

This was a really deep dig into this case. A lot of ground was covered and at times I felt it was muddled, overwhelming and confusing with quite a bit of jumping back and forth between cases and dates.. but I suppose that is just the reality of this unsolved case and the author has definitely put exhaustive work into this collection of haunting facts, memories ...more

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Nov 15, 2019 Jim Tracy rated it really liked it

I liked this book. It's not your usual crime story as the author is local to the area of the crimes and writes a lot about the area. She also inserts opinion and first person at times. Ultimately, however, it's some pretty weird and wacky stuff that makes for interesting reading. If you want a book about an open and shut case, this is not it. I would recommend fiction. This is a real life story where everything, in the end, doesn't get tied up in a neat little bow. It's thesis is a plea for ...more

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Nov 05, 2019 Jeff Swystun rated it really liked it

This is definitely a disturbing tale. It takes place in London, Ontario. I had honestly never heard of The Forest City Killer. Though not a huge fan of true crime, I recently finished listening to a podcast, Evil Has a Name. It was a fascinating examination of The Golden State Killer.

It is amazing how many serial rapists and killers operated with impunity throughout the 60’s and 70’s. Better policing and technology have had effect in the decades since. In Evil has a Name, the podcast rattles off ...more

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Nov 11, 2019 Kirstin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: on-my-bookshelf

Man... What to say about this book...

It reads really well. It respects the victims, and doesn't go into too much detail about the murders itself, just enough to tell you what happened. I will put a Trigger Warning: sexual assault, rape, murder, assault, harassment, and necrophilia are all in this book.

For me, none of it super hit until the epilogue. That last paragraph or two made it real.

I will also say that Vanessa balances well the good and the bad, the victims stories with her personal ...more

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Nov 09, 2019 P.T. rated it it was amazing

Near the beginning of The Forest City Killer, Vanessa Brown compares London, Ontario to the fictional town of Twin Peaks. It’s an appropriate description, given what follows: a series of bizarre, branching stories that may (or may not) be connected to the body of a young girl found in the water.

I live in London, and I wasn’t aware of any of the dark history presented here—this city tends to forget or ignore things pretty quickly. It was chilling to see landmarks I visit regularly as the backdrop ...more

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Sep 05, 2019 Sayo rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019

This book was informative and interesting, the history of places like Stanley Variety were very interesting to me as I use to live a few houses down from the old store.
It is clear that the author took the time to do her research and is well informed on the history of London Ontario.

However- she made a comment regarding the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses

"Even more frightening the unrepentant would go to hell"

It is wildly known that Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in hell or the eternal soul. ...more

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About Vanessa Brown

Vanessa Brown

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A freelance writer, editor and local historian, Vanessa Brown is the author of The Grand Old Lady: A History of Hotel London and London: 150 Cultural Moments (written with Jason) which was published by Biblioasis in 2017. She is also a murderino, and wants to remind you to stay sexy and don't get murdered! Her latest book, The Forest City Killer, will be published with ECW in 2019.