I would describe this book as narrative non-fiction, or adult non-fiction, but not really a history. It's true the book is "about" the unexplained death of Rey Rivera, and there are mentions of other deaths at the Belvedere, but it's really about the author, her intense fascination death and the macabre, her feelings of isolation, and her personal obsession with Rey Rivera's case. The book isn't particularly scholarly and much of the focus in introspective and having to do with the author's own feelings and thoughts. There are many tangents that have nothing at all to do with Rivera or the Belvedere. That said, it was an entertaining book that I enjoyed reading and I would recommend it for leisure reading or for libraries looking for something to add to their popular reading. I wouldn't really recommend it to academic libraries, I don't think students of history or criminology are going to get a whole lot out of it. I am basing my star rating on the quality of the book itself and of the writing, which is quite good and very entertaining as long as you go in knowing the book is about Brottman's experience and feelings about living at the Belvedere and investigating Rivera, not actually about the history of the Belvedere or Rivera's case.

I always feel so bad when I rate a book so low, but don't think I could do any more than 1 star, just for the author's effort. From the title and the description, I expected this to be an in-depth look at the unexplained death of Rey Rivera. It started in that fashion, and then derailed completely. We begin with a brief introduction to Rey Rivera and the Belvedere, where the author lives and where Rey Rivera died. The author then leads us down the path of her psychoanalysis for insecurity as she feels she is invisible. I’m guessing it ties in as we are all invisible until something happens? Next, the author goes into quite a lot of detail about suicide with macabre ramblings that don’t connect to the story. We then move a bit deeper into Rey’s story, but there are so many open topics (suicide, accident, murder, the Masons, his business associates) that the author brings up, then just lets them sit while she moves to taking about walking her dog in a park, rabid bats and poisoned rats. And more suicides thrown in for good measure. I couldn’t follow her connections, the story about Rey was totally unsatisfying, and the book is just the author’s morbid curiosity about anything and everything put down on paper.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt Publishers for a chance to read this ARC. This publishes on Nov 6, 2018.

Oh my word, what a scrambled mess. Reading this book is akin to tearing every page from a book, letting them scatter to the floor, then picking them up randomly and sitting down to read what you have gathered.

This book has a good premise going in and you believe that you will be reading non-fiction about a mans suicide from a fall from the top of the Belvedere Hotel. Written by someone who is now an occupant of that building after it's change into condos. And there are parts of the book that do relate to that belief. But there are so many, many other portions of this book that miss the mark. Not only is the syntax, the spelling and punctuation, just horrible - much more so than you would ever expect in an ARC - appearing to be the first rough draft in relation to all it's errors - but the flow of the story is just not there. Not only chapter after chapter goes off in different surprising directions, but within chapters there is so much unrelated information, that you begin to lose the basis of what the book is supposed to be about. As I said previously, a scrambled mess.

There are portions of this book dedicated to the stated premise, the suicide of Rey Rivera, his possible reasoning, his stage in life when it happened, and his family after the act. However it is spread out over 12 chapters of so much misaligned information that it really gets lost in the flow. Possibly restructured, all the information given could lead you to an intelligent conclusion about Riveras actions that day, but as it is it just feels like a melting pot of conjecture, supposition and interpretation of what the author wants and feels it should be, and not very clearly set forth in a practical way.

Not a book I would recommend without a total make over.

This is a pretty exceptional work of nonfiction. More than a decade in the making, it's part investigation and true crime writing, part personal narrative, and part history.

It begins with Brottman spotting MISSING posters for a young man named Rey Rivera, as she's walking her dog. Then, his body is discovered, appearing as if he committed suicide by jumping from the building Brottman lives in, which no one who knows Rivera believes. It just so happens this is a historical landmark hotel turned into apartments.

The author's self confessed obsession with all things morbid leads to a fascinating exploration of the Belvedere Hotel, which has seen more than its fair share of suicides, and of the history of suicide in general. Cases and facts from the past are woven in with Rivera's story, and Brottman's determination to figure out what happened to him. There is so much information in this book, I feel I didn't have the chance to digest it all. There were a few times the author went out on a tangent that while interesting, was barely connected to the root of the story.

This book is unique because it will appeal to readers across several genres. Those who enjoy true crime writing and mystery will certainly enjoy it, as will history buffs. It's also a memoir of sorts and those who appreciate a skilled personal narrative, such as myself, will find the writing top notch.

I really wanted to like this book that I even searched for an AirBnB in the location so that I could get all the chills. It was a disappointment. While the case is interesting, the writing never jelled for me.

This book is a somewhat quirky mix of true crime, history, and personal narrative. The central story involves a missing man in Baltimore whose body turns up in mysterious circumstances inside the building (a former grand old hotel) where the writer lives. She becomes admittedly obsessed with the case and her pursuit of answers becomes inextricably linked with the case itself. She also weaves in stories of historical deaths in the building. At times, her individual insecurities an self-doubts loom a little too large in the overall storyline, but every time I had to put the book down, I was looking forward to the next time I could pick it up again. This definitely isn't traditional true crime or traditional investigation (which is what I was expecting), but I enjoyed it overall. (Note: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review).

A richly researched and thoughtful read about a little-known and fascinating subject.

Ok, I CANNOT figure out what in the name of creation is going on here... The "story" skips all over the place - personal narrative anecdotes interspersed with seemingly random facts and bits of a disappearance story are all melded together, but not in any semblance of anything coherent. The writing style is fine - even quite engaging at times - but I'm so lost and tired of trying to figure out where all the "Squirrel!" shiny-moments are taking me that my brain is starting to hurt.. This one just was not for me.

This book surprised me- I was expecting a mystery, and a mysterious death for sure, but they way this book rolls out was different than your standard true story mystery.

A guy who seemed to have everything in the word going for him disappears out of the blue, im the middle of things. The mystery deepens when his body is found and all the signs look like a suicide, but again out of the blue, Why?
Was it a murder, and if it was a suicide, what precipitated this sudden act? This is the basis of the book and the author is quite candid about her obsession with finding out what 'really' happened. The challenge is that there is no clear answer, one way or the other. There a loose threads, unanswered questions and an uneasy acceptance that what really happened is not clear, or revealed.

Some very interesting stuff about sudden suicide, especially when those around the persons don't see anything that would make them think any problems were there. The problems might have been, but then again, maybe not.
It is this ambiguity that permeates he book and it can be a bit frustrating, I like fiction because I get an ending,
( most of the time) and this one does not.
Fun read, no, not exactly, but interesting nonetheless. I only wish i knew more about the authors' dog.....

To grab your attention, missing people have to possess a certain allure. They have to mesmerize you.

Author Mikita Brottman lives in the Belvedere, a historic building in Baltimore that had a long life as a hotel and now is sectioned into apartments, bars and event spaces. Brottman considers herself fascinated by the morbid, as many of us do, and naturally hotels tend to be a magnetic space for types with these kind of interests. There's just so much layered history, so much potential for mysteries, and often, a lot of tragedy. This seems to come frequently in the form of suicides. Brottman lays out a lot about the suicide topic in this book - shedding more light onto why hotels attract the suicidal, with plenty of case histories tied to the Belvedere, an eerie, personality-filled building for sure. "Human memory may be flawed, but the Belvedere has a memory of its own."

One of these hotel deaths, a more recent one from 2006, is the strange case of Rey Rivera, a charismatic, attractive newlywed video editor who seemed to have taken a running leap off the roof of the Belvedere - an unusual method, Brottman's research shows. Things were going well in Rivera's life, he had no history of mental illness or suicidal tendencies, and seemingly out of nowhere, in the midst of a normal, jumped off the Belvedere's roof (how he even got up there being one of many mysteries wrapped up in this one case).

The book begins ostensibly as an investigation into Rivera's mysterious death, and includes Brottman's researching a history of suicides at the historic property (and elsewhere, but mainly there.) I found this topic, like Brottman does, morbidly fascinating. Her writing on these story lines, of the dark history of the hotel and mostly on Rivera's case, is excellent. The stories are well told and placed in solid historical context. The pages fly by in these parts.

But the story is frequently punctuated with the author's feeling, and examples of, being invisible to the world around her. A little bit of this would have been fine, but it goes overboard without ever really circling back around to something meaningful in terms of the case, or in terms of what I would want to read.

She also uses a lot of opinion-based observations, like "I am constitutionally skeptical of statistics" but references astrology, which made me cringe. Statistics have to be taken with a grain of salt depending on their origin and specifics, sure, but astrology gets a free pass? This was another area where I felt like journalism failed here in favor of the personal. We get a sentence beginning "Rey, a typical Gemini..." NO. STOP. That says nothing to me, as it shouldn't. Astrology is fine to play around with but please don't incorporate it into anything you want to be taken seriously. In her defense, she doesn't use it that often or too seriously, but it was enough to make me incredulous when she also makes sweeping blanket statements about statistics "skepticism".

Sometimes the personal overwhelms the story, even despite efforts to tie it into the thread of the mystery story she's telling. It's too bad because if this had stuck more closely to Rivera's story and the research she does coupled with her presence in the Belvedere, including during the time the death his occurred, it could've been something really excellent.

I wanted to love this book, but too many unrelated personal asides and odd assertions derailed it. It's still page-turning and thoughtful, with some excellent, suspenseful and very thought-provoking moments. Rivera's story is truly an odd one, and she dutifully covers plenty of related angles, throwing out multiple options and theories, including the bizarre aftermath from his family, while sensibly indicating the likeliest.

You can be an expert in ballistics or forensic psychology, but there are no experts in motiveless suicide, or impossible murder. There will never be a clean answer to why someone does something...It is only the amateur like me, with no one to answer to, who has time to be compelled by ambiguity.

Rivera's death remains "undetermined". The circumstances are weird and weirder depending on who you ask. Brottman does excellent work in bringing so many details to the fore in a well told narrative and weaving the story compellingly into the Belvedere's history, some of Baltimore's history, and discussions of suicide and mental health in a frank, forthright way. I completely loved those parts of the book and it's a worthwhile read for that.

I got this one for review from Netgalley.

An Unexplained Death focuses on the mysterious disappearance of Rey Rivera from the Belvedere Hotel. The author describes initially seeing the missing person's poster and then becoming entrenched in the story of his disappearance while also exploring a fascination with the history of the Belvedere and suicide.

I really thought I would like this one, but I didn't. I got about 20% of the way through and was really disliking how the case was presented. I guess I expected more of a straight forward true-crime-investigative-book rather than a back and forth "this is my personality/here's a little bit about the victim" type of deal. It almost felt like the author was being flippant when speaking about suicide. I don't know. I wasn't enjoying it so I stopped reading.

I loved this book-and I was able to fly through reading it. The author is quirky and funny and .....morbid. I know that sounds like a crazy combination but it works to her favor in my opinion in her fascinating book. The book details the author's obsession with a tragic death that occurred at the Belvedere and along the way she mentions weird facts about the many suicides that took place at the Belvedere. The Belvedere, a former hotel located in Baltimore, is a huge character in this book. However, the death of Rey Rivera is the main focus of the book and it is a very sad story. Was his demise a suicide, a homicide, or an accident? I recommend you read this book to see what you think.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A really great book! I felt like I could identify so much with Mikita (feeling invisible, being obsessed with the mysterious, etc.). I felt like I could be friends with her in real life. This book wasn't just a straightforward account of the mystery surrounding Rey Rivera's death (and what a mystery that is), but also the story of Mikita's life and obsessions.

While the ultimate conclusion of Rey's story feels unsatisfying because there is no true conclusion, the fact that it is open ended leaves the mind open to pondering and obsessing over it. This is a case I will be turning over in my mind for a long, long time. With my interest in true crime and mysteries, I can't believe I'd never heard of it before.

My only complaint would be that I wish the author would have used pseudonyms to identify people who didn't want their full names included rather than initials. The use of initials kind of interrupted the flow for me and made it hard to keep track of who was who. However, this is a minor complaint and doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.