In The Last Stone, Mark Bowden returns to an infamous missing children case that he first covered as a young journalist in 1975.

On March 25, 1975 two sisters, Katherine Lyon (age 12) and Shelia Lyon (age 10) disappeared without a trace after visiting the Wheaton Plaza Mall in Wheaton, Maryland. An eyewitness account, deemed a lie at the time and overlooked, resurfaces 38 years later. The Last Stone details the investigation, interrogation, and ultimate conviction into the giver of that account, Lloyd Welch.

This is a riveting read. Related chiefly through transcripts of detective interviews with Lloyd Welch, this book chronicles how investigators had to navigate through numerous lies and half-truths from Welch to eventually arrive at the truth: far from being just a witness, Welch indeed was involved with the disappearance and murder of the Lyon sisters. At times I was frustrated while reading the book as the lengthy transcripts became tiring, but eventually realized that may be the point - it puts you in the shoes of the investigators. You feel their frustrations in having to deal with a pathological liar as the try to determine what really happened. Highly recommend for all lovers of true-crime.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing an ARC for this review.

The Last Stone
Description
On March 29, 1975, sisters Katherine and Sheila Lyons, age 10 and 12, vanished from a shopping mall in suburban Washington, D.C. As shock spread, then grief, a massive police effort found nothing. The investigation was shelved, and mystery endured. Then, in 2013, a cold case squad detective found something he and a generation of detectives had missed. It pointed them toward a man named Lloyd Welch, then serving time for child molestation in Delaware.

As a cub reporter for a Baltimore newspaper, Mark Bowden covered the frantic first weeks of the story. InThe Last Stone, he returns to write its ending. Over months of intense questioning and extensive investigation of Welch’s sprawling, sinister Appalachian clan, five skilled detectives learned to sift truth from determined lies. How do you get a compulsive liar with every reason in the world to lie, to tell the truth? The Last Stone recounts a masterpiece of criminal interrogation and delivers a chilling and unprecedented look inside a disturbing criminal mind.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing an ARC for this review.

The Last Stone was shocking. It was pretty good about the true cold case from 2013. I thought the book focused too much on Lloyd and should have put time into sisters Katherine and Sheila Lyons. The family finally got the closure so much needed.

Thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for sharing this upcoming nonfiction title. I am a big fan of Mark Bowden’s writing. This story is also local to me as I live in Maryland. However, I did not enjoy this at all, I found it to be quite dull. Despite repeated attempts, I finally quit reading about 3/4 through.

This was interesting, but I thought it focused a bit too much on the Lloyd and not enough on the investigators. I guess I felt like spending time in Lloyd's head was not something I wanted to do, and the sections about his interviews, which involved word for word back-and-forth between him and various interrogators almost made me put down the book.

Most true crime books take the reader through the background of the perpetrator and the victims, tracing their lives to that fateful day that changed some lives forever. The Last Stone starts from a far different point. It’s been forty years since the most shocking crime to hit a suburban Maryland county. Two little girls - little as in not even teenagers disappeared from a shopping mall and the trail went cold almost immediately. Forty years later a team of detectives are picking up the dusty files and trying to piece together leads in a not just cold, but ice-cold case. There’s no bang bang shoot em up action. No police chases. No confrontations with the killer in the Arizona desert. Just a series of interviews with a prison inmate who may have spotted something four decades earlier. Doggedly, step by step, the detectives try to pierce the veil hanging over the crimes. They are led into hints of a backwards clannish family for whom modernity had not quite hold and of deeds and coverups too horrible to contemplate. The question is whether they will ever really know the truth. What makes this book interesting and different is how it unfolds in these detailed interviews rather than in an action sequence.

Mark Bowden is a master of the true crime genre.Two young girls go missing from a mall a terrified neighborhood an investigation that Mark Bowden covers as a cub reporter . Years go by and no suspect.A cold case team is formed an active investigation a suspect who was there from the beginning comes to the forefront.now Mark Bowden comes back to cover the final investigation,The details of this case will sicken & shock you but you will keep turning the pages as day to day the ugly truth is revealed. #netgaley #thelaststone #groveatlantic.

The Last Stone by Mark Bowden
Published January 09, 2019 / by Littoral Librarian / Leave a Comment

Mark Bowden is famous for books such as Blackhawk Down, Killing Pablo, and Hue 1968. In other words, nonfiction on heavy subjects. His latest is The Last Stone, subtitled A Masterpiece of Criminal Interrogation. Being a big fan of both Bowden and the true crime genre, I am happy to thank Grove Atlantic/Atlantic Monthly Press and NetGalley for the copy they provided in exchange for this honest review.

The Last Stone covers one specific crime: the disappearance of two young girls (ages ten and twelve) from suburban Washington, D.C. in 1975. Mark Bowden covered this story at the very start of his career as a journalist, so he had a special interest in this case.

In this incredibly exhaustive look at this case, we get the story of the crime along with a look at the many lies told, the horror of sexual abuse, and the damage done by an extended family of both victims and perpetrators. TBH, it is pretty intense and really gave me nightmares. This case languished until cold case investigators took another look at it and were able to incorporate some of the forensic technology that wasn’t even around in 1975.

I found the whole thing compelling, and was both intrigued and horrified by the unbelievably detailed story of the investigation and interrogation.

Probably best avoided by anyone who might be triggered by the storyline, but fans of true crime, justice reform, police interrogation tactics and creepy families will definitely appreciate this book. I imagine that anyone with an interest in this particular crime will find the answers to all their questions, and others may just find a big sense of relief when it is done. Five stars because it is Mark Bowden, and it is a great example of his work in its depth and the extent of detail.

Whenever I see Bowden has a new book I make a point to read it as they are all really well written. This is no exception. It starts with a team looking at a cold case involving two preteen girls who were abducted and never seen again. The get a idea to interview a man who gave a weird statement to the police at the time of the abduction only to focus on his over the course of many interviews as the man slowly incriminates himself. A page turner on the dedication of this cold case team to try to find the truth against all odds.
Thank you to Mark Bowden, the publisher, NetGalley, and Aldiko for this ARC in exchange for this honest review

This true crime book is a fascinating exploration of interview techniques in a 40 year old child abduction and murder in a suburb of Washington D.C. Mark Bowden explains how Lloyd Welch, a n'er-do-well prison inmate, implicates himself right after the abduction by making himself a witness to it. Incredibly, it is not until decades later that a cold case team begins to zero in on him as a participant, not a witness.
Excellent psychological study!

Mark Bowden is on the short list of writers whose work I immediately purchase as soon as it comes out, and this book is some of his very best work. The True Crime genre is extremely popular now with so many books, podcasts, and TV series devoted to unearthing the truth of various crimes, and this book immediately places itself atop the heap. Revisiting a crime that the author covered at the start of his career as a journalist, The Last Stone not only tells the story of the disappearance of two young girls but also explores the psychology of the liars and the lies they tell, plumbs the depth of the horrors of sexual abuse and an extended family of victims and victimizers, and details the art of police interrogation as cold case investigators find the minuscule thread of truth that winds through criminals' lies and pull on the thread until all the lies unravel and the truth finally emerges.

The author gained fame through his book Blackhawk Down but I think this book might be his best work yet. Despite dealing with subject matter that is often painful and difficult to read, this book qualifies as a page-turner: I found myself not wanting to put it down until the truth finally emerged and this horrific story as put to rest.