My thanks to Thread Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Murder in the Neighborhood’ by Ellen J. Green in exchange for an honest review.

This work of true crime nonfiction is subtitled ‘The true story of America’s first recorded mass shooting’. It chronicles the events of 6 September 1949, when 28 year-old Howard Barton Unruh shot thirteen people in less than twelve minutes on his block in East Camden, New Jersey.

The story is partially told through the eyes of 12-year-old Raymond Havens, who witnessed his neighbour Howard open fire on the customers inside the local barbershop. Raymond struggles with understanding why Howard did what he did.

In her Foreword Ellen Green writes of her interest in this shooting. She first heard about it from her mother, who had spent part of her childhood in East Camden and vividly recalled the day of the shooting and the events that followed.

She also details her sources including Howard’s diaries, police reports and psychiatric records and interviews with surviving family members to uncover the chilling story of this quiet loner who meticulously plotted his revenge on the neighbors who shunned him and became one of America’s first mass killers.

Overall, I found this an interesting book. I hadn’t heard anything about this shooting previously and felt that Green did well in presenting the events as well as examining the roots of the epidemic of mass shootings in the USA.

You know it is going to be a good book when the author writes in such a way that you absolutely feel empathy for the person [Howard Barton Unruh] who shot 13 people in 12 minutes. This was that kind of book [I have only ever read a book that did this one other time - Jodi Picoult's "Nineteen Minutes" about a fictional school shooting. I had the same struggle then as I did with this one - HOW do you justify the empathy for someone who does something so heinous? I still do not have the answer for that] and the story is deep and compelling and a lesson is what can happen when a person who is odd but quiet, a war veteran [he fought at the Battle of the Bulge, which would have messed with anyone], is bullied relentlessly by the very people that were around him every day that one day he just snapped. Do I condone what he did? Absolutely not. Nothing justifies killing. That said, one can see how it happened. These people were cruel and brutal to him and his mother, and add in mental illness and PTSD and one can see just how it all unfolded [it should be noted here that Howard Unruh was never violent again, not even when the mental hospital he was in erupted in riots - he was one of the inmates that was not involved and didn't engage].

The author does a really good job of telling this story, using letters, diaries, court documents and conversations with survivors and their children and grandchildren [the slight twist at the end nearly broke my heart] and made you feel you were right there with Ray that morning Howard shot all those people. It makes you look at the people around you, makes you look at yourself - are you kind to those who are odd, or are you a bully? Does it cost anything to be kind? No. Would it have cost the people that died anything to be kind to Howard Unruh? No. Not at all. And while again I absolutely do not condone what he did and the horrors he caused for the immediate families and for generations, I have to wonder just would have happened if just one of those people that chose to bully Howard had chose kindness instead. It honestly makes me think about my own interactions. I hope it does the same for you.

I also received an audiobook ARC and WOW. Sometimes a narrator can totally make a book - they tell the story and said story come alive and you are transported there and you can barely surface because you are so sucked in and sometimes they cannot. Thankfully, John Chancer is the first one. He tells this story so well and I was totally engrossed every-time I was listening. He made the story come alive and really added to the words the author wrote. I am so grateful that I was able to listen to this book. SO Excellent.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ellen J. Green, John Chancer [Narrator], Thread Books, and Bookouture Audio for providing the ARCS in exchange for an honest review.

This book was an insightful dive into the thoughts and feelings pre & post mass shootings.

With dynamic interactions and the ability to empathize with the shooter, Ellen J. Green is able to immerse the reader into 1949.

This book works through real life topics such as war, being a veteran, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and acclimating back to Civilian life.

It also explains education, generational trauma and what it means to lead a double life.

Murder In the Neighborhood was a vivid and raw documentation of how mass casualties effect the neighborhood, the victims & their families, as well as the shooter & his.

Thank you to NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book for an exchange of my honest review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher.

September 6th, 1949, 13 people were killed in Camden NJ.

This story is chilling in all honesty because of the fact that I actually felt sorry for the man who snapped.
This is a must have for all true crime fans.

An account of the first recorded mass shooting in America which occurred in East Camden, New Jersey.

This book was the best kind of narrative non-fiction; it was thrilling and gripping and read like fiction. We see the story from several points of view and all felt distinct but real. I really enjoyed reading this. It was written so well and the research was thorough but not shoehorned in.

This is ultimately an emotional story and quite a heartbreaking read. It shows the multiple sides to every story and how difficult it can be to apportion blame, particularly after a traumatic event like this. The killer, Howard, is not demonised in the book but his personality, motivations and lifestyle are explored to identify how this event came to be.

Murder in the Neighbourhood is out today from @threadbooks! I would highly recommend this to any true crime fans or anyone looking for an easy to read non-fiction to ease them in.

AD - PR Product

I’ve always been interested in serial killers and the underlying issues that lead them to kill, but I don’t know as much about mass shootings and the murderers who commit them. So when I read the synopsis for this book, I knew I had to read it.

On September 6, 1949, Howard Unruh shot and killed thirteen people who lived and worked on his block in East Camden, NJ. Howard was an interesting individual, and through this true crime account of the events that led up to this mass shooting, the reader gets a glimpse of what his life was like growing up, up until the day he took thirteen innocent lives. But were they really innocent in all of this?

Howard clearly had some psychological issues, even more so after returning from war, but many of his neighbors didn’t accept him for being what they considered “different” and they treated him as such. Aside from his mother Freda and a twelve-year-old neighbor named Raymond, no one really made the effort to get to know him.

All things considered, a person can only take so much until they are pushed beyond their breaking point, and a lot of factors contributed to this perfect storm, including the way he was treated by his neighbors. But ultimately Howard was responsible for his actions that day, and he sadly set a precedent for future mass shootings that have wreaked havoc on our nation.

Overall, I found this book to be extremely eye opening, and it allowed for me to have a better understanding of what was going through Howard’s mind that tragic day and what led up to his plot for revenge against the neighbors he felt had wronged him. It was also interesting to “see” this all through Raymond’s eyes and to get another point of view of what happened the day of the shooting and an alternate view of the kind of man he perceived Howard to be after having gotten to know him prior to that day.

Highly recommend this book!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4682555873

Green Finds The Eggs, Butter, and Sugar. Yes, the title here references one particularly poignant line deep in the text - just 7% or so from the final words. Through this point and after, Green has managed to tell the story of what happened on River Road in Camden, New Jersey on September 6, 1949 through the eyes of nearly all of the people who survived the events there that day. A bit later, she's even going to connect it to a more recent event that was in the news - and that the granddaughter of one of the survivors happened to be at. This is narrative nonfiction, and it has next to no documentation (and hence the star deduction), but it is structured and told much in the manner of a novel - which makes it infinitely more readable. But the most remarkable thing about this book is just how truly balanced it is. A horrible tragedy occurred that day, but rather than painting the perpetrator as some otherworldly monster as so much coverage of and conversation around more recent similar people does, Green builds the case that this man is just as human as the rest of us. There is no "other" here, simply a man - a man who had faults, but also a community that had faults too (and also had amazing things as well). Indeed, the entire reason I picked up this book was because I saw a Yankee author and British publisher working on a book about "the first" (not really) mass shooting in the US... and this defender of the US Constitution's 2nd Amendment worried that it would be just ever more anti-gun drivel. For those who may be looking at this book with similar thoughts, know that there is little of that here. Yes, Green calls a "magazine" a "clip" repeatedly, particularly when discussing the actual actions that day. But even when she brings in Stoneman Douglas (Parkland), she never actually goes those directions at all really. (At least one person she chronicles does, but it is clear that this is that person's position only and not an "official recommendation" from the book.) But even that speaks to just how well balanced the book overall is. Truly an excellent and admittedly unexpected work, and very much recommended.

Sometimes reviews are so hard to produce when it comes to a true story. Especially a true story that emotionally shatters you.

On September 6, 1949 one of the first mass shootings occurred. Howard Barton Unruh shot 13 people in less than 20 minutes.

Murder in the Neighbourhood, takes place in New Jersey. I am born and raised in New Jersey my entire life so when I see something that happened so close to home I instantly connect with the story.

Having been from New Jersey, I don't know how this story had slipped from my murderous view. I was instantly intrigued. Howard, was only 28 years old when he woke up one day and decided to go on a killing spree.

East Camden, NJ, is known for not being the safest of neighborhoods, but a mass shooting? Never, would I have envisioned that.

Raymond Havens, a local 12 year old boy had a peculiar friendship with Howard. This story is told through the eyes of Raymond and gives insight to what led up to this tragic day.

This is a true story with access to Howard's diaries, police reports and psychiatric records.

This is a story of revenge. Howard was a loner who decided one day enough was enough and he was going to release havoc on the neighborhood that had shunned him.

I absolutely love true crime novels so I instantly became addicted to this story. Ellen J. Green did a wonderful job at detailing all of the events leading up to and after the crime. I would highly recommend this book to all true crime lovers.

Murder in the Neighborhood by Ellen J. Green

Published: April 28, 2022
Thread
Pages: 311
Genre: Biography/NonFiction
KKECReads Rating: 5/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Ellen J. Green is the Amazon Charts bestselling author of the Ava Saunders novels (Absolution and Twist of Faith) and The Book of James. She attended Temple University in Philadelphia, where she earned her degrees in psychology and has worked in the psychiatric ward of a maximum-security correctional facility for fifteen years. She also holds an MFA degree in creative writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Born and raised in Upstate New York, Ms. Green now lives in southern New Jersey with her two children.

“But there was no answer. There never would be.”

Howard Unruh was a reasonably typical man, just trying to get by. He wasn’t popular around the neighborhood, and Howard hated how so many of the neighbors and business owners treated him. His anger festered until he snapped. And took the walk of death.

This book was incredibly well researched, and I enjoyed its delivery. I was not family with this case before reading this novel. So it was quite an education for me.

I enjoyed the alternating narrators and getting the story from two very different perspectives. I found myself flipping between thinking Howard was a monster and just being a man pushed too far after enduring years of abuse on top of PTSD from serving overseas.

I think there was a lot about Howard we will never honestly know. Those closest to him didn’t truly know him. And I think Howard was dealing with a lot of issues. He was trying to resist the fact that he was gay, which at the time was a crime and seen as someone morally wrong.

He was struggling to find his place after witnessing the atrocities of war. He couldn’t shed the weight of what he had to do while being a soldier. And he was aggressively abused by his neighbors.

Verbal, emotional, mental, and phycological torment can push a person to react in disastrous ways.

But, Howard was also an adult, and he should have found better ways of processing his feelings. This is such a tragic story. The lives lost. The senselessness of it all, and for what?

I cannot imagine the unbearable weight this case has laid at the feet of so many. The spiral of tragedy was long and brutal.

The writing style was well done, the story was told truthfully, and I like that the author did not take a side. Information was presented, and we (the reader) are left to figure out where our feelings lie.

Very well written, incredibly well researched, and presented in a fair and unbiased way, this passion project delivered on all fronts. This is a heartbreaking piece of work, and I found the story fascinating.

This is a very interesting read.
I don’t read a lot of true crime books but this one definitely held my attention.
This is the story of Howard Unruh and the mass killing of thirteen people in 1949.
We see the shooting through the eyes of Raymond, a twelve year old boy who was waiting for a hair cut at the Barbers when it all happened.
After the shooting we learn about Howard from his mother and also Raymond who knew him well.
It’s written that Howard showed no remorse for what he did but with the way some of the neighbourhood treated him and the mental illness he was suffering, you can understand how this escalated.
This is an interesting insight into a terrible incident.
Thanks to Thread Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

For such a difficult topic, Ms. Green did a phenomenal job of telling this true story. It is told with compassion, evenly paced with a stunning entry at the end. Sadly, following most mass shootings there has been an outcry for gun control only to be left aside until the next one happens. This is a cautionary tale on many levels

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thread Books for this ARC!

Out April 28, 2022 [Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!]

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

MURDER IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD is a true crime narrative that tells the story of the first recorded mass shooting in the U.S., which took place in September 1949 in East Camden, New Jersey.

I have been getting into true crime this year, so I was thrilled about this NetGalley approval. Unfortunately, this book ended up falling considerably short for me. It is well-written, and the story itself is interesting (the twist/connection of the epilogue was genuinely great), but the structure just didn’t click. It's written in alternating POVs, primarily in the first-person POV of a boy who was a witness to the shooting. The majority of the book focuses on his reactions/responses (and that of the shooter's mother), with the discussion of the shooting itself relegated mostly to the first few chapters.

Perhaps because of this odd structure/narrative style, I was unsure what to take away. The author seems to heavily sympathize with the shooter at times (difficult to accept when three of his victims were under ten, though there are certainly moments where his extremely sad life story generates a certain pathos), but then pulls away from this perspective in the end to implicitly portray him as a manipulative villain. I disliked the suggestion that he was “faking” his mental illness to avoid punishment, and felt in general that the book needed a great deal more context—about mental illness and the legal system, about trauma/PTSD, and about gun violence in general—that was simply missing. In short, I wish this one had been a lot more than what it was, though it was unique enough that I won’t be forgetting it anytime soon.

Recommended if you like: experimental true crime; nonfiction with multiple POVs; explorations of mental health.

CW: Lots of gun violence/blood/murder; homophobia; war/war crimes; death of children; mental illness/PTSD.

One of my favorite genres is true crime, so I was looking forward to Murder in the Neighborhood. Unfortunately, I didn't like the writing style st all and found it to be distracting.

Thank you NetGalley and Thread Books for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love true crime and was immediately drawn to this story. I was intrigued that this book was about the first recorded mass shooting. I had never heard the name Howard Unruh before reading this book. This story was definitely chilling and grabbed my attention right away. The chapters alternate between Raymond Havens and Freda Unruh, Howard's mother. Raymond Havens was twelve when he witnessed Howard Unruh shoot 13 people on his neighborhood block in East Camden, NJ. I can't imagine being twelve years old and witnessing this tragedy. I really appreciated how much research the author did through police reports, interviews, and newspaper articles. I also thought the conversations between psychiatrists and Howard were interesting as well as his letters to his mom that are throughout the book. You will definitely feel a ton of emotions while reading this book!

This book was very well-written and I highly recommend to all true crime lovers! It was a heart-pounding page-turner that kept me up reading all night!

Murder in the Neighborhood is the true crime account of Howard Unruh who on September 6,1949 shot and killed 13 people , two of them children.

What makes this book so unique is that is told mainly from the perspective of 12 year old Raymond Havens who not only witnessed the massacre but was spared his life by Howard.

This was considered to be the first mass shooting in the States.

The author does a great job of presenting the facts as told by Raymond and at times Howard's mom.

Yet I could not help but feel empathy for Howard not excusing him but his story was very sad.

I could not put this book down .

A must read if you are a true crime fan and even if you are not it is well worth the read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thread Books, Thread for a mesmerizing read.

Twenty-eight year old Howard Unruh was a veteran of World War 2 in Europe, Raymond Havens was a twelve-year-old boy who knew the ex-soldier and needed a haircut before school re-started the next day. Although their paths had crossed before, on September 6th, 1949 they collided in a small barbershop in East Camden, New Jersey as they met for the final time.

Thirteen men, women, even children, died that warm, early September day, in what was the first recorded mass shooting in American history, but no one had written about in detail until Ellen J Green decided to do just that. What she discovered showed how some life altering occurrences are destined to remain forever hidden while others just need a little investigation to bring them to light.

The author had access to all the information which had been available for decades alongside newly released police and medical records, and was able to conduct interviews with family members. Put together these form a fascinating insight into small-town post war America and show how a neighbourhood is defined by its history in only certain ways. As a fan of 'In Cold Blood'  I was eager to read this and wasn't disappointed. The conversational narrative sets scene after scene and although there was never any doubt about the killer’s identity their backstory adds depth to a tale which seemed to only ever be heading towards tragedy of some kind.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the opinions expressed are my own. This is a fascinating and detailed read, written in a style which makes it easy to immerse yourself in a time when people were realising life wasn't going to return to normality for all who craved it. I enjoyed it immensely.

I had never heard of this true story. The first recorded mass shooting..of 13 people in New Jersey,by Howard Unruh. I think I would've enjoyed it more audibly but this was well written and I did like it...as I do most true crime Thank you to netgalley for a copy to read in advance.

I found this book fascinating! The amount of first hand testimony from survivors was very cool to hear. I always enjoy multiple views or story’s told from multiple views and I think switching from Raymond to Frita was well done. I also found it interesting to find out that one of the survivors had a granddaughter who also survived a mass shooting.

Books like this are why I think more women should write true crime. There was some real depth here and they didn’t go for the flashier headline grabbing style a lot of other true crime does. I appreciated the look into everyone one giving clear background. It really connected the pieces in a way other writing about this didn’t.

Impost World War II, Camden New Jersey. 12 people were killed on a Sunday morning and one boy lived. The massive violence seems to be over a missing fence, but nothing is as simple as it seems in this book murder in the neighborhood, tells the whole story. With the exception of who took the fence? This book was so good and told by The only survivor of the incident. I truly enjoyed this book, if you can enjoy a true crime story then I definitely enjoyed this one. It was told from the survivors perspective at the time and from the killers point of you and it prosecutors. I could not even imagine looking into the eyes of a man killing my neighbors and friends only for him to let me go and be the only one to live, but that is what happened and it is an amazing story that I highly recommend. Anyone who loves true crime and especially historical true crime you will enjoy reading the sad story. I was given this book by Nat Gally and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Please forgive any grammatical or punctuation errors as I am blind and dictate my review, but all opinions are my own.