This one hurt, people. Stacy Horn's The Killing Fields of East New York is a great book which is unfortunately destroyed by a single storytelling choice. Sometimes, linear is the way to go. Allow me to explain!

Horn tells the story of the Federal Housing Authority scandal of the 1970s and also how these white collar crimes led to the complete collapse of East New York. Of these two narratives, the FHA scandal is much more engrossing and readable by itself. The East New York collapse is not as effective for the reason I'll dive into now.

Each chapter alternates between the FHA scandal and the fall of East New York. This causes so many problems that it's almost hard to quantify. First, these two stories are not separated by decades. In the early part of the book, the two stories almost overlap completely. Not only do you get yanked from one story, but you have to reacquaint yourself with the story-line every single chapter. This means Horn has to repeat information frequently especially when the same character is in back to back chapters. For instance, a character is introduced as a brand new lawyer in the district attorney's office, but then in the next chapter he is a judge because of the time jump, and then in the very NEXT chapter he is a seasoned lawyer in the DA's office.

This story telling device also ruins the impact of the crimes in East New York. I want to be clear, Horn knows how to write. However, every time I started being invested in people and the community as a whole, I was ripped back to the FHA scandal. It made the violent crime chapters feel rushed and underdone.

There is a really good book somewhere in this. I am almost tempted to reread it and just do it chronologically. I know most people won't do that so I'd have to say this one is probably a pass for most people.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Zando Books.)

The Killing Fields of East New York is a deep dive into the unraveling of a troubled neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y., with a wide-ranging look at how a once thriving area deteriorated. The author uses the murder of a 17 year old girl as a thread that ties the book together as she lays out a pattern of corruption, violent crime and mortgage fraud as the common themes that caused the ultimate downfall of East New York. Culled from a variety of sources, this is an interesting look at a systematic breakdown of social norms that most of us take for granted, and how a perfect storm of criminality and neglect, from the government, to financial institutions to the police all played a role in the neighborhood’s demise. The book does have a scattered feel to it, as the author jumps back and forth from one subject to another, as well as time frames, and that’s a bit disconcerting to the reader, as just as you’re getting immersed in one thread, the book jumps to another topic. Overall, a good look at a shameful series of events. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The author takes a comprehensive look into how white-collar crime surrounding mortgages back in the 70s led to entire neighborhoods becoming crime ridden and ruined. It’s very informative and in depth. Sadly, it shows that similar crimes are still going on, and not even being prosecuted.

This is a chaotic book. It took me about a quarter of the book to realize that the author was going back and forth between the FHA scandal and the people/buildings in East New York every other chapter.

The chapters about East New York was spectacular. I loved them, I felt like I knew the places and the people. It was a hard read with all of the brutal murders, the abandoned buildings and even a serial killer.

The chapters about the FHA scandal....I needed to have a flow sheet, a flow graph and a cast of characters to try to keep things/people straight. It was so dense, I still have no idea what the FHA scandal was about.
Then near the end of the book, the sentences were handed out and I was like, who is this guy? Was this guy mentioned before?

Overall the author did a poor job of connecting the FHA scandal to the destruction of the neighborhood of East New York. She brought up the Broken Windows theory and then dismisses it, so she can't tie the abandoned buildings to the heightened crime wave.
Further, all of a sudden there is a HUGE decrease in murders in the 1990s. The FHA scandal was over and it was before the subprime mortgage crisis of the 2008's. So what caused the decrease in murders? The author does not mention it.

For this to be a great book, there needs to be a full explanation of how the FHA scandal worked. Further, the author should focus on a handful of the main actors, describe their roles within the scam/scandal and then follow them through the court procedures.

Overall, a book that left me bewildered.

I received a free copy of, The Killing Fields of East New York, by Stacy Horn, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. So many senseless murders, and crime in East New York, so many crooked people too. This book was eye opening for me to see what those poor people went through. This is such a great read on how horrible people can be when they become greedy.