The entire title of Stacey Horn's book, The Killing Fields of East New York: The First Subprime Mortgage Scandal, a White-Collar Crime Spree, and the Collapse of an American Neighbourhood, accurately describes its scope and, sadly, its confusing, schizophrenic nature.

This is a blend of true crime and investigative journalism which explores two distinct events in the history of New York: the FHA scandal and the decline of East New York over the course of more than 50 years. Both are relevant and worth exploring. The difficulty is that they are not working together because Horn alternates between the two, and the timeframes rarely align. She does use Julia Parker, a woman murdered in the neighbourhood, as a thread to connect both, but it feels forced.

I've found East New York's history to be both fascinating and devastating. After a while, readers may become desensitised to the annual murder statistics. It felt quite factual, cold, and impersonal, which is surprising given that we were reading about real people, victims, and their families.

The portrayal of the FHA scandal, on the other hand, rendered me colder still. There was simply too much information to digest and I rapidly lost interest. This was exacerbated by the shifts between the two storylines, since I lost the thread and found it difficult to keep track of the case's progression throughout the years.

This is, without a doubt, an important and substantial piece of work, but it could have been executed better.

I am so thankful to Gillian Flynn Books, Stacy Horn, and Netgalley for granting me advanced access to this book before it hits shelves on January 28, 2025. This book encapsulated true horror, and it really resonated with me.

The Killing Fields of East New York offers a gritty, in-depth exploration of a neighborhood ravaged by violence and crime, but unfortunately, it feels a bit more sensational than insightful. While the author's thorough research is evident, the book's heavy focus on brutality and despair can be overwhelming at times.

I went into this expecting a deeper look at the neighborhood and the lives of the people who lived there. That may be on me. Horn’s vivid descriptions of crime and poverty paint a bleak picture of East New York, but in doing so, the residents often feel more like symbols of suffering than fully realized individuals.

That said, the book does touch on important social issues like blockbusting, redlining, and the Fair Housing Act, which provide some context to the economic and social forces shaping the neighborhood. However, it feels as though Horn found a collection of murders and sought to connect them without fully integrating the historical and social context in a meaningful way. I found myself frustrated at times, as the author’s lens feels too narrow, unable to offer a fuller understanding of what East New York’s residents experienced beyond tragedy.

If you're a true crime enthusiast looking for a foray into urbanism, this book could serve as an introduction. It offers a powerful—if grim—snapshot of a difficult time in East New York’s history. But for those seeking a more rounded perspective or a focus on how the neighborhood might evolve, the book’s somewhat narrow focus may leave you wanting.

Really interesting insight into the history of East New York, which in turn gives insights into the history of Brooklyn and New York City. Though historical, shows parallels to what's currently happening in NYC.

This is a really astonishing book about corruption and crime in East New York going back to the 60’s. There is a cameo by Donald Trump - not surprising perhaps in a book about crime and corruption in NY… the stories about murders are shocking and the poor clear up rate adds to the whole feeling of despair.

Poor people committing crimes are locked up for years but white collar crime is barely punished. In fact in one case, a judge fails to jail a man who has swindled millions because he says ‘losing his good name at the Country Club is punishment enough’.

This is a real eye opener about how a district and its people can be destroyed by corrupt politicians and people turning away. But the murders are so heartbreaking because the victims rarely get justice.

This book deserves to be read widely so that people can understand why decent people are often underserved by the people charged to serve them.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley

All of us know about the 2007-08 subprime mortgage scandal that rocked the economy, but I would guess few know about a very similar event in the 1970s; one that changed the landscape of East New York for good.

This is an expertly researched book by Stacy Horn that follows two timelines, one for the mortgage crime and criminal justice process to indict and convict the bad actors involved and another that spans 1970s-2023 in East New York, describing the living conditions, murders, drug rings, lack of government help and ultimate community support. The dual timelines are a bit hard to track at the beginning, where they run very close together, but they show their necessity as the stories in each progress.

I found this read to be very interesting, especially the parts that went into the investigation into the white-collar crimes. It was depressing to read about the state of East New York knowing that the government was doing all they could to pull funds out of there, but it was also encouraging to see just how strong the community in East New York was as they refused to give up on their neighborhood. The takeaways from this book back up a lot of my views on the power of greed and how lenient this country is against white collar crimes. Highly recommend reading the full interview with Stacy Horn, Anthony Accetta and Jack Blum at the end of the book as they discuss more present day issues related to white collar crimes.

*Thank you to NetGalley for exchanging an e-ARC of this book for an unbiased review!

Wow. There was so much about this book that I learned. The formatting of the book was messed up, so it made it hard to reward, but the detail was insane.

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.