This book is about a strange story surrounding a man who killed himself in 2002 in a sparsely furnished studio apartment. When they began investigating the man, they found that he had lived an overly quiet life. He seemed to have some things to hide, and the digging began in earnest. It turned out that he’d “borrowed” his identity and the search was on to find out who he really was, and why he’d hidden his true identity. Very strange story.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy of this book! Below is my honest review.

As a fan of true crime who watches Dateline, 48 Hours, and 20/20 all the time, this one caught my eye. It’s about a man whose body is found decomposing in his apartment. The death looks quite obviously like a suicide. Case closed? Not so much. As part of the process of dealing with his death, the state needs to find an heir. A private investigator is hired. And he finds that this man isn’t actually the man he claims to me. Instead, he stole the identity of a young boy who died at 8 years old. But why he did that remains a mystery.

I thought this book was interesting at times, but I thought some chapters were filler sections. The writing style is very much written as to-the-point-stated-facts and doesn’t have any kind of theatrical vibes to it. Personally, I would have enjoyed if other materials, like interviews, were included.

Overall, an interesting read!

I received a free copy of, The Cleveland John Doe Case, by Thibault Raisse, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Robert Ivan Nichols has quite a story, he left his wife and kids, and started a new life with a new name Joseph Newton Chandler III. This was an interesting read, but we have no real answers, about this con man.