REVIEW: Down the Hill by Susan Hendricks

 

In February of 2013, two teenagers - Libby and Abby - were hiking the trails close to Monon high bridge and near their home in Delphi on an unexpected day off from school. Libby's sister, Kelsi, dropped the two girls off at the trailhead, waved goodbye and went to work. This was the last time that anyone saw them alive, as approximately 24 hours later, their bodies were found about a mile from where they were last seen. What makes this particular case so interesting and intriguing is that there was little physical evidence or other evidence released to the public at the time of the acts, and even now, with a person accused and trial scheduled, there is not a lot of information in the public as a gag order has been issued.  One of the most, if not THE most intriguing pieces of evidence is audio  and visual recordings made by Libby of a man who said "Guys...down the hill."  There were also two composite sketches released and law enforcement has understandably remained very, very quiet about the evidence they have - they don't want to jeopardize the investigation at all. 

Susan Hendricks, an anchor for CNN/HLN, was one of the first reporters to begin discussing and reporting on this case. She became very, very close to the families in this case as a result of her reporting and noted how this case really impacted her in a way that prior cases that she reported on in her decades of reporting had never done so before. This is a memoir of her reporting on her case and her relationships with the families. She also attempts to delve deeper into the mystery surrounding the death of the two girls and attempts to examine the impact that the deaths had on the community and the heartland at large. It focuses on Susan's personal journey as opposed to other, more "traditional" true crime books.

I found that the book itself was very, very fast paced. I enjoyed that there were lots of natural breaks, even within chapters, which allowed me to consume small bites in between other tasks.  I very much enjoyed the behind the scenes views that I got of crime reporting and I appreciated learning about the impacts that such reporting had on the reporters. I enjoyed learning about the families as well - this is so easy to lose in true crime reporting. Be forewarned - there is no closure on this as the trial for the person arrested for these offenses has not yet occurred.  

There were definitely parts of the book that I did not like - the last few chapters were word for word interviews in paragraph form (as opposed to transcripts) of interviews that Hendricks did with two experts-one a former investigator and one a behavioral analyst - that did not contain any real introspection on Hendricks' part.  I enjoyed the previous parts of the book because Hendricks had discussed her own experiences and insights, so these chapters just  seemed out of place and very dry in a way. I suspect that Hendricks was trying to provide answers, and some guidance as to what was going to happen, but if I wanted that, I would have looked for interviews elsewhere.