Scott Rhee's Reviews > When the Night Comes Falling: The Definitive True Crime Investigation into the Idaho Student Murders
When the Night Comes Falling: The Definitive True Crime Investigation into the Idaho Student Murders
by
by
I haven’t been following the case. Not that there is much of a case to follow, as it has been continuously postponed. (A trial date has been set for June 2025.) To be honest, I didn’t know much about it until I read this book. And while Howard Blum’s book “When the Night Comes Falling: A Requiem for the Idaho Student Murders” is a concise encapsulation of the events and an attempt to answer some of the questions raised by the crime that happened on November 13, 2022, the book leaves much to be desired.
It’s not necessarily Blum’s fault. He’s done an excellent job of compiling the facts of the case, assembling them in some coherent order, and providing a break-down of the arguments for both the prosecution and defense, but in some intangible way, it’s not enough. Maybe that’s the point.
How (and why) did four young people die so violently and pointlessly? Four college students, all with vibrant lives ahead of them. And the alleged perpetrator is a young man who seems to check every box in terms of an absolute slam-dunk sure thing, except for one thing: motive. Why the fuck did he (allegedly) kill these people? What is their connection?
Maybe there is no answer to “why?”
Maybe horrible things just happen, and they can’t adequately be explained. Maybe Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were simply fated to die that night in their off-campus apartment not far from the campus of the University of Idaho, where they were all students. And maybe Bryan Kohberger, the young criminology student with an awkward past, was simply meant to be there that night, with a knife. The stars simply aligned, and no other outcome would suffice. The gods demanded it.
The gods demanded a sacrifice, and those children were chosen.
Well, fuck the gods, then.
It’s not necessarily Blum’s fault. He’s done an excellent job of compiling the facts of the case, assembling them in some coherent order, and providing a break-down of the arguments for both the prosecution and defense, but in some intangible way, it’s not enough. Maybe that’s the point.
How (and why) did four young people die so violently and pointlessly? Four college students, all with vibrant lives ahead of them. And the alleged perpetrator is a young man who seems to check every box in terms of an absolute slam-dunk sure thing, except for one thing: motive. Why the fuck did he (allegedly) kill these people? What is their connection?
Maybe there is no answer to “why?”
Maybe horrible things just happen, and they can’t adequately be explained. Maybe Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were simply fated to die that night in their off-campus apartment not far from the campus of the University of Idaho, where they were all students. And maybe Bryan Kohberger, the young criminology student with an awkward past, was simply meant to be there that night, with a knife. The stars simply aligned, and no other outcome would suffice. The gods demanded it.
The gods demanded a sacrifice, and those children were chosen.
Well, fuck the gods, then.
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Reading Progress
July 6, 2024
–
Started Reading
July 6, 2024
– Shelved
July 6, 2024
– Shelved as:
true-crime
July 6, 2024
– Shelved as:
nonfiction
July 10, 2024
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)
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Thanks, but I'll wait until we know more. I understand that we may never know it all and I'm okay with that but I can be patient.
i am not terribly familiar with the story here, but it's a shame no matter why it happened. humanity can be capable of such kindness, but the capability for cruelty always seems so much worse. 'fuck the gods', indeed.