Synopses & Reviews
On a cold night in January 2001, the idyllic community of Dartmouth College was shattered by the discovery that two professors had been hacked to death in their own home. Investigators searched helplessly for clues linking the victims, Half and Susanne Zantop, to their murderer or murderers. The residents of Hanover, New Hampshire, speculated endlessly -- could the killer be a disgruntled student? a spurned lover? -- while the grisly nature of the crimes themselves destroyed, perhaps forever, the sanctity and invulnerability of their academic arcadia.
By contrast, the hardscrabble community of nearby Chelsea, Vermont, was relatively unaffected. The big news in Chelsea came when the school's basketball star scored his 1,000th point on a Friday, three weeks after the murders. As parents and teenagers streamed into the night to celebrate after the game, a stunning scene stopped them in their tracks. Outside the house of high school senior Robert Tulloch were the flashing lights of a swarm of police cars. His neighbors couldn't imagine what the trouble could be -- a prank gone overboard, perhaps -- but they were confident it was all a misunderstanding that would be sorted out in due course.
But they were wrong. The town discovered the incomprehensible reality that Tulloch and best friend Jim Parker, two of Chelsea's brightest and most popular sons, were now fugitives, wanted for the murders of Half and Susanne Zantop.
Afterward, their classmates and teachers would admit to noticing subtle changes in Robert and Jim over the previous year. Robert, a former Student Council president, and Jim, a member of the school band and drama club, had been popular kids, benign mischief-makers -- their escapades included breaking into an empty home and raiding the refrigerator. But as their friends thought about college and futures beyond Chelsea, Robert and Jim began plotting a very different life. Split off from their peers, with too much free time and too little structure, normal teenage ambition took, in these two boys, an unthinkably dark and sinister turn.
Authors Dick Lehr and Mitchell Zuckoff provide a vivid explanation of murders that captivated the nation, as well as dramatic revelations about the forces that turned two popular teenagers into killers: Could poor parenting, psychological abnormalities, or a community that fails to challenge and engage its young people be blamed? Or was it more complex? Judgment Ridge conveys a deep appreciation for the lives and the devastating loss of Half and Susanne Zantop, while also providing a clear portrait of the killers, their families, and their community -- and, perhaps, a warning to all parents about what evil may lurk in the hearts of boys.
Review
“A chilling and revealing look at a crime that fueled concerns about adolescents and violence in a post-Columbine environment.” Booklist
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“A harrowing account...[that] reveals two of the more chilling characters in recent nonfiction.” Washington Post Book World
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“Spellbinding ... [reveals] the story behind the headlines....Multifaceted and richly believable.” Denver Post
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“Join[s] Truman Capotes classic, In Cold Blood, as one of the standards in crime writing.” Boston Globe
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“Similar to ... In Cold Blood ... a nuanced portrait of a serial killer as a young man.” Maxim
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“Irresistible...It pulls you in.” Hartford Courant
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“A suspenseful and chilling story.” Ft. Pierce (FL) Tribune
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“A tour de force of reporting...a gripping narrative.” Worcester Telegram and Gazette
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“A chilling story of toxic friendship and psychopathic amorality.” Library Journal
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“A sorrowful tale of teenagers drawn to murder, artfully structured....the crime seems at once unspeakable and inescapable.” Kirkus Reviews
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“Fascinating.” The New Yorker
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“One of the best books of the year.” Boston Globe
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“A sensational news story....irresistably absorbing.” Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
A riveting investigation of the brutal murders of two Dartmouth professors -- a book that, like In Cold Blood, reveals the chilling reality behind a murder that captivated the nation.
On a cold night in January 2001, the idyllic community of Dartmouth College was shattered by the discovery that two of its most beloved professors had been hacked to death in their own home. Investigators searched helplessly for clues linking the victims, Half and Susanne Zantop, to their murderer or murderers. A few weeks later, across the river, in the town of Chelsea, Vermont, police cars were spotted in front of the house of high school senior Robert Tulloch. The police had come to question Tulloch and his best friend, Jim Parker. Soon, the town discovered the incomprehensible reality that Tulloch and Parker, two of Chelsea's brightest and most popular sons, were now fugitives, wanted for the murders of Half and Susanne Zantop.
Authors Mitchell Zuckoff and Dick Lehr provide a vivid explication of a murder that captivated the nation, as well as dramatic revelations about the forces that turned two popular teenagers into killers. Judgement Ridge conveys a deep appreciation for the lives (and the devastating loss) of Half and Susanne Zantop, while also providing a clear portrait of the killers, their families, and their community--and, perhaps, a warning to any parent about what evil may lurk in the hearts of boys.
Synopsis
On a cold, sunny afternoon in January 2001, the idyllic community of Dartmouth College was shattered by the discovery that two of its most beloved professors, Half and Susanne Zantop, had been brutally murdered. No less shocking was the discovery, nearly a month later, after a cross-country manhunt, that their killers were two high school students from nearby Chelsea, VT. What could possibly have motivated two honor-roll students to commit such a heinous crime? And what clues might have predicted the tragedy about to unfold? Filing some of the earliest stories on the murder for the Boston Globe, was Mitchell Zuckoff. Now he and Dick Lehr join forces to offer a gripping account of the event, a revealing portrait of the killers and their victims, and a probing investigation into the clash of cultures that separated the seemingly model teenagers from the esteemed professors. Judgment Ridge is much more than the story of a murder; it is a compassionate portrayal of a complex confluence of contradictory world views outsiders and locals, rich and poor, liberal and conservative that collide at Judgment Ridge, a harsh granite outcropping between Chelsea, VT, and Hanover, NH, where this tragedy played itself out.
About the Author
As a reporter for nearly two decades for the
Boston Globe, Dick Lehr won numerous journalism awards and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A professor of journalism at Boston University, he is coauthor of the Edgar Award-winning
Black Mass, the Edgar Award finalist
Judgment Ridge, and
The Underboss. He lives near Boston with his wife and four children.
Mitchell Zuckoff is the author of Lost in Shangri-La, a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Winship/PEN New England Award. His previous books include Robert Altman: The Oral Biography and Ponzis Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend. He has written for national and regional publications and is a former special projects reporter for the Boston Globe, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for investigative reporting. He is a professor of journalism at Boston University and lives outside Boston.