“Novelist Les Standiford and former Miami Beach police detective Joe Matthews combine forces to provide the definitive account of Adam’s death…[a] well-written and well-told book…Readers willing to confront the horrifying nature of this crime will come away…with a solid understanding of why it took so long to solve and where the investigation went terribly astray.” - Washington Post
“[A] heartbreaking story of incompetent police and determined parents… Novelist and nonfiction author Les Standiford does a masterful job of re-creation, reporting and research… readers will be haunted by the maladroit investigation and the added anguish this caused the Walshes.” - Los Angeles Times
“Standiford and Matthews relate Matthews’ quest skillfully… Hoffman and some of his police colleagues are portrayed as so venal and incompetent that deep breaths might be in order among some readers who implicitly trust detectives. Another warning: Much of the text is gruesome and so, so sad. Reading the book near bedtime could be inimical to sound sleep.” - Dallas Morning News
“Standiford and Matthews relate Matthews’ quest skillfully.” - Dallas Morning News
“[M]ystery writer Les Standiford, in collaboration with Detective Sgt. Joe Matthews, has written a riveting and page-turning account of this heart-wrenching story.” - BookReporter.com
“[A] page turner…hopeful and heartbreaking, Bringing Adam Home is tough to forget.” - People
“Bringing Adam Home is compelling. It is a measure both of Standiford’s skill and his humanity that a reader who picks up the book will be unable to set it aside before turning the final page. Standiford skips no fact, avoids no avenue of inquiry, fears no wrong-headed and officious law enforcement officer. The Adam Walsh case was sensational if ever a case was. Yet, Standiford never stoops to sensationalism: He writes with a restraint that will leave readers -- and other writers -- marveling, wondering how he did it. Even a person of tender sensibilities will find this book not only palatable, but impossible to put down.” - Daily Jeffersonian (OH)
“Compelling, bittersweet… ably fleshes out the difficult yet familiar story with style, pathos and relevant historical detail.” - Miami Herald
“A riveting, harrowing, tautly suspenseful book that reads like a crime novel…but is all the more chilling for being fact, not fiction.” - St. Petersburg Times
“Intertwined with this true-crime chronicle is the important story of how Adam’s abduction turned his parents into powerful advocates for crime victims and how law enforcement agencies across the country changed their response to missing children cases.” - Orlando Home and Leisure
“Standiford does not bend facts for the sake of art, and his writing is not self-consciously literary. He spills out the narrative in a precise, matter-of-fact style - a wise choice for a story laced with so much heartbreak, gore and perversion…Bringing Adam Home is one of the finest true-crime books since Thomas Thompson’s Blood and Money…This remarkable story will bring readers to tears of grief - and rage.” - Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers
“Bringing Adam Home is one of the finest true-crime books since Thomas Thompson’s Blood and Money…This remarkable story will bring readers to tears of grief - and rage.” - Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers
“[A] heartbreaking story of incompetent police and determined parents… Novelist and nonfiction author Les Standiford does a masterful job of re-creation, reporting and research… This is not an easy book to read… The author spares no gruesome detail, and readers will be haunted by the maladroit investigation and the added anguish this caused the Walshes.” - Los Angeles Times
“An essential read for those interested in forensic science and true crime.” - Library Journal
“Novelist and nonfiction author Standiford (Last Train to Paradise) charts with devastating precision the decades-long search for the killer and the evolution of Revé and John Walsh (John was executive producer and host of America’s Most Wanted) from grieving parents into powerful advocates for missing children...Standiford’s account is riveting, heartbreaking, and supports John Walsh’s statement: “it’s not about closure; it’s about justice.”’ - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Charts with devastating precision the decades-long search for the killer and the evolution of Revé and John Walsh... from grieving parents into powerful advocates for missing children...Standiford’s account is riveting, heartbreaking, and supports John Walsh’s statement: “it’s not about closure; it’s about justice.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“This is the ultimate cold case-tragic, high-profile, and, finally, successfully solved…[Bringing Adam Home] gives readers the ultimate insider’s account of the grueling search for Adam’s killer…While many true-crime books claim to shine a light on society by examining one particular case, this account actually does. No reader can come away from this without appreciating what it takes to keep pursuing an investigation, against the obstacles of police politics and bureaucracy. Wrenching and riveting.” - Booklist
“While many true-crime books claim to shine a light on society by examining one particular case, this account actually does. No reader can come away from this without appreciating what it takes to keep pursuing an investigation, against the obstacles of police politics and bureaucracy. Wrenching and riveting.” - Booklist
“…Compelling, bittersweet…The book is hardly a light, casual read, due to the subject matter and overwhelming sense of injustice that pervades the entire story. But Standiford, in his seventh nonfiction title and 15th book overall, more than acquits himself here. He ably fleshes out the difficult yet familiar story with style, pathos and relevant historical detail.” - Miami Herald
“BRINGING ADAM HOME is a maddening, terrifying and ultimately triumphant book. Les Standiford explores the injustice and finally justice surrounding the murder of Adam Walsh. You will cry and rage but you will not be able to put this book down until you finish it. My God! What a book!” - Ann Hood, author of THE RED THREAD and THE KNITTING CIRCLE
“I didn’t live far from the mall where Adam Walsh was kidnapped. I remember that story as if it were yesterday. It terrified me as a kid. But it’s the details that Les Standiford has found that terrify me as an adult. Insightful, horrifying, and just beautifully written.” - Brad Meltzer, New York Times bestselling author of THE BOOK OF FATE
“Not since IN COLD BLOOD has the story of a terrible crime been told with such elegance and power. At once heartbreaking and hypnotically suspenseful, BRINGING ADAM HOME brings vividly to life the agony of a bungled investigation and the dogged persistence of a heroic police detective determined to solve the mystery of Adam Walsh’s abduction once and for all.” - Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of VANISHED
“Not since IN COLD BLOOD has the story of a terrible crime been told with such elegance and power....Heartbreaking and hypnotically suspenseful.” - Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of VANISHED
“BRINGING ADAM HOME is a riveting account of a child abduction and murder that goes unsolved for twenty-seven years—both an unsettling expose of police incompetence and a portrait of an extraordinary and dedicated detective.” - Joyce Carol Oates
“Les Standiford’s account of the decades-long attempt to solve the murder of Adam Walsh is chilling, heartbreaking, hopeful, and as relentlessly suspenseful as anything I’ve ever read. A triumph in every way.” - Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent
“Bringing Adam Home is a gripping and scrupulously detailed account of what it takes to bring closure to a horrific crime that should not have taken decades to solve. Joe Matthews has put aside all the politics, jealousy and years of mistakes to prove without a doubt the identity of the killer of Adam Walsh. Should be required reading for anyone in law enforcement.” - Chief Thomas Hunker, Bal Harbour (FL) PD
“The scene-setting, the character-sketching, and the social and historical contextualization are in full gear in this book…an especially heartbreaking and cogent story.” - Madeleine Blais, author of Uphill Walkers and winner of the Pulitzer Prize
“Les Standiford’s account of the decades-long attempt to solve the murder of Adam Walsh is chilling, heartbreaking, hopeful, and as relentlessly suspenseful as anything I’ve ever read. A triumph in every way.” - Dennis Lehane, author of MYSTIC RIVER and SHUTTER ISLAND