From School Library Journal
Grade 6-8-What with CSI one of the more popular shows around, forensic-science methods have made an entrance into many living rooms around the country, and there has been corresponding activity in the previously placid 363.25s. This addition to the genre discusses current methodology interspersed with actual forensic investigations into crimes as diverse as a brutal murder in 1889 to the causes of the gun turret explosion on the USS Iowa in 1989. Poison, strangulation, burning, drowning, shooting, and stabbing are some of the murderous methods explored in the readable text, as are such forensic tools as facial reconstruction, bite matching, ballistics, DNA screening, and the old standby, fingerprinting. Color photos abound, as do "Forensic Fact" and "Crime File" boxes. This title is on a comparable level with Andrea Campbell's more stolid Forensic Science (Chelsea, 1999) and Brian Lane's Crime & Detection (DK, 2000), and more difficult than Charlotte Foltz Jones's chattier Fingerprints and Talking Bones (Delacorte, 1997). Couple Owen's book with Mark P. Friedlander, Jr., and Terry M. Phillips's competent When Objects Talk (Lerner, 2001) and Donna M. Jackson's superb The Bone Detectives (Little, Brown, 1996) and put CSI on TiVo.
Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NYCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Gr. 6-12. Part forensics lesson and part historical crime review, this book blends fascinating and manageable detail with specific examples of famous cases most readers will recognize. Owen does an excellent job of explaining how forensics experts gather, analyze, and assess data on forgery, poisoning, suicides, explosions, and murder by fire, water, suffocation, and various weapons. Detailed descriptions of the forensics process are always put into historical context, with brief, gripping summaries of many famous cases and historical events, including the assassination of JFK, the discovery of diaries attributed to Hitler, the crimes of such serial killers as Ted Bundy, individual high-profile murders, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The durable, glossy pages contain eye-catching color photos of criminals, crime scenes, and lab work, as well as occasional gruesome shots of victims. Whether moved by morbid curiosity or by Owen's command of his topic, both middle- and high-school readers will find this book an exciting, enlightening read. A lengthy glossary is appended.
Roger LeslieCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
