Journalist Jim Cosgrove gives a detailed account of his decades-long investigation into the unsolved case of
"boy into woods", Frank McGonigle whose body was discovered in a wooded area at Murrells Inlet in the 1980s.

I had not heard of this case before so it was very enlightening. Any cold case investigation is definitelv not an easv one and the author did an excellent job in trying to find out what happened to Frank, a family friend from his childhood. We read about his interviews with Frank's family, friends, and the people living in that community, including the author's interactions with psychic or energy reader Carol.
The author shares this story with compassion, care and respect and his own part of the investigation was unique and mesmerizing. It certainly made it more personal. The author also did a wonderful job in capturing the sense of time and place, as well as the unique character of the KC neighborhoods involved.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A true crime book that delivers! Following a case for a long time, the author delivers to the reader his experience in a very well written book. It kept me hooked and wanting to keep reading in one sitting.

Before it was released this April Ripple was already getting rave reviews on Goodreads and Netgalley. Who wouldn’t want to read a book compared to true crime classic I’ll Be Gone in the Dark? Ripple does forfill some of it’s promise. Cosgrove covers his investigation into the boy in the woods murder over decades of his own life. He knew the victim, Frank McGonigle’s family, as he grew up in the same tight knitt American Irish neighbourhood. His older brother was friends with the Frank, they went to the same schools, same church and had an understanding that only comes from sharing the same unremarkable mundanities of day-to-day life, which are both so forgettable, yet fundamentally shape our understandings of life and ourselves.

This mean that Cosgrove has an insight into Frank’s life. However that insight does not go as far as one would assume, because Frank himself seems to have felt an uncomfortable fit in his own life, and as he grew older he rubs up against himself and others in ways that become less and less tenible for him. Perhaps it was that his temperament wasn’t a good fit for the rough and tumble of a large family. Possibly it was undiagnosed depression. Maybe he was a highly sensative person, or there was some early childhood trauma no one knew about. We will never know. Cosgrave’s intimacy with the family does mean however we have a fly on the wall view of their own soul searching about why their son and brother left home and no longer wanted to be part of the family. A glimpse of interpersonal family distress that is so often hidden away, brushed under the carpet – but something I suspect more people than we know grapple with.

This is the strength of the book, the deeply personal decades long reflection of the victims family. However, this is not a piece of investigative journalism. So those who are expecting the rigour of someone with the caliber Gregg Olsen will be dissapointed. Cosgrove is aware of this, and admits that in his journalistic career he gravitated towards upbeat fluff pieces, and there are points where this shows.

The most noticeable is his encounter with energy reader Carole. Overtaken by her southern charm, which oozes out the page, Cosgrove completely disregards any journalistic integrity. He makes a cursory attempt to verify her claim she has worked with the FBI. When three FBI staff or ex-staff confirm viceferously that they never work with psychic his response is to shrugg shoulders and conclude “They haven’t met Carole,” rather than say, “Maybe she’s lying and a lot of the information Frank’s spirit gave her mainly came from the tequila fueled drinking session we had the night before.”

That would appear to be the logical conclusion. However there is a large chassim between logic and human nature, and the spirituality of the catholic church, which both Cosgrove’s and the McGonigle’s grew up with perhaps indicates minds more open to the spiritual and supernatural. Which in day-to-day life I would not argue with. However when it comes to the way some people use spirituality to play with, and suck the energy and money, from grieving loved ones I have less patience, and part of me wishes Cosgrove’s journalistic senses would have been sharpe enough to be less patient, more sceptical and more rigorous.

I think this book is immoral and offensive.

I have put off writing this review for a long time because I feel quite uncomfortable and don't know the best way to express my thoughts and feelings.

The writer and their tone during the course of this book is alarming and made me extremely uncomfortable.

They see this young man's death as an exciting tale they simply can't wait to tell! They prefer to tell it in person though, so they can really perform and dramatise it, and watch people's reactions. They've told every person they've ever met! It's just such fun!

You would think after all that talk that the story would at least be interesting.

The author also manages to make this man's murder about them and pats themselves on the back for "solving" the case.

My condolences to the family and loved ones.

There was a phase in life where I wanted to and did watch a lot of crime shows and a few true crime ones as well. I have not read many, mostly because many of them are unsolved, and it is not as helpful to read a book about an actual victim and find out at the very end that the killer was never caught.
I thought this was a solved case with appropriate closure when I started it, but that is not exactly the case. I liked the author's writing, but the story reads more like a very in-depth analysis of the Irish family life than about an individual and what happened to him. I would have rated it higher if the book had been marketed in that manner.
The author was a family friend of the deceased but not acquainted with him personally. He talks of how he came to research the death and the timing of the release of this book.
The case is laid out in pieces, with the people and their backgrounds and interactions being at the forefront (hence my confusion about the focus). It was not a bad book, but it was not for me. I am not sure I would recommend it to true crime buffs, but I think it would work better for people who like life stories covering different sections of American society.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is based on my own reading experience.

This book details a family's search for their missing son and a journalist's attempt to help them find answers. Frank McGonigle left his home in Kansas City, Missouri in 1982 and was never heard from again. This book describes what was discovered about Frank nine years after his disappearance. It was absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend it to other readers who enjoy mysteries.

I had never heard of this case before..Having the Author *personally involved* makes this more of a memoir read about true crime than a cut n cold true crime read , which I enjoy alot.. unless of course the lines between what happened and what they believe happen blur... cases of missing people are always heart wrenching... Writing about someone you know who is missing is a hard thing to do.. I enjoyed his narrative and how much he made me feel for the family.. Great read all in all :)

A very intriguing true crime book. I was not that familiar with the case and feel like my mind is blown a little by reading this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC.

Being from Iowa and it's promixity to Kansas City plus my love of true crime novels and I was sold! This book did not disappoint, I loved learning Frank's story and how connected the author is to his family. While, I wish that the mystery had been solved definitively, I think it's telling that many of the main suspects didn't live well into old age.

I have not been to South Carolina but the descirptions were so vivid, I feel like I have been. The flow of the book is perfect and I hope to read more from this author.

Thank you @netgalley for the advanced reader copy!

I enjoyed reading through this book. There were a lot of unique perspectives brought by the author, who had a tangible relationship to the family, due to his brothers friendships with some of the older McGonigle boys.

When Frank left home, his family thought that he would be back. But when days turned into weeks, then months, and finally years - the dread of what had happened to their son and brother was beyond the pale. They hoped that he was out looking for his fame and fortune, trying to make something of his life. But the hard truth was that he had been murdered, and was known as "The Boy in the Woods." As the case unfolds and the pieces started coming together, there was a lot of mistakes uncovered, the blunders of a small police office, and the mastermind that most likely got away with murder. As the family continued their search for answers, Jim started looking into the case, hoping to bring some closure. Instead, he found even more than he was looking for - and while the answers might not ever be known fully, there are enough inferences to draw from to figure out who was involved, and what most likely happened.

This was an interesting read, and an overall great book. I enjoyed reading through this one.

This book gives such an important message. You really never know what someone is feeling or what they go through when a loved one is missing. You never know how you will react until you are in that position. I had no idea some of the things people have to deal with. The author does a wonderful job telling the story and I would absolutely recommend it.

A compelling true crime story reuniting a murdered young man with the family that he was missing from 10 years after his death. I was engaged from beginning to end and the entire story was very interesting, and this is from someone who is not normally interested in true crime stories.

As a fan of true crime investigations, I found this book super interesting and surprised that I hadn’t heard of it previously. I appreciated the journalist’s connection to the family and how he felt that this was a story that needed to be told.

I really enjoy reading true crime, this book is absolutely brilliant! The research is thoroughly done, the story is told with sensitivity and the author is respectful to Frank’s family.
I would recommend that lovers of true crime read this book!

I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to read this wonderful book, thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5/5

I am still trying to figure out what my feelings are regarding Ripple: A Long Strange Search for A Killer by Jim Cosgrove. On one hand, I thought it was fascinating in general since I have never heard of this case before, but I was also left feeling slightly confused by the way Cosgrove chose to structure his story. It started out clear enough, but he jumped around a bit too much for my liking, and it made the book feel a little disjointed to me. That being said, I liked what he was trying to do here, and I also really loved the fact that he was a friend of the family who wanted to go on a search for some answers. Cosgrove was very sensitive to the McGonigle family in the way he went about this, and he made my heart just ache for that family and their lack of answers.

I would say I recommend listening to the book on audio since Cosgrove narrated it himself, and I was more than satisfied with the voicing of his own story. I love when memoirs are narrated by the author, and having true crime voiced by the author is just as good. I really enjoyed listening to Cosgrove talk, and from what he said in the book, it sounds like he has a lot of practice telling this story and it shows. It was a really quick audiobook, and I would imagine just as fast to read it, so if you are a fan of true crime and don't know anything about the Frank McGonigle case, I think Ripple would be good to check out. My favorite part was definitely getting to hear about Carol Williams, and it totally threw me to hear she had done some 'work' on the JonBenét Ramsey case. I didn't really believe in psychics (ahem, energy readers), before this book but Cosgrove's experience with Carol really left me thinking.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Review of Ripple by Jim Cosgrove

I am obsessed with true crime so I knew I had to have this one when my friend Elvina mentioned it was on NetGalley. I really enjoyed it and it was a quick read. It wasn’t heavy on the crime aspect but really discussed the victim as well as his family and the author’s personal quest to find out the truth. It also focuses a lot on the geographic area of Murrell’s Inlet/Georgetown county SC. It tells the story of the last there, the residents and the culture. Overall I found it really interesting and a good read.

Quick synopsis: A journalist turned author Jim makes it his mission to investigate and write about the disappearance and murder of a family friend named Frank in 1982. They were from Kansas City but Frank was murdered in SC and no one knows why. He finds much resistance from the locals more than 10
years later when trying to find out the truth regarding the crime.

Big thank you to @netgalley for the copy of this one. I can’t wait to discuss it with my @theyearofnetgalley crew!

True Crime and Nonfiction are not my norm at all, but something about this title got my attention so I checked it out. It was quite an interesting read, but it was a bit of a slow start that was hard for me to get into at first until I switched my focus/perspective and the narrative changed then it got more engaging for me.
Some of what's different with having read this story is that I'm used to reading fantasy and other fiction and always saying this was such a great story and I loved it, but it's hard to say that about this one. The reason it's hard to say that about this is because it's true crime and real life. I don't think a boy in the woods being murdered and having to solve the mystery of his death and how it affects his family and others are great the same way fiction is great. I don't love reading about murder and the pain and unresolved situations, but I do love that this mystery was solved with this particular boy's death.
This is well-written and keeps you interested and invested to discover the answers along with the investigative journalist. I found it intriguing to read about how the solution to the mystery unfolded and what it revealed about the people and the family members as they went through talking about it and figuring things out. It is a sad and hard thing to read about those that have a hard time in life and find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time and lose their life for it. There are a few different aspects shown and talked about about how they approach things when investigating this boy, Frank's murder, first with the normal approaches and then with the unique with the psychic and those involved sharing their spiritual and other types of experiences relating to Frank and his death when they felt like they were being lead to answers or having some sort of communication sent to them by him from the other side. The investigation and journey to find answers take on a life of its own and when they find the answers they're right where they thought they were but others had been trying to hide the answers from view. The thing is even though they find the answers and solve the murder/death of Frank, there are still a lot of unanswered questions and unknowns. In the end, there's always more than one victim in these kinds of situations and it's a hard thing to have to deal with and face, but Frank's family had a good outlook on things and the experience of talking through things helped them all to break down some walls and find ways to talk and work on becoming closer to one another in their family.
If you're a fan of true crime and figuring out mysteries and what makes others tick or the like then make sure to take a look at this one and read it. Thanks to NetGalley and Steerforth Press for letting me read and review this enlightening story. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book is the story of the author's journey to bring the case of Frank McGonigle to a close. Frank went missing in the early eighties from Kansas City, Missouri, & it took nine years for his identity to be matched with that of a John Doe, in South Carolina. Sadly, it seemed that Frank died within a week of leaving home but the case was unsolved for a long time. The author knew the McGonigle family from childhood & decided to write a book about the cold case.

This was a poignant read. Frank didn't seem to fit in with his friends & family as a teenager/young adult, & he left home seemingly to try & make sense of his place in the world. It is therefore so tragic that he died within a week of leaving. The case seemingly fell through the cracks as his case file wasn't put on the national missing person's database for years & his remains were buried in a 'potter's field' in a South Carolina graveyard. I thought it was an interesting read, but there's a big element in the second half of the book of relying on the word of an 'energy reader' (psychic) - I like to keep an open mind when it comes to these things, & much of what she said was fairly accurate. The ending is sort of unsatisfying though as it seems we will never know the complete true story as several of those possibly involved have now died. 3.5 stars (rounded down on websites where half star ratings are not available).

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Steerforth, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley and Steerforth Publishing for the ARC of this!

I am pretty new to true crime and had definitely never heard of this case and the premise sounded really interesting. I liked that the author had close ties to the family of the victim and felt personally close to the case, as well as how some of the background information was shared. Unfortunately I didn’t much care for the writing style, and when the author started bringing up visions, prophetic dreams and psychics, it kind of lost me. I’m not sure I really believe in those things, and it didn’t seem like they led to a real resolution or more evidence coming to light, just his own speculation. By the description I assumed it would be fully solved at the end and it did not end up appearing that way to me (I know I always loved the “Unsolved Mysteries” episodes with updates at the end when I was a kid, and I was hoping for that feeling)

3.5 stars

I believe a family never gets over the loss of a child or a sibling. It is a tragedy that effects them for the rest of their lives.

For the McGonigle family, the disappearance of their twenty six year old son, Frank, left them heartsick and always wondering. They spent years searching for Frank a die hard Grateful Dead lover to the point of even going to concerts hoping to find him. They continually wondered what drove their shy sensitive son to leave without a good bye. The large Catholic family questioned themselves over the years. They were a loud boisterous lot so the fact that Frank often felt out of it might be the cause of his unhappiness, but to not know was a torment that drove the family continually.

For journalist Jim Cosgrove, a friend of the family as well, it was a lifelong search for Frank and who the killer might be which went on for many years only to be resumed twenty-five years later. It drove him and was always there at the back of his mind.

For some residents of Murrells Inlet., they continued wondering who was that boy found shot dead in the woods. It would be nine years until the answer to that question was solved.

This was an interesting true story of family thrown into turmoil, questioning themselves, searching the faces of every one who resembled Frank, hoping for the best. It was also a story of a determined storyteller, even assisted by a woman, Carol Williams, who is able to perceive and see things that others can't.

It is a story of persistence of not letting go when something drives you always.

Thank you to Jim Cosgrove, Steerforth, and NetGalley for a copy of this story due out April 5, 2022