Under the Bridge

Under the Bridge is brilliant, enthralling, heartbreaking and disturbing. The feral nature of teenagers committing the most atrocious of crimes is a vivid and horrifically true interpretation of Lord of the Flies. A story of a brutal and senseless death that will haunt you long after you've turned the last page
Extraordinary. Compelling yet deeply disturbing, Under the Bridge reads like the very best crime fiction
A swift, harrowing classic perfect for these unnerving times

Dreamy, mysterious and ultimately terrifying

A modern day Crime and Punishment that keeps you on the edge of your seat. A stunning book that manages to terrify and enlighten at the same time. I reread it on a regular basis to remind myself what the best, most empathetic crime journalist can be like
A brilliant, compassionate retelling of a horrific murder
Both tragic and cathartic
Lipstick, platform shoes, and braces have never felt more menacing. The book reads like a breezy bestseller, but it's Godfrey's in-depth reporting that gets under your skin

Godfrey skillfully blends hard-nosed journalism with a literary lyricism that far and away transcends that of her true-crime colleagues
Godfrey, who mixes novelistic suspense with a journalist's key eye for detail, does a terrific job of presenting the facts and letting readers decide how to judge the accused
A tour-de-force of true crime reportage. Godfrey reconstructs a horrific murder with a vividness found in the finest fiction, without ever sacrificing journalistic integrity
Hypnotic, obsessive, wonderfully transformative
Under the Bridge is a fine piece of reportage and a shocking rendering of the tragic end of one young life and the dark and sinister beginnings of others. Godfrey writes with stinging insight and an urgency that moves the story from teenage hush and whisper to the reality of the coroner's office and sad, fatigued cops. The prin­cipals are all victims - of schools and communities and families that don't care - and perpetrators - harming one another and themselves in this startling fall from innocence
Haunting . . . phenomenal cinematic raw material