THE SCIENTIST AND
THE SERIAL KILLER
THE SEARCH FOR HOUSTON’S LOST BOYS
By Lise Olsen
True Crime / History
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 464
Publication Date: April 1, 2025
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SYNOPSIS
The Scientist and the Serial Killer is the gripping, upside-down detective story of a Texas forensic anthropologist named Sharon Derrick who, determined to close the cases of the notorious 1970s Houston-area serial killer Dean Corll, painstakingly deploys the latest science to identify victims who had become known as the Lost Boys of Houston.
This is an unforgettable narrative of forensic science, missing persons, and unsolved crimes by award-winning investigative journalist Lise Olsen.
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BOOK REVIEW
I don't spend time on plot summary, so please read the book synopsis above.
HALL WAYS REVIEW: 4.5 STARS. Engrossing,
evocative, and weighty, THE SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER is a book that
needed writing, and Lise Olsen pulls no punches and delivers.
“When
you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions
with which you went
to bed have been folded up small.”
– from Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn’t
Grow Up by J.M. Barrie
At
one point, the author compares the world of serial killer Dean Corll to J.M. Barrie’s
1911 Neverland (not the Disneyfied version), and it feels disturbingly apropos.
As the author says in her opening Author’s Note, her account in THE SCIENTIST
AND THE SERIAL KILLER is “a deeply troubling tale that remains relevant and
resonates through time.”
Olsen
does an excellent job of setting the atmosphere for the scenes, whether it’s
one set in Corll’s world or one set decades later in Dr. Derrick’s. In both
worlds, there is a battle between the cooperative and the uncooperative. Readers
will be angered by the inaction of the Houston Police Department despite a
clear pattern of boys from the Heights neighborhood disappearing and their families begging for help. In their time, the missing
boys are considered by the police to be hippies or homosexuals or poor or
dysfunctional, labeled as runaways, and forgotten. In her time, Dr. Derrick faces sexism and as a women, is discounted. It is disheartening that these same prejudices
persist, and families desperate for answers get only despair.
On
the other hand, the advances in forensic technology over the years are amazing –
triumphant, really -- and Olsen's explanations make for fascinating reading. Just the changes in FACES (Forensic
Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services) in the fifteen years after its
launch are mind-blowing and now allow for highly accurate facial
reconstructions that ultimately helped Dr. Derrick identify some of the unknown
victims. Her commitment to The Lost Boys and to science gives the dead some
measure of justice and their families some measure of peace.
THE
SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER is organized into six parts, and readers are
given a lot of information to process. At times, Olsen writes long sentences
and repetitive passages, and we can feel the urgency with which she wants to
share this story; she’s deeply invested, and by book’s end, so are we. Though the book understandably jumps back and
forth through time, Olsen provides a number of tools to help see the big picture.
One
of these tools is "Sharon Derrick’s 2023 Case List," which lists the victims by
year, in the order their deaths occurred. The inclusion of a maps and diagrams
helps readers visualize events. A particularly powerful element of THE SCIENTIST
AND THE SERIAL KILLER is that as each Lost Boy is identified, there’s a
portrait of the victim and a summary of his case. I choked up with emotion every
time by not only the thought of a life lost in such a violent way, but also because at last,
he was identified. Photographs are also sprinkled throughout the book and though
some are macabre, the photos are never gratuitous. Even a photograph of a
message written on a notepad in 1972 is included, all pointing to Olsen’s
meticulous research and reliance on primary sources. The extensive "Notes" and "Selected Bibliography" give readers even further insight into the murder cases
and the scientists who solved them.
I
read an early ARC from NetGalley last year and was able to compare it to a more
recent version. Though some typos were still present, additional editing has clearly
taken place and eliminated many of the errors and repetitive paragraphs that I initially noticed. I trust the final version, available for purchase on April 1, 2025, will
be clean -- and I highly recommend getting a copy. I may get the audiobook
since I’m already familiar with the story.
By
the conclusion of THE SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER, the bodies of thirty young
men are found and nearly all of them identified, thanks to the commitment of
one scientist, who felt compelled to seek justice for Houston's Lost Boys. And thanks
to the commitment of investigative journalist Lise Olsen, their stories are no
longer buried in the past.
To learn more about the book, look for #LSLLTheScientistAndTheSerialKiller on your preferred social media platform.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lise Olsen is a senior investigative reporter and editor whose work has appeared in the Texas Observer, Inside Climate News, and the Houston Chronicle, as well as in documentaries on Netflix, CNN, A&E, and Paramount+.
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