Postmortem

Praise for Postmortem
 
“Unforgettable . . . A harrowing account of her mother’s involvement in the 1978 arrest of serial killer John Wayne Gacy [offers] profound new insights into an oft-told American horror story.” —Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

“A beautifully written memoir about the haunting impact of a sensational crime. I’m still thinking about it.” —Gregg Olsen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Amish Wife
“A vivid analysis of how one of America’s most nightmarish serial killers, John Wayne Gacy, left traumatic imprints on the immediate survivors and their children. Courtney Lund O’Neil, whose mother survived, eloquently guides the reader through the forensics, showing the distant reaches of traumatic experiences across generations. There are important lessons here.” —Marc D. Hauser, Ph.D., author of Vulnerable Minds: The Harm of Childhood Trauma and the Hope of Resilience
 
“In December 1978, Kim Byers placed a receipt in the pocket of a parka that belonged to her friend, Rob Piest. He wore it to his death at the hands of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Byers’ daughter, Courtney Lund O’Neil, revisits the case . . . As she shifts between past and present, O’Neil portrays the haunting impact of senseless violence on those it touches.” —Katherine Ramsland, author of The Serial Killer’s Apprentice
 
“Postmortem lays bare generational trauma and the effects that ripple through time after a tragedy. This is not an investigation of a serial killer, it is an investigation of Gacy’s legacy. The result is pitch-perfect.” —James Renner, author of Little, Crazy Children
 
“A poignant and honest memoir about murder, grief, motherhood, and the many tiny moments in between that can affect a family forever.” —David Nelson, author of Boys Enter the House: The Victims of John Wayne Gacy and the Lives They Left Behind
 
“For the past 30 years I have worked as a psychological expert witness in murder cases. I know what it means to enter into the world of murder. Postmortem takes the reader into this terrible world, anchored in the author’s own family’s connection to the case. One definition of trauma is ‘coming face to face with the reality of evil in human nature.’ Postmortem confronts the reader with exactly that. Indeed: reader beware. There is a ‘before’ and an ‘after,’ and the ‘after’ is profoundly disturbing.” —James Garbarino, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Cornell University and Loyola University Chicago, author of Listening to Killers
 
“Postmortem combines the novelistic, compulsive readability of true crime with a memoirist’s eye for detail. O’Neil brings a needed fresh perspective to the stories of John Wayne Gacy’s victims, and she opens these stories to readers who crave a moving account of trauma’s everlasting effects on communities, families, and lives.” —Sarah Beth Childers, assistant professor of English at Oklahoma State University, author of Prodigals: A Sister’s Memoir of Appalachia and Loss

“This book touched every emotion inside of me. Gorgeously written, gripping, and un-putdownable!” —Jennifer Pastiloff, bestselling author of On Being Human