The Devil at Genesee Junction: The Murders of Kathy Bernhard and George-Ann Formicola, 6/66

I have seen the future of True Crime, and its name is Michael Benson. A consistent genre writer for the last decade or so, Benson’s latest, The Devil at Genesee Junction, is a spectacular genre-buster. It turns out the writer, who grew up in the middle of nowhere in Upstate New York, was drafted into his vocation by childhood trauma, a terrifying tale told expertly here. As the book begins, Benson is nine years old and living in what he sees as a rural paradise, a perception shattered when two girls he knows disappear on the first day of Summer vacation and are found a month later along railroad tracks with knife mutilations worthy of a Jack the Ripper crime scene. As we learned in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, another genre-bending work, living in the sticks can feel mighty conspicuous when there’s a killer or killers on the loose. But that’s just the first act. The crimes are never solved and Benson grows up and moves to the big city where he becomes a crime writer, an expert on serial killers and sociopaths. Then comes the best part: He returns to his old neighborhood, teams up with one of the victims’ aged mother, teams up with a local private detective, and leads a new investigation into the murders. The leads seem almost too plentiful to be true: is it a satanic killing? Is it the child pornographer who lived down the street? Is it the jilted boyfriend who enjoyed gutting woodchucks? Is it the perverted horse farmer who liked to lure little girls into his barn? Or, is it… well, no spoilers, but the last few pages of the book are the literary equivalent of Alfred Hitchcock’s shower scene. Whew.

Overall an excellent book. There are a ton of people mentioned so it can be a bit hard to keep track of, but you can tell the author just wants to get all the facts out there. Being a local to the area, I appreciated the detail in which each place was described and explained. The author left out no detail and I think brought some of the families closure when law enforcement couldn't.

I am very sad finishing this book. I had left this world and was taken back to my teen years,. Even when I put the book down or were too tired to read, the details were swimming in my head and making it impossible to do anything but pick it up and keep reading until it was done! I have to admit that I was there in time and knew the victims, witnesses and investigators. I was impressed how descriptions were so accurate that there were things I had forgotten that made me picture it and say to myself ,,"oh ya". Now I said I had went to school with both victims and witnesses, but my husband had not. We had the book on both our kindles and he began reading his copy to see what the hype was about He was hooked! This book is not only the gruesome murders of two young girls but about the passing of time and innocence. As adults we tend to wish we could go back for only a little while, with this book you can! I know I did. I think I will read it again right now. I might have missed something.

Everyone from the old neighborhood remembers the girls who were murdered. Before, we lived in an idyllic world, where kids left the house in the morning and wandered all day, picking wild strawberries, buying penny candy, and playing in the woods by the creek until their parents called or whistled for them to come home for supper. After, we locked our doors for the first time and stayed inside. We were afraid.I was in college and worked as the playground director at Ballantyne School. Kathy and George-Ann came by some afternoons to talk and help the little kids with craft projects. Both were typical young teens, full of fun, giggles, and life. Alice, we all remember your daughter.Benson uncovers the dark side that is part of every neighborhood, including Ballantyne. Through interviews, old news articles and police records, he examines the unsolved murders of two young teenage girls he knew as a child. The twists and turns in this murder mystery are real, making them all the more chilling.

I have known the author since he was in Junior High and can honestly say that I am not surprised by his talent as a writer and raconteur. Kudos, Mike! The Devil At Genesee Junction recalls the 1966 horrific murder of two girls I attended school with, as did Mike. The crime was never solved and it faded out of the headlines very quickly, with no closure for the poor families. Mike revisits the crime scene, the events leading up to it, the suspects and what life was like in Ballantyne ,NY in the 1960s. He captures the creepiness of the murders and the terrible fear everyone felt. His research and attention to detail are spot on. The fact that he was able bring a bit of comfort to one of the families is wonderful. I generally am not a reader of true crime, but I was riveted by the retelling of a story about two innocent girls who died way too young! JOB WELL DONE,MIKE!!!

Having been a fan of true crime for years, I was familiar with Michael Benson's work and have known him to be a thorough and exquisite writer. I held this same high standard for him for The Devil at Genesee Junction, and I was not disappointed. Michael Benson transports the reader with vivid detail, well written prose, and an incredibly unique look at the crime - he was friends with the victims at the time of the brutal murder-mutilation. The reader feels as though he/she is accompanying Benson in his journey to piece together the events that lead to a tragedy that he deftly refers to as "Everything in my mind is categorized by things that happened before that moment, and things that happened after." A crime of such horror that consumed what could have been any neighborhood in small-town USA, 1966. It was a captivating read that caused me to stay up late more than once because it was just too good to put down.