Invisible Eden: A Story of Love and Murder on Cape Cod

I have little time for reading anymore so if the author doesn't catch my interest by the first handful of pages, I'm off to greener pastures. I can overlook editing errors - and there are some repetitive passages - when the writing is on the whole brilliant and the subject compelling as this book contains. DNA evidence sent the garbage collector to prison but as I understand it he has many supporters who question his guilt, and consider him Christa's consensual sex partner. That is particularly so ludicrous - she may have been attracted to the wrong kind of man but I'm sure the 76 IQ the defendant boasts lets him out of the running as far as Christa's type goes. The book is also so very evocative of the Cape Cod region and history. Very enjoyable in that way for us armchair travelers.

As Maria Flook clearly states in the beginning of her book, she is not out to solve the murder of Christa Worthington, and most especially since this book was written before any arrests have been made in the case. She was drawn to write this book because she saw many similarities in Christa Worthington's life to her own, in addition to living in the same neighborhood that was once Christa Worthington's, thus enabling Flook to be an authority to Christa's Cape-neck-of-the-woods. In place of solving the mystery, Flook presents to the reader the setting and cast of characters involved in the tragic story. She depicts a very colorful slice of life on the thin sliver of land known to some as Land's End, a destination where some of those wanting to end it all make the drive up "Suicide Alley," and a place that could very well be what one would imagine the very end of the world to be, if the world was flat, as well as what life had been for Christa during her life, growing up in the Boston area as a sort of black sheep in a very privileged Bostonian family, spending summer vacations at the Cape, travelling the world for school and job, living the "beautiful" life in NYC. Flook's carefully researched presentations set the stage for the tragedy that happened, allowing the reader a glimpse of the circumstances surrounding the tragic twist in Christa's life. As the reader learns, Christa's demise is a true tragedy in every sense. I highly recommend this very well written book, being very informative on Cape Cod's interesting history, on its inhabitants who have struggled throughout the years for survival, the local color and politics, the police department and the appalling obstacles they face in solving crimes, year-round residents vs. "snow birds", and other items of interest that help in allowing the reader to get a feel for the setting and circumstances surrounding this tragic event. Maria Flook certainly covers all nuances. It is an interesting insight to life on the Cape and in the life of a woman, trying to find a nook for herself in this world.

What is wrong with some of these readers?? Listen to the professionals: Boston Globe: "Spellbinding...offers what so many news accounts could not -- a coherent context." New York Times Book Review: "Flook is fearless...She writes shrewdly and often with exquisite care about the opposite worlds that were both nurturing and destructive to Christa Worthington." Library Journal: "This is true crime with heart." Kirkus Reviews: "Chilling, edgy." Elle: "A chilling and compelling drama." I really love this book because the writer really cared about Christa and really loved her town.

Maria Flook has created something great. This story grabs you by the collar and pulls you right in. From the beginning to the end, this beautifully written account of the Christa Worthington tragedy is one of the summer's best reads

This is a book that grabs you and pulls you in. It is tense and so good. I recomend this book to everyone if they want a book to read this summer and not put down.