Most Likely Succeed

Alan Gelb doesn't quite succeed in answering what might have made Wyley Gates, 17, kill his father, stepmother, brother and nephew, but he makes an admirable effort. I grew up in the small upstate NY town where this crime occurred, and was a high school classmate of murder victim Robert Gates, but moved away long before these sad events took place. I especially liked Gelb's descriptions of idyllic rural life (as seen through the rose-colored glasses of a recent arrival from New York City.) Also riveting were his details on the hasty and superficial police investigation that resulted in Wyley's acquittal on the more serious charges. The jury deliberation in the midst of a blizzard was another great chapter. But Wyley, the intensely private honor student with few close friends, remains a mystery to the end. Perhaps the youth himself -- now in his late 30s and apparently working as a law clerk in New York City -- will solve some of this mystery eventually with an autobiography.