Book Review - Bound in Silence: An Unsolved Murder in a Small Texas Town by Christena Stephens

Bound in Silence: An Unsolved Murder in a Small Texas Town by Christena Stephens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Intriguing true crime cold case!

Bound in Silence is a deep-dive true crime book by Christena Stephens about an unsolved murder of a dynamic young couple in Littlefield, Texas, in the 1940s. Eighty years later, the events are just as shocking and bizarre as when they occurred.

Dr. Roy Hunt and his wife, Mae, were brutally murdered in their bedroom, just down the hall from where their two young daughters slept. The killer even gained entry to the house through a window in the nursery and crept past the two sleeping children to get to their parents. The eldest of the girls, five-year-old Jo Ann, woke up during the attack, interrupting the killer, who shoved her into a closet with a chloroform-soaked rag, which knocked her out. When the little girl came to, she got her little sister out of her crib and fled to the home of a neighbor who returned to the Hunt house and discovered the horrendous crime scene. The murders have never been solved.

Working from historical documents, police reports, court transcripts, newspaper coverage from the time, and one-on-one interviews with Jo Ann Hunt, the author pieces together the bizarre events leading up to that night, the murders, and the subsequent investigations and trials.

The book covers several years, including the historical background of the town and the individuals involved. The author presents a story that is mesmerizing, chilling, and very difficult to forget. Supplementing the narrative are many excellent photographs of the persons involved and relevant locations, including photos of the actual crime scene with the victims still in situ. Throughout, I was struck by how much has changed in the field of criminalistics and amazed by the leaps law enforcement took in identifying their main suspect. At times, the story got slightly confusing as events were told out of order or repeated. Reading further or re-reading these places usually cleared things up. I did have an issue with the final ebook product, which had typos, errors in grammar, and repetitive passages that an editor should have caught and corrected.

I recommend BOUND IN SILENCE: AN UNSOLVED MURDER IN A SMALL TEXAS TOWN to true crime readers, especially those interested in cases set in Texas.

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