Bringing Adam Home

The Abduction That Changed America

By: Les Standiford, Joe Matthews

Narrated by: Robert Fass

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Before Adam Walsh, there were no faces on milk cartons, no Amber Alerts, no National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, no federal databases of crimes against children, no pedophile registry. His 1981 abduction and murder, unsolved for over a quarter of a century, forever changed America.

One sunny July morning in 1981, Revé Walsh and her six-year-old son, Adam, stopped by the local Sears to pick up some new lamps. Enchanted by a video game at the store's entrance, Adam begged Revé to let him try it out while she shopped. When she returned a few minutes later, Adam was gone.

The shock of Adam's murder, and of the inability of the police and the FBI to find his killer, radically altered American innocence and our ideas about childhood. Gone forever were the days when parents would allow their kids out of the house with the casual instruction "Be home by dark!"

Revé and John Walsh, who would go on to create America's Most Wanted, became advocates for the transformation of law enforcement's response to and handling of such cases. Prompted by the Walshes' activism, Congress passed the Missing Children Act in 1982, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was founded in 1984.

While our lives have been significantly altered by Adam Walsh's case, few of us know the whole story: how, after more than 27 years of relentless investigation, decorated Miami Beach homicide detective Joe Matthews finally identified Adam's killer.

Bringing Adam Home is the definitive account of this horrifying crime.

©2011 Les Standiford and Joe Matthews (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Well-told from the Law Enforcement Perspective

The story of the abduction of Adam Walsh is often told from the point of view of his father, John Walsh. While the parents' story is also told in this book, the details of the police investigation and the many mistakes of the early stages is the focus here. You will be shocked at how much information that the detective in charge chose to ignore as he made the parents continue to suffer for decades. The story is quite graphic at times, and foul language is used in the context of quotations. It is a gripping story and commentary on the failure and ultimate redemption of law enforcement in this case.

Who needs suspense?

This is not a mystery, nor a riveting or thrilling tale. Within the first two hours, the entire series of events leading to and including the murder are revealed. Within another hour, a full confession is recorded by multiple cops. That leaves another 7 hours of blunders and mishaps.

The "definitive account of a horrifying crime" is over before the book even starts.While this may be worthwhile to those who are interested in police procedure and the foibles of the legal process, this is neither a mystery, nor thrilling, and would have been better off as an article than a book.

An appalling look back at a broken system

Despite the propensity of this genre of book to drag, Bring Adam Home moves quickly and kept me fully engaged. The narrator had a great expressive voice even though he was not often required to speak in "characters". I was not alive when Adam Walsh was murdered, so to me the things that have occurred since 1981 are commonplace (Amber Alerts, etc) but it was shocking to know how it all began. I've read other books about serial killers and the like but this book managed to provide a type of closure despite the circumstances.

Eye opening

This has been a story I’ve been captivated by since my childhood. Being on the outside and hearing all the media and what was presented to us and hearing what happened behind the scenes is eye opening and heartbreaking for the a Walsh family! A must read

Listen to this book

This is a great read!! Joe Matthews finally gets to the truth surrounding the abduction of Adam Walsh. Say your prayers and thank God for the Walshes.

Heartbreaking and Informative

Hard to believe that it took 27 years to bring this child and family some semblance of justice. Rest in peace Adam.

Interesting book!

While very familiar with Adam Walsh and his now famous father, I still learned much from this book. It is well written and held my interest.

Horrific, but good.

This is what really happened to Adam. Unbelievably horrible police work. Very heartbreaking this wasn't solved long ago. Narration was very good.

WOW CRAZY SAD

I remember this story as a kid being born in 77 after this my mother would say stay near the house or in stores hold my hand you don't wanna end up like that boy Adam.As a father I don't know how Mr and Mrs Walsh handled any of this at all look at the time where in now 5-6 kids kid napped every 10hrs not know whats happening to your kid is she/he just lost taking hurt WHAT THE HECK what do you during the hrs,days,wks to come me SHUT DOWN staring at a wall.So for John Walsh to hold it together the best he could and now host/help AMW true HERO.....R.I.P. ADAM WALSH Forever with the angels.

Fantastic book!

I loved this book not only because it was well written but also because i was Adam's age when this happened.