This was a total random pick for me. I'd never heard of it, but I'm a sucker for books with titles like this. Who Killed Christopher Goodman? Well, I instantly wanted to know!!

The thing is, we kind of KNEW who killed him right away. I was hoping for a mystery and what I got was more of a story of how bad things happen-- and the trajectory that puts a person in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The book follows 6 teens (including the killer) through the events that lead up to Christopher's death. None of them knew Chris all that well, but they all feel guilt about not preventing his death. Christopher was kind of too good to be true. A guy who does his own thing, is nice to everyone and makes them feel at ease, is all-inclusive, and charming in so many ways. His personality made him the ultimate tragic victim.

I didn't dislike the book, but I also didn't think it was great. This was more of a case where the story is there, but the writing didn't bring it life. The only character I really clicked with was Doc, the "sleepwalker" who has a crush on the girl who is crushing on Christopher Goodman. I thought that the use of multiple perspectives (which I usually love) didn't do anything for the book. I think Doc's and the killer's should have been the only ones.

OVERALL: I liked it, but wanted more of a mystery (I mean, the title is a bit misleading in that regard, no??). I thought the idea of the story could have worked, but the writing sort of held it back. A few more drafts of this book may have been needed.

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Excellent teen mystery thriller! Although the whodunnit is not as much of the focus of the story as you would think, since it's almost a rhetorical question. The story is as much about people's reactions to a murder as it is about how that murder happened. Great historical fiction--it's set in summer 1979, with nary a cell phone in sight, during a small town's Wild West-themed festival. The first thing we learn about Christopher is that he wears "elephant bell" bellbottom pants! Sooooo seventies! The multiple POV narrators are all of the suspects, including the actual killer, and are easy to keep track of because each change in narration is prefaced with the character's name and nickname ("The Runaway," "The Sleepwalker," "The Genius," etc.) There are best friends "Doc" and "Squib" (who has Tourette's and drives an ice cream truck--he's very memorable!), new friends Mildred ("The Stamp Collector") and Hazel ("The Farm Girl"), who work at the local diner, Hunger McCoy "The Good Ol' Boy" (who does taxidermy for a hobby!), Leonard who is recovering from the foster care system (and loves a dog named Scrabbles), and so on. All of them have a connection to nice dude Christopher Goodman; who could have killed him? And why? There is a lot of goofy humor, pranks gone awry, and relationships beginning or changing. The story is full of sweetness and heart, as well as a sense of sinister foreboding, as the flashbacks lead up to the murder and we learn more and more about all of the connections between the characters. The author's note reveals just how much was invented and how much was based on a real incident from his teen years; I think this really adds to the sincerity of the book. I would recommend for 8th grade and up; mild language, but some drinking and drug use, period-appropriate. ( )

Quick read. Kept me turnng the pages to see "who dunnit". Interesting cast of characters-nice job with the multiple POV's. ( )

Narrated by Jesse Lee, Nick Podehl, Lauren Ezzo, Whitney Dykhouse, Scott Merriman, Scott Lange, Kate Rudd, Will Damron. Several teens in a small Virginia town in 1979 grapple with the violent death of a classmate. Told primarily in flashback, the alternating perspectives recall interactions with Christopher Goodman leading up to the tragic events during the Deadwood Days festival. Chris is a friendly guy, shaking hands with the people he meets and is notable for wearing “elephant bells,” super-wide bell-bottom pants. In an afterword, the author describes how the book was inspired by real events that took place when he was in high school back in 1979. ( )

Alan W based his story on a crime that happened in his small country town in the USA in the early 1970s.

It is told in retrospect by 6 people in the town who are all roughly the same age as Christopher Goodman. (One of them is the author himself) The others are all people who know Christopher Goodman - they either went to school with him, knew him from town and were all the last people to see him alive. One of them is the murderer.
Well-written fast-moving story for older readers due to sex and violence and drugs.
Wells captures small town America in the seventies and the angst of individuals who maybe could have done something different in the last night of Goodman's life to change the outcome....the "what ifs" that plague those left behind. ( )