Postmortem by Courtney Lund O’Neil presents an interesting question: how does pain, trauma, and grief pass from one person to their children?
The author’s mother, Kim Byers, was instrumental in putting John Wayne Gacy on trial. Her actions gave the authorities the physical evidence to place Rob Priest in Gacy’s house. There is a lot of information about the case, the appeals, and more online.
Starting with a strong prologue reflecting on her mother’s reactions to danger, the book quickly becomes a memoir about the author’s own obsession with Rob Priest and everything Gacy.
To an extent this is understandable. Her mother lived through the hell of knowing who Rob went to see, to support the Priest family, and to testify as a teenager facing a serial killer. Kim Byers deserves our respect for her strength, resilience, and bravery.
The book hints at telling the reader how Kim’s trauma affected the author’s life and potentially, that of her children. This is where the promise to the reader starts to fall apart.
With too many, often completely unnecessary details and unrelated cases, the author explores her grief, how she must deal with her obsession, and discusses the pain of losing Rob from her perspective dominating the narrative of her mother who is the one who knew Rob.
The author describes visiting Illinois with her mother. Her eagerness to talk to people who might have known either Priest, Gacy, or people who might have been around at the time, is again up to a point understandable. After all, she is doing research. To want to know more about this part of her mother’s life is understandable too. The way she goes about it though, is not.
It is forced, at times rude, invasive, and disrespectful. For example, she gets her mother to join her in leaving Mrs. Priest, Rob’s mother, a Mother’s Day card. Her mother, Kim Byers, clearly hesitates but then gives in to her daughter, the author. They fill the Mother’s Day card with updates about their own lives and children.
Maybe Mrs. Priest would love to hear from them, get an update, etc. However, if you do not know that for sure AND if you think that using Mother’s Day is the appropriate time to approach her, your compass is off. Not for one moment does the author consider the possibility that this card could rip open old wounds and might bring back painful memories for Mrs. Priest. Not even a mention in the book that she considered that option.
The worst part is that we do not find out what Kim Byers herself wants to achieve with those trips back to Illinois aside from supporting her daughter. What are her thoughts about generational trauma? Did she seek therapy? Did the family have group counseling to address the issue? Being afraid for your daughter’s safety, not opening the door to strangers, that is what every mother tells their children. But what is specific to Kim’s grief that she transferred to her children in the way she raised them? The only window into her trauma is the prologue of less than two pages. The rest of the book centers on the author.
What I also miss in the book are interviews with psychiatrists and therapists about generational grief, emotional trauma after a murder trial, and whether in general experts do or do not recommend a patient to relive the past by literally going back. There is not one critical interview with or mention of someone who disagrees with the author’s approach of the research or her strategy.
If you are new to the Gacy case or to reading up about the victims, the book will give you a good overview. “Postmortem” by Courtney Lund O’Neil is in stores on December 24, 2024.
Note: I received an advance uncorrected proof from Ann Pryor at Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review. It mentions on the back that it will have 16 pages with photography. I do not know whether they will include graphic images.
My other book reviews are here.