Short Synopsis
In late nineteenth-century Boston, home to Herman Melville and Oliver Wendell Holmes, a serial killer preying on children is running loose in the city—a wilderness of ruin caused by the Great Fire of 1872—in this literary historical crime thriller.

Full Synopsis
In the early 1870s, local children begin disappearing from the working-class neighborhoods of Boston. Several return home bloody and bruised after being tortured, while others never come back.

With the city on edge, authorities believe the abductions are the handiwork of a psychopath, until they discover that their killer—fourteen-year-old Jesse Pomeroy—is barely older than his victims. The criminal investigation that follows sparks a debate among the world's most revered medical minds and will have a decades-long impact on the judicial system and medical consciousness.

The Wilderness of Ruin is a riveting tale of gruesome murder and depravity. At its heart is a great American city divided by class—a chasm that widens in the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1872. Roseanne Montillo brings Gilded Age Boston to glorious life—from the genteel cobblestone streets of Beacon Hill to the squalid, overcrowded tenements of Southie.

"This title will hold great interest for historical crime buffs." ---Library Journal Audio Review

"Narrator Emily Woo Zeller employs a well-measured pace." ---AudioFile

"A chillingly drawn, expertly researched slice of grim Boston history." ---Kirkus

"Delving deep into the history of Boston circa the 19th century, Montillo unearths a riveting true-crime tale that rivals anything writers in the 21st century could concoct." ---Publishers Weekly

"Recommended for readers who enjoy American history, especially those interested in Boston or the history of crime and punishment." ---Library Journal