My Brother the Killer: A Family Story

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As I began reading this book, I tried to recollect the circumstances around Danielle's disappearance, but it wasn't until I googled her and saw her picture that I remembered her from all those years before. The murder of Danielle is a very sad story, not just because of her age and the fact that her body has never been found, but also because Stuart Campbell was her uncle, someone who she should have been able to trust. May be spoilers. One particularly upsetting element for everyone involved is that the girl's body has never been located. The convicted killer refuses to help. Understandably, this is an ongoing open wound for all the families touched by this tragedy. At 8.00am on Monday 18th June 2001, Danielle Jones left home dressed in her school uniform – and promptly vanished.

This was a really well written and interesting true crime novel. I hadn't heard of this case before even on Youtube so was really interested to find out what had happened in the case. I'm a huge fan of true crime, and so was really intrigued to read about the crime from the perspective of the brother of the murderer. This isn't a perspective I have read from with true crime before. This was... interesting. A very smooth read, for better or worse -- there was a certain glibness to the prose at times, which, combined with the fact that this is basically a memoir, gave me the impression that Mr. Sharkey only told as much as he felt comfortable with or able to, while there were other layers to the story that were not delved into. Which I guess is only natural, but it also underscored what I felt was a certain shallowness he cultivated in his public persona -- this is someone who is very eager to tell us about his accomplishments (Parisian condo; young girlfriend; lots of money), the parties he went to, his fantastic cool friends, there's a lot of breathless hedonism that's very 1990s. Which is fine, especially considering the precarious conditions he grew up under (power to him to make it out of there), but it feels a bit weird to hear him talk about the missing Danielle and her family in between the bits about his crazy French life and whatever else he had going on; it's not like he knew the missing girl, or her family, beyond meeting them once at a family wedding, so the whole "poor Danielle; her parents must be going through hell" bit feels a bit hollow. Stuart Campbell, Alix Sharkey's brother abducted and murdered Danielle Jones one June day in 2001. Her remains have never been found and Stuart is coming to the end of his minimum 20 year sentence imposed on him. This book simultaneously reaches into the past in two different time periods, one counting the time since Danielle's disappearance and secondly to their earliest days as brothers and both timelines shine through with an honesty that took my breath away.This hard hitting memoir for the brother of convicted killer was an eye-opening account of his life growing up in an abusive environement and how this could have contributed to the path that his brother took.

A little disappointed that my library categorized this as true crime. This is a family memoir and is focused on the author’s experience, thoughts and feelings in particular. While there was a crime, there is never a resolution. The author could have at least detailed what the prosecutors THOUGHT (or alleged in court) happened to the 15-year-old girl. But he didn’t. And the convicted murderer won’t talk. So you are left with a very unsatisfying vagueness about what really happened. But this book is about the author, not about his brother. It is very self-centric. You'd say, fine? But it is isn't. The book covers everything supericially, except for the author's life. And not his emotions towards his brother, but about his career! True crime usually tells the story from the point of view of the victim or the perpetrator - this book comes from a different angle. Alix Sharkey, is Stuart Campbells brother. In this book, which covers a dual time line, the events of Danielle's disappearance and subsequent investigation and Stuart's childhood in an attempt to find out what makes a killer.In 2001, 15 year old Danielle Jones vanished on her way to school. In 2002, Stuart Campbell, Danielle's uncle, was convicted of her murder. Her body has never been found. If the author wasn't being offensive, he was writing about things that didn't matter. He would constantly talk about how the case affected him, despite the fact that Danielle Jones lost her life and her body has never been recovered. He talked about how the trial affected him, and how he didn't know who to cry for. Himself, or Danielle?