... an evocative and elegantly paced examination of the murders that takes a prism-like view of the crime.

... a true crime tale as thoroughly researched and reported as it is perplexing.

This kind of meta-layering permeates Third Rainbow Girl, creating a reading experience that is both electric and cerebral, acute and obtuse.

I was pretty sure I was going to love Emma Copley Eisenberg's true crime/memoir hybrid on page one.

Ms. Eisenberg shares deeply personal experiences of her time in Pocahontas County, exposing her vulnerabilities, her own heavy drinking, her relationships with the men there and how deeply she had come to feel about the rugged pouch of land below the Eastern Panhandle.

Digging into a cold case, author Emma Copley Eisenberg uncovers more than the facts. She uncovers and shares the shadows and light places in a rural culture that largely goes unnoticed in the American mainstream.

The Third Rainbow Girl is an unusual true crime book that dispenses with suspense techniques.

... can be read as a memoir, as a deeply researched true-crime report, as a work of philosophy. And the language is physical and visceral in its description of both the corporeal and the psychological. By Eisenberg’s own rubric, this book succeeds on many levels.

In a stunning work of true crime reporting, Copley Eisenberg delivers the gripping tale of the murders, trial, and subsequent reverberations through the community. The author transcends genre and offers a unique work that is part memoir, part sociological analysis, providing a compassionate commentary that has come from years of living in the community.

... a haunting and hard-to-characterize book about restless women and the things that await them on the road.

The book is more than just another true crime memoir; Eisenberg has crafted a beautiful and complicated ode to West Virginia. Exquisitely written, this is a powerful commentary on society’s notions of gender, violence, and rural America. Readers of literary nonfiction will devour this title in one sitting..

With The Third Rainbow Girl, Emma Copley Eisenberg tries to cram far too many ideas into one narrative, in turn losing the most important thread contained therein.

... a genre-straddling debut that blends true crime and memoir.

... [a] gripping account.