The Restless Sleep : Inside New York City's Cold Case Squad

There is no statute of limitations on murder. Homicide is one crime you pay for—but first you must be caught. In New York City, thousands of murders remain unsolved. Where does the police department begin after an unsolved case has gone cold? In this fascinating, in-depth narrative, a writer uses her unprecedented access to chronicle the inner workings of the elite unit of homicide detectives charged with the overwhelming task of solving cold cases going back as far as 1951.

As the popularity of police television series such as Law & Order, CSI, and Cold Case makes plain, the public’s interest in police work is immense and growing. The Restless Sleep tells of a real-life subculture of crime solving and of the talented, indefatigable, ill-at-ease detectives who lock on to a case, sift through decades-old case files, and chase down seemingly exhausted leads—trying to see what others have missed. Following four cases from inception to resolution, Horn depicts the world of the victims and their murderers “who thought they’d gotten away with it,” along with the scientific advancements that don’t always yield hoped- for answers, and the harrowing politics and tangled history of the infamous NYPD. A completely addictive read as admiring of the successes as it is critical of the bureaucracy, The Restless Sleep promises to become a true-crime favorite.