A Question Mark: An Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Elliott Smith

i ordered this book right when it came out but just started/finished this weekend. i couldn’t put it down.ive always been curious about elliot’s death. the details i knew about it, prior to reading alyson’s book, always confused me. to be honest, i still don’t understand what really happened, but this book seems to accurately summarize the facts and outlines the theories, which include many caveats. it gets into the weeds, but is written in a way that is interesting and digestible.i wish more people, that were close to elliot and chiba, would share their knowledge publicly and on the record. it’s like there is this “harvey weinstein effect” on those people in elliot’s inner-circle and they’re frightened to speak out.anyway, if you’re curious about this story, or are a true crime fan, this book is definitely worth the read.

This book is very thorough and the author is careful to provide sources and documentation to back up the information inside. It was a quick read for me. If you were online around the time of Elliott’s passing, it might feel like a refresher on what people said then.Thank you, Alyson, for putting this together! Hopefully someday soon more information will come out so Elliott’s family, friends, and fans can know what really happened once and for all.

This book was very carefully researched and it's obvious the author spent a lot of time on it. That Elliott's killer is never going to be prosecuted is heartbreaking, and the selfishness of some of his "friends" and family is equally sad. A very good read, I recommend it.

Author Alyson Camus sets the record straight regarding Elliott Smith's untimely demise. While so many cling to the suicide story, she describes actual evidence gained from reliable sources that homicide is a viable premise-especially since the official findings are inconclusive. A well-written, interesting read based on much fact gathering.

A very well-written explanation of the mystery around the death of one of the greatest musicians of all time

I feel as though she delved more deeply into Elliott's story than the police did. I enjoyed reading it. I look forward to hearing more!

I really wanted to like this book. I’m familiar with Alyson (the author) from message boards and social media and have silently (and not so silently at times) supported her efforts to look further into Elliott’s death.But this wasn’t what I had in mind.One weird part is how Alyson refers to herself in third person throughout the book. Not sure if that was for legal purposes (and she does address it in the beginning but doesn’t really explain it.)And there is just something very suspect about people who refer to themselves that way that takes away much of the gravity of the book’s claims. At points, it feels as if you’re reading someone’s diary and they are writing to themselves, for themselves. Surely there was a better way to frame the writing when it’s addressing such a heavy issue.But there is a much bigger problem here:The majority of what’s mentioned in the book is just rumor. Nobody went on record (nobody of import, at least) so very early on, it dissolves into a he-said-this and she-said-that narrative. And without getting too hyperbolic, there are a lot of stretches in terms of relevance. (“I spoke to a woman who was friends with Jennifer Chiba’s dental assistant who knew her when she was 18 years and old and she said she was really into blah, blah, blah”). Supposed exchanges with anonymous nurses about serious medical issues, neighbors of neighbors, etc.It circles the drain from there, quite literally by going in a circular pattern of second-hand proxy stories about Chiba, what she is rumored to have done, who she was rumored to have dated, people she was rumored to have fought, drugs she was rumored to have done, etc.Believe me, I am not sympathetic to Jennifer Chiba. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Personally I think there is more to Elliott’s death than a suicide but my opinion (like everyone elses’s) is neither here nor there.But this book goes too far and it goes on and on and on about stories we frankly don’t even know whether they’re true or not. And when I say ‘circular,’ the book continues to reiterate certain points over and over and even references the points made earlier when they’re made later. Frankly, it’s exhausting to read.Camus points out that another bio about Elliott (“Torment saint”) was also mostly comprised of anonymous sources but two wrongs don’t make a right. I thought Tornent Saint was garbage; why would anyone reference that book in an effort to defend their own efforts?Camus is quick to point out that this isn’t a court of law and she doesn’t have to abide by any real legal standards in proving guilt but ultimately there’s a very Shakespearean “The lady doth protest too much, methinks” going on about guilt. Camus goes on and on for the entirety of the book building her case against Chiba to the point where you begin to wonder if Camus really believes what she’s writing.She is quick to go into detail about how she bothered people with “tough” questions at Q&As (while the plebes were asking about the music rather than Elliott’s death details) and takes great pride in rattling cages and bumming people out in the process, all in her quest for the “truth.” (Which we find out about a quarter of the way in is to critically examine Chiba’s life and to relate rumored stories about her as told to her by “people who wouldn’t give their names but you wouldn’t know who they were anyway.”)By the end, you’ve grown wary of reading the stories of stories told by people who may not exist or who brushed shoulders with Elliott back in 1996 who is almost positive Elliott would never kill himself.Sigh.As far as I’m cocerned, this book is no better, no more accurate or informative than the other books out there about Elliott, unfortunately. Yes, there are a few wonderful quotes and stories included in here but it’s buried in between so much Chiba hate that it’s impossible to enjoy.What we know for sure is that Elliott was an enormously talented writer, musician, a lovely human by most accounts. Like all of us, he made some bad choices and he dealt with those the best he could to get back on track. He burned some bridges and unfortunately never got the chance to repair most of them. Whether or not someone believes someone would commit suicide is 100% irrelevant. Everyone has their own opinion and those who knew him best had written him off in most cases and they don’t seem too keen to discuss any of it publicly.My point is this: Chiba was definitely no angel. I don’t think anyone would disagree so I don’t think there needs to be an entire book about how sketchy and suspicious she is. But it was par for the course for a host of ‘friends’ who latched onto Elliott in different ways to different means. And yes, her behavior has been questionable from that horrible day but it doesn’t make her a killer and I get the feeling that the book tries to draw a line between the idea that she’s such a horrible person (per all of these second-hand stories told by anonymous people) that she must be a murderer because the facts don’t add up. And I just don’t think that’s the case.I really hoped and expected more from this book. At the end of the day there is nothing new here unless you’re looking for those rumors and anonymous tales that don’t really amount to much beyond high school cafeteria he-said, she-said drama.Just not my thing.Here’s to hoping this is the last book about Elliott. Let his memory be defined by his music and the good things he created and did in his lifetime. Let’s let his family have some peace. If anyone has the right to push for more information, that right belongs to Ashley or his parents. Being a fan doesn’t give someone the right to play private investigator and open up old wounds for the sake of trying to line up their own idea of justice via rumors and anonymous second or third-hand hearsay.Alyson, I believe you genuinely want to get to the truth, but certainly you must realize that the way this book is written is *not* helping your case. You must know that.

Brilliantly done.

Thought provoking account of a tragic mystery. Thanks to Alyson for her research