While They Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family - Softcover

"[Harrison's] telling brings moral clarity to the dark fate of a family: the daylight gaze of narrative itself as a form of empathy."--New York Times Book Review

"A tale at once gothic and Greek, Freudian and Shakespearean, taboo and tragic."--Washington Post Book World

"Magnificent . . . a darkly poignant study of survival."--USA Today

"Masterful . . . a fascinating and comprehensive examination of the before and after of a brutal triple murder, of the cyclical nature of violence and of the tragic ineffectiveness of our social support systems."--Los Angeles Times

"Lucid, psychologically probing and disturbing...[While they Slept is] a morally nuanced story, and a culmination of Harrison's favored themes: sex, family and power."--Time Out New York

"You can count on Harrison for white-water prose and ferocious candor...Harrison's intense and resonant inquiry affirms the cathartic power of the story, and reflects on the miraculous cycle of loss and death."--Booklist

Describes how eighteen-year-old Billy Gilley, Jr. brutally murdered his parents and younger sister and the aftermath of the shocking crime, in a study that reflects on the deadly effects of abuse and violence within a family.