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Cook, Sharon Anne & Carson, Margaret. (2022). **The Castleton Murders: Survivors' Story of the Killins Femicide.** Toronto: Dundurn Press.

Reviewed By: Sara Sarnelli, MacEwan University

Sharon Anne Cook and Margret Carson's memoir, "The Castleton Murders: Survivors' Story of the Killins Femicide" follows the progression of a man obsessed and the woman he refuses to leave alone as recounted through the memories and stories from those who survived the brutal massacre that claimed the lives of three women. Sharon Anne Cook and Margret Carson recount their memories and bring in accounts from others to piece together the story of the murder of their family members. Over the course of the narrative we get the story of one generation and the next, providing us with context surrounding how an event like this could happen and the circumstances that brought together Robert Ivan Killins and all of his victims. They explore how gender roles and societal expectations keep a woman trapped and how anger and lack of justice allows a man to continue to prey on his victim with no risk.

Throughout the length of the book there is a very significant theme of oppression towards women. Right from the first generation that is highlighted in this narrative, we see Rachel Swick, Robert's mother, having to leave her teaching career to become a wife, with legislation being in place to ban a married woman from working. Throughout the book we see this theme of oppression in both small and large ways in the women's lives. Cook and Carson witnessed and experienced
oppression and certain societal roles that they and the women around them were expected to follow at all times. There is an underlying sense of ownership that is directed towards the women, especially with the example of Florence Killins. Despite trying to separate herself from her husband and eventual murderer, she was bound by the restrictive gender norms of her time which kept her tied to him. Robert followed her from house to house, setting up his shacks in order to impose and control the woman he was obsessed with. The fear that these women felt being trapped in this space, unable to get away, living with this constant threat that had been normalized, "there had been years of strange behaviour, and one learns to live with a threatening presence" (p. 152). They were just expected to live with it. This speaks to society's failure to protect women in these situations, allowing this abuse to continue. Cook and Carson briefly mention that, at the time, stalking was not yet considered a crime and that women had unequal access to the justice system, however it would have been nice to get a deeper analysis of the oppressive systems in place within law enforcement and the justice system to better understand how they could have been of help or why they were not of more help. This could show another example of how systems in society did not come to the aid of women at the time and how societal norms forced women into silence.

Despite living in constant fear, societal pressures and norms placed blame on Florence in many instances, even after her death. One account is highlighted of the stories being presented to the public following the murders, "the narrative traced in the newspapers of the day, therefore, was of a sick man, but one who still managed to feed and clothe his family, and whose wife had for some reason turned him out of his own home" (p. 174). Traditional gender roles are a very prominent theme throughout the narrative. Even after being brutally killed by this man, people still
felt as if they could place blame on Florence. The children remember hearing that Florence
"deserved what she got" (p. 174). Like the earlier generations with the example of Rachel making
sacrifices and leaving her teaching job to marry Robert John, women were expected to be
homemakers and reliant on their husbands, they could never be financially independent or make
their own decisions and they were expected to be passive and submissive in marriage and in life.
By trying to leave and trying to move on from her failed life with Robert, Florence placed herself
outside of the traditional gender roles of being submissive and defenseless, and we see that people
did not like this at all. Not only do we see examples of gender roles being imposed on women but
we also see how gender roles differently impact the men of the story. The thinking of the time was
that "the idea that some women needed to work to help support their families reflected badly on
their husbands" (p. 16), there was so much pressure placed on men to support their family, even if
they struggled there was little support to be found. However, even though some of the gender roles
shown that were imposed on the men were difficult and placed them in hard positions, there were
also many examples of men, specifically Robert, getting away with so much anger and violence
and facing no consequences because he was a man.

From this violence and anger came trauma, both to the direct victims of the violence and
to those who were affected more indirectly such as family. The mental and emotional trauma that
would have faced Florence every day due to the constant stalking and harassment of Robert would
have caused strain on every part of her life. Most notably the surviving children experienced
trauma following the events that took their family members. Faced with crippling anxiety and
nightmares, the children struggled to cope, especially with the lack of mental health services and
support in the time period and a lack of knowledge surrounding trauma and conditions like anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. The effects of the children's trauma were hidden, much like how Florence was forced to hide her fear and trauma. There were examples of trauma from those outside of the family as well, "trauma existed in the community of Castleton, too. There was general uncertainty and even misunderstanding about what had caused Robert to resort to murder" (p. 191). The events of this night had an impact and a lasting one at that, on many people however despite that being recognized, mental health services were not something that would have been provided for any of these people. We see a theme of intergenerational and lasting trauma in this narrative, most of which has been very hard for the survivors to leave behind. With the telling of this narrative, we can see one example of how Cook and Carson may begin to heal their trauma and move on with their lives.

With themes of gender roles, oppression, societal norms and trauma, "The Castleton Murders: Survivors' Story of the Killins Femicide" addresses the impact of systemic violence towards women, the silence they are forced into, the persistence of abuse when not taken seriously and the lasting impacts that are felt all around. This narrative would be very interesting to someone interested in gender studies and gender based violence. Additionally, those interested in the effects of trauma and its long term effects could benefit from reading this book. Cook and Carson are victims themselves, facing fear and intergenerational trauma, and hearing their stories and how they are working towards healing could be incredibly helpful for other victims of abuse who may want to consider reading this book. I found this memoir to be extremely impactful as well as being compelling and heart wrenching. The general themes were expressed well and the book provided incredible insight into the horrible violence that was brought down onto the family.