The New York Times 2021 summer reading pick
Featured in Marie Claire's “The 10 Best True Crime Books of 2021” and Amazon's July 2021 “Editors' Picks: Best Nonfiction”

“Mikita Brottman is one of today’s finest practitioners of nonfiction that explores the uncertain truths revealed when violence crashes into human life…Brottman offers a precise and rarely seen accounting of American hospitals for the criminally insane…[and] shows the compounding injustice that results when the criminal mental health system is layered on top of mass incarceration.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Two years after the Menendez brothers famously killed their parents in Beverly Hills, a 22-year old man walked into a Florida police station and confessed to a similar crime. But the case of Brian Bechtold never made the cover of People magazine. Mikita Brottman has compiled an astonishing narrative of a man trapped in a netherworld, locked up in psych wards for 27 years after being declared ‘not criminally responsible’ for his parents’ death. Bechtold grew up in a household that mixed abuse and mental illness, and his life story confronts the question: Can one be both a victim and a victimizer?”
—Robert Rand, author of The Menendez Murders

“Couple Found Slain is a compelling account of a young adult who killed his parents and was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Mikita Brottman has done a masterful job relating this man’s perceptions of his experiences as a patient in a psychiatric hospital for 27 years. This book raises important questions about the rights of the ‘criminally insane.’”
—Kathleen M. Heide, Ph.D., Distinguished University Professor, University of South Florida and author of Understanding Parricide: When Sons and Daughters Kill Parents

"Few have written more eloquently—and beautifully—about the terror of an institution that makes it virtually impossible to prove their sanity. Mikita Brottman shows the injustices of America's mental health care system with urgency, empathy and a keen eye for detail. It gives you goosebumps to think that almost anyone could end up in one of these soul-crushing, Kafkaesque machines."
—Sabine Heinlein, author of Among Murderers

"Mikita Brottman’s COUPLE FOUND SLAIN is a riveting account of a terrible crime and its aftermath. Deeply researched and compulsively readable, Brottman exposes the myriad ways that forensic psychiatry and a calcified system fail Bechtold and others judged 'not criminally responsible' for their actions. A gripping investigation that questions not only the sentence without end meted out to Bechtold, but the psychiatric dogma used to justify his continued incarceration."
—Deborah Rudacille, author of The Riddle of Gender: Science, Activism and Transgender Rights

"Brottman has established herself as a leading voice in modern true crime. She finds empathy in the criminal and shows compassion for those whom society wishes to simply forget. This is not just a well-written book, it's an important book. A must-read."
—James Renner, author of True Crime Addict

"A stunning achievement. This heartbreaking expose will enrage readers who yearn for a humane and rational treatment approach for those who are found by the U.S. court system to be 'criminally insane.' This is not a book for the timid or the weak of heart, but it's an absolutely essential read for those who demand fairness, coherence and compassion in our treatment of mental illness."
—Tom Nugent, author of Death at Buffalo Creek

“Brottman draws with authority on case studies and criminal statistics to dispel the common misconception that the insanity defense is preferable to prison and amounts to a get-out-of-jail-free card. True crime fans looking for a provocative approach to the genre will be rewarded.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Brottman deftly points to problems at facilities like Perkins [Hospital Center], from psychiatrists who spend too little time with patients, to high staff turnover…This thought-provoking book adds to conversations about the role of psychiatric institutions and how society can offer solutions.”
—Library Journal

“The author’s meticulous research is evident throughout…making for a smooth narrative populated by a variety of colorful characters…Brottman shows effectively that forced hospitalization could make anyone seem paranoid.”
—Kirkus Reviews

"[Brottman] makes a compelling case against the unjust, seemingly arbitrary treatment of those deemed 'criminally insane.'"
—Booklist

“A compelling, often creepy book…Mixing fascinating investigation and macabre memoir, this is a dark ride with substance." —Kirkus Reviews

“This is a learned, lucid, and finally heartbreaking account of urban obsession. It's David Fincher's film Zodiac crossed with accounts of Judge Crater's disappearance crossed with Ms. Brottman's wild take on the unknowability of life and the necessity of staying obsessed. Ms. Brottman is a groove—and so is her book." —James Ellroy

"Brottman meticulously follows any and all threads she can ...but Brottman's book is, sneakily, more than just a true crime narrative." —NPR.org

"A page-turning look at the darker impulses of the human psyche." —Publishers Weekly *Starred Review*
“What better place for a mystery than in an iconic old hotel such as the Baltimore Belvedere? …The topic is enthralling.” —San Francisco Book Review

“This book works as both a glimpse into the well of obsession (Brottman’s) and as a philosophical treatise into the nature of suicide…Anyone who enjoys true crime is liable to enjoy the story behind Brottman’s search and Rivera’s death.“ —New York Journal of Books

“Mesmerizing. A haunting meditation on the opacity of facts—how the who, what, when, and where always fail to plumb the abyss: the why. Brottman’s inquiry into the death of Rey Rivera turns into an 11-year hunt for revelation along the knife-edge of pathology.” —Claudia Rowe, author of The Spider and the Fly: A Writer, a Murderer and a Story of Obsession

"[A] page-turner...those who choose books with dark subject matter, suspense, and microhistory elements will all find something to enjoy here." —Booklist

“At once a meditation on suicide and the ways people die as well as a solid piece of investigative reporting, An Unexplained Death crosses man lines and takes big risks. Admirable. Compelling. Unusual." —Beverly Lowry, author of Crossed Over and Who Killed These Girls

“Mikita Brottman’s An Unexplained Death is not just a thrilling whodunit, with new clues unfolding every chapter, it’s a beautifully written elegy about the mystery of death. By the end of the book, you’ll be just as fascinated by Brottman as you will be by her main character: the handsome and devoted Rey Rivera, who suddenly goes missing early on a Baltimore spring evening. This is one riveting, heartbreaking read." —Skip Hollandsworth, author of The Midnight Assassin: The Hunt for America’s First Serial Killer

“An Unexplained Death begins as a factual mystery, then opens up into something far greater: the fundamental mysteries that concern us all. Mikita Brottman is a gripping writer and an intrepid explorer, a brave chronicler of her obsessions, and ours.” —Zachary Lazar, author of Vengeance

"Gripping, immersive, and beautifully written, with an unsettling juxtaposition of criminality and mundanity. Brottman blends tragic and gruesome details with an intelligent and refined touch." —Henry Bond, photographer and author of Lacan at the Scene

“Take nine convicted felons…Add a well-meaning literary scholar armed only with cheap reprints of challenging books...The resulting dynamic is the subject of Mikita Brottman’s fascinating and unvarnished book about criminals as rough-hewn literary critics. I tore through THE MAXIMUM SECURITY BOOK CLUB.” (Wally Lamb, New York Times bestselling author of WE ARE WATER)

“Swiftly and sensitively written…we should all strive to build book clubs with people whose days and life histories are quite different from our own, rather than discussing books mainly with our friends. Until then, there’s Mikita Brottman’s wonderfully witty and deeply honest report from just that sort of space.” (Sheila Heti, author of HOW SHOULD A PERSON BE?)

“…Steers clear of facile sentimentality. There is no transformation or redemption in Brottman’s story, only honest moments of encounter…made possible by the act of reading literature. Brottman gives us a candid, unillusioned account of her work behind bars. A brave and admirable book about a brave and admirable project.” (William Deresiewicz, author of EXCELLENT SHEEP: THE MISEDUCATION OF THE AMERICAN ELITE and THE WAY TO A MEANINGFUL LIFE)

“One of the best books about teaching I’ve ever read, it is not only lively and engaging from the first page to the last, but dazzles by virtue of its honesty, sympathy and humanity.” (Phillip Lopate, author of PORTRAIT OF MY BODY )

“The prisoners are real. The fiction classics they read and discuss are real. Honest, engaging, surprising, and often unsettling, THE MAXIMUM SECURITY BOOK CLUB beautifully captures the banal insanity of prison life in America while exploring the power of literature to transform, reform, and illuminate.” (Kim Wozencraft, author of RUSH and THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE)


   On sabbatical from teaching literature to undergraduates, and wanting to educate a different kind of student, Mikita Brottman starts a book club with a group of convicts from the Jessup Correctional Institution in Maryland. She assigns them ten dark, challenging classics—including Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Poe’s story “The Black Cat,” and Nabokov’s Lolita—books that don’t flinch from evoking the isolation of the human struggle, the pain of conflict, and the cost of transgression. Although Brottman is already familiar with these works, the convicts open them up in completely new ways. Their discussions may “only” be about literature, but for the prisoners, everything is at stake.
     Gradually, the inmates open up about their lives and families, their disastrous choices, their guilt and loss. Brottman also discovers that life in prison, while monotonous, is never without incident. The book club members struggle with their assigned reading through solitary confinement; on lockdown; in between factory shifts; in the hospital; and in the middle of the chaos of blasting televisions, incessant chatter, and the constant banging of metal doors.
    Though The Maximum Security Book Club never loses sight of the moral issues raised in the selected reading, it refuses to back away from the unexpected insights offered by the company of these complex, difficult men. It is a compelling, thoughtful analysis of literature—and prison life—like nothing you’ve ever read before.

“Mikita Brottman takes terrifying risks but never puts a foot wrong. These stories begin with delicate precision and build stunning pace and power. This is fiction that is truer and more penetrating than the savage facts at its core.”
~ Katherine Dunn, author of Geek Love

“Thirteen Girls manages the improbable feat of conjuring up the full horror and emotional devastation of serial homicide by focusing exclusively on the aftermath of the crimes and those left to deal with the consequences: family members, police officers, witnesses, survivors. Known for her brilliant, provocative cultural criticism, Mikita Brottman has produced a stunning work of crime fiction–a genuine tour de force”
~Harold Schechter, author of The Serial Killer Files

“Brottman’s grimly pragmatic literary stance recalls such earlier artists of the quotidian macabre as Shirley Jackson and Flannery O’Connor: Thirteen Girls is an impressive successor to their stories of American dread”.
~John Pistelli, Rain Taxi. Read full review

“Mikita Brottman’s casebook plumbs the annals of true crime and delivers thirteen bracing stories about the fallout from violent crime. Each fictionalized story is told from a different perspective – a mother, a shrink, a cop, a sister – and collectively reveal the afterlife of murder through the people it affects most deeply. Brottman has terrific literary skill, creating thirteen distinct voices, weaving in unforgettable detail and creating the kind of nuance that lingers in the mind. Ultimately, this is a psychological portrait of murder, an unblinking collection of stories that reveals a cultural obsession with violence and a need for “closure” stacked against the emotional power of personal testimony”.
Interview with Chip Smith of Nine Banded Books
Interview with Bret McCabe, Baltimore City Paper, October 2012
Review by Joseph Martin, Baltimore Fishbowl, October 2012
True Crime and Academe,” Mikita Brottman and Thomas Doherty, Chronicle of Higher Education, Sept. 24 2012
Interview with John King, The Drunken Odyssey podcast, Episode 13, August 31, 2012
Fatal Vision: an interview with Mikita Brottman, The Nervous Breakdown, September 28, 2012

Hyena (Reaktion Books) takes us on a tour of the hyena throughout history, detailing the magic, myth and ritual associated with this remarkable animal. Although shrouded in taboo, the hyena has been the source of and inspiration for talismanic objects since the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. Many cultures use parts of the hyena – from its excrement and blood to its genitalia and hair – to make charms and totems that variously avert evil, promise virility and promote fertility. This book also considers portrayals of hyenas in modern popular culture, including The Lion King and The Life of Pi, in which they are often stereotyped as villains, cowardly henchmen or clowns, and their more impressive qualities ignored.   Rightly returning hyenas to their proper place in the animal pantheon, this richly illustrated book will be enjoyed by any animal lover with an interest in the unusual and offbeat”.

“Is there a creature more unlovely and less loved, or more loathed, than the hyena, the slope-backed, mighty-jawed, yammering, cowardly skulker of the night? In much of Africa, hyenas are no laughing matter; more feared than lions, they have been known to come into villages and carry off children. But in the latest entry in this invaluable (if sometimes uneven) series on individual animals, U.S. psychoanalyst and cultural critic Mikita Brottman reassesses these maligned creatures. Hyenas, she claims convincingly, are complex, intelligent and highly social – and can even be easily trained to live with human beings. She also examines the hyena as a totemic object in tribal culture (amulets to avert evil woven from its hairs, virility treatments) as well as the portrayal of hyenas in such works as Life of Pi, The Lion King and the Tarzan novels, where they come off less well. As usual, beautifully and plentifully illustrated.” (Toronto Globe and Mail, August 3 2012)