December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died

Were he still alive, John Lennon would have celebrated his 70th birthday on Oct. 9, 2010. But the former Beatle was infamously gunned down by Mark David Chapman, a self-aware, mentally disturbed fan who fired four fatal shots into Lennon's back on Dec. 8, 1980. Greenberg's latest is an absorbing but disjointed chronicle recounting everything from Chapman's choice of attire that morning to a radio interview Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded inside their Dakota apartment building, during which Lennon said, "I consider that my work won't be finished until I'm dead and buried, and I hope that's a long time." Greenberg (Perfect Beauty: A Glamorous Socialite, Her Handsome Lover, and a Brutal Murder) eschews a chronological hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute account, telling the story via loose flashbacks to Beatles history, Lennon's New York days and Chapman's troubled past. He still manages to build suspense despite a known ending, a feat which reflects the depth of his investigative experience (he's worked for 48 Hours and MSNBC Investigates). His interviews with the first two police officers on the scene, Dakota resident and Lennon neighbor, Ellen Chesler, and New York Daily News reporter, Paul LaRosa add compelling layers to an already famous story. (Nov.)