The tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut last winter will be getting a deep dive in the coming book Newtown: An American Tragedy from journalist Matthew Lysiak. Pegged to the first anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary that left 26 dead, including 20 children, the book will reportedly feature exclusive interviews and emails from shooter Adam Lanza’s mother as well as the broader story of the tragedy.
Lysiak, a reporter for the New York Daily News, obtained the emails earlier this year for a big story on Lanza’s history of mental illness. And the initial description suggests that the book will keep that focus on getting inside the mind of Lanza:
Drawing on hundreds of interviews and a decade’s worth of emails from Lanza’s mother to close friends that chronicled his slow slide into mental illness, Newtown pieces together the perfect storm that led to this unspeakable act of violence that shattered so many lives.
Lanza’s dark descent from a young boy with adjustment disorders to a calculating killer is interwoven with the Newtown massacre as it unfolded at the time, told from the points of view of eye witnesses, survivors, parents of victims, first responders, and Adam’s relatives.
The book is expected to be released December 10.