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

by Kathryn Harrison

Book Overview

Early on an April morning, eighteen-year-old Billy Frank Gilley, Jr., killed his sleeping parents. Surprised in the act by his younger sister, Becky, he turned on her as well. Billy then climbed the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345516605
• Release Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.9" x 0.8" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Fantastic

A wonderfully written book. I want to meet and hug Jody Arlington. And also, I feel a deep sadness and affection for Billy. I do wish there was a place more fitting for him than life in prison. His lawyer did not defend him well, I can't believe his appeals have been denied. He deserves more from this world.

Kathryn Harrison is exactly the right person to write this book.

Here's an understatement: The Gilleys were a troubled family. Linda Gilley was a depressed, overly religious woman who loved declaring punishment for her three children. Her husband, Bill Gilley, Sr., was only too happy to administer it on his wife's behalf. That way, it was no one's fault. Linda never watched Bill punish the children so she had no way of knowing how bad it could get, and it was never Bill's idea to abuse the children; he was only following his wife's instructions. Their oldest child, Billy, was a sponge for trouble and pain. A chronic liar and manipulator, he was always in trouble at school, suffering from an undiagnosed learning disability. The Gilleys didn't really need a reason to beat Billy, which they did, severely, several times a week. They found a house with a barn where Bill could lash Billy to a tractor tire so he couldn't squirm so much. After 18 years as the family punching bag, Billy fought back. One night he beat his parents to death with a baseball bat, also killing his youngest sister, 11-year-old Becky, when she got in his way. However, it's the middle child, Jody, who draws Kathryn Harrison's attention. Against all odds, Jody is a survivor. A college-educated professional today, Jody survived her terrible parents' idea of discipline and her brother's idealization, which was nearly as dangerous. Billy loved Jody and wanted to marry her, although Billy now denies the implicit incest. After Jody and Billy were orphaned, he went to jail and she endured all the speculation that she had to have known what he was going to do, maybe even helped him. How did Jody survive? How did she shake off dysfunction and tragedy to become a woman no one would suspect of carrying around such a tragic history? The author draws her narrative from interviews with both Jody and Billy, as well as discussions with friends, police and social workers. It's fascinating to compare Jody's memories with Billy's. Unsurprisingly, they do not have a relationship today, and working through their experiences on their own has solidified their differences. In addition to denying he ever had sexual intentions toward Jody, Billy also claims that Jody suggested killing their parents and knew he was going to do it. Along with a reputation for dishonesty well documented by numerous teachers and social workers, Billy has a motive to lie. His crimes seem a little less horrible if he can picture himself as a white knight, rescuing his complicit sister from a lifetime of abuse with only the purest of intentions. The Gilleys receive nuanced, thoughtful descriptions. Bill is violent and unfaithful, a lazy, alcoholic sadist with virtually no redeeming characteristics, but the plight of his own childhood gives him another dimension. Little Becky is an innocent victim but was so like their mother, you can see why Billy couldn't stop himself from killing her as well. Jody is brave and intelligent, but there's something about her lack of affect that people can't

In Cold Blood Again

Kathryn Harrison's new book describes the murders of the Gilley Family in Oregon, by Billy Gilley, the oldest child of Linda and Bill Gilley. The book is written in a very readable style, and while not as sophisticated as "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote, its style and format is reminiscent of that book. The facts of the case are very much a matter of public record, in that Billy Gilley murdered both his parents and his younger sister, Becky, with an aluminum baseball bat. Billy was very much an abused child, both physically and even more so, emotionally & psychologically. Linda, his mother, used her husband to be the physical abuser of Billy for any whimsical reason. Some of Billy's transgressions deserved punishment, but not the type of punishment he received at the hands of his parents. Harrison does a complete and intriguing job of describing the murders and the circumstances that seem to have led up to this manner of release by Billy in order to gain his freedom from his abusive parents. The only other survivor of the family was his sister Jody, who was seriously traumatized by the events, but who eventually overcame the serious horror of the incident. She went to Georgetown University and became involved deeply in associations and agencies that help children who are captives of abusive and inept parents. The book is highly recommended to readers who have an interest in why people commit such acts of parricide and what may be the causes and motivations that drive them to commit these acts. Readers will find the book reads quickly and interestingly and gives great insight through the eyes of Harrison as to how such an event could come about. It is seriously recommended as fine reading material and highly instructive with respect to abuse and its most ultimate outcome.

Defined by a horrible event

Kathryn Harrison has done a thorough and insightful job of understanding and relating Jody's story without bringing too much baggage with her. She gets dangerously close to the brother who caused the devastation that split Jody's life into a "before" and an "after." This is a compelling survivor story with more depth than your typical true-crime chronicle.

Powerful, moving, and deeply disturbing

This is an unforgettable book, an account of teen-aged Billy Gilley's murder of his parents and eleven-year-old sister in Medford, Oregon, in 1986. Jody Gilley, sixteen at the time of the massacre, survived. Much of the book is her story. Other reviewers have criticized Harrison for "inserting" or "interjecting" her own story. I can understand those criticisms but I do not agree with them. In the first few pages of the book, Harrison takes the bold and unusual step of explaining her interest in the Gilley murders, and she lets us know who she, the author, is. She is a survivor of incest, though that is far too simple a label for a complex human being. There is no attempt at cold objectivity in this book, because such a thing is not possible. Each of us has his or her point of view, based on a highly individual world-view and self-image. To this extent, all descriptive writing, fiction or nonfiction, contains an element of autobiography. Harrison acknowledges this, and the result is a powerful, moving, and deeply disturbing book. There are no simple answers here. The brutally abusive parents, bludgeoned to death by their eighteen-year-old son with a baseball bat, are presented as human being, however repulsive they may be. Jody, now a successful business woman in Washington, D.C., with a family of her own, is presented as a complex and impressive woman. Billy, too, has his own story. Harrison interviewed him several times in the Oregon state prison, where he has been sentenced to three consecutive life terms, one for each murder. The book does not answer all questions, and that is a strength, not a weakness. I have many troubling questions about Becky, the innocent eleven-year-old beaten to death by her older brother because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do not recommend this book for everyone. Readers who expect a sensational and gory piece of bedtime reading will be disappointed. While They Slept demands careful, open reading, with all preconceptions set aside, to the extent that such a thing is possible. It will be rewarding, if troubling, to the reader who approaches the book in the spirit in which Harrison offers it.