Bear Brook
4.8/5
Critic Rating
Bear Brook, hosted by Jason Moon, is the critically-acclaimed true crime podcast from New Hampshire Public Radio. Season 1: Two barrels. Four Bodies. And a cold case that’s changing how murder will be investigated forever. Season 2, A True Crime Story: Jason Carroll is serving life in prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit. The only evidence against him? His own taped confession. More than 30 years later, is it possible to get to the truth – and who gets to tell it? Stephen King called both seasons “the best true crime podcasts I've ever heard. Brilliant, involving, hypnotic.” The New Yorker...
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Stephen King • Apr 10, 2023
"The best true crime podcasts I've ever heard. Brilliant, involving, hypnotic."
Score: 4
Ximena Smith • Stuff NZ • Mar 18, 2023
"(Season 2) Moon is a careful narrator and seems acutely aware that whatever elements make it into an “official” version of a story – and what bits get left out – can have wide-ranging effects, so he is careful and painstaking with his journalistic precision. Perhaps this is why A True Crime Story seems to lose a bit of momentum in the middle, with some detail-heavy episodes. However, it does pick up again later on and clearly the thoroughness of the show is all in service of achieving justice."
Score: 5
Mara Davis • Paste Magazine • Mar 13, 2023
"(Season 2) The series gets into false confessions, why they happen and how police use certain types of interrogation techniques to get the confession they want. Make sure you finish, because the final episode (number eight) brings a big surprise."
Score: 5
Zach Johnston • Uproxx • Jun 28, 2021
"The show is a masterclass in investigative podcasting and grabs your attention from the very first moment."
Score: 5
Rebecca Lavoie • Vulture • Oct 1, 2019
"...perhaps the podcast’s biggest contribution to the genre is its exploration of genetic genealogy, the forensic technique that led to an arrest in the Golden State Killer case in April 2018, and has solved dozens of cold cases since then."
Score: 5
Sarah Larson • New Yorker • Oct 5, 2018
"The true-crime genre is crowded with podcasts, but “Bear Brook,” from New Hampshire Public Radio, stands out for its ambition, complexity, and thoughtful tone. With remarkable sensitivity and a knack for scene-setting, Moon guides us through a thicket of grisly story lines spanning several decades, characters, aliases, and states, in a narrative that culminates in an investigator’s discovery of a revolutionary, controversial DNA technique, which both solved the case of the Golden State Killer and brings Bear Brook ever closer to a resolution."
