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An Unexplained Death

The True Story of a Body at the Belvedere

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An Unexplained Death

By: Mikita Brottman
Narrated by: Mikita Brottman
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This program is read by the author. An Unexplained Death is an obsessive investigation into a mysterious death at the Belvedere - a once-grand hotel - and a poignant, gripping meditation on suicide and voyeurism.

“The poster is new. I notice it right away, taped to a utility pole. Beneath the word ‘Missing’, printed in a bold, high-impact font, are two sepia-toned photographs of a man dressed in a bow tie and tux.”

Most people would keep walking. Maybe they’d pay a bit closer attention to the local news that evening. Mikita Brottman spent 10 years sifting through the details of the missing man’s life and disappearance and his purported suicide by jumping from the roof of her own apartment building, the Belvedere.

As Brottman delves into the murky circumstances surrounding Rey Rivera’s death - which begins to look more and more like a murder - she contemplates the nature of and motives behind suicide and uncovers a haunting pattern of guests at the Belvedere, when it was still a historic hotel, taking their own lives on the premises. Finally, she fearlessly takes us to the edge of her own morbid curiosity and asks us to consider our own darker impulses and obsessions.

©2018 Mikita Brottman (P)2018 Macmillan Audio Americas Psychology Psychology & Mental Health State & Local Suicide True Crime United States Disappearance

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I will be honest, I only listened to the first chapter. Not only did I find the narration dull, but the author went off on multiple tangents during this chapter alone. I was looking for the story of Rey Rivera, not multiple tangents.

Dull and many tangents

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Enthralling story. I love the way the writer weaves in and out of the Rivera story with personal observations and other morbid curiosities in general. Fascinating storytelling of a number of mysterious deaths at the Belvedere Hotel. Not a big fan of the narrator's voice or sound quality of the recording, but the story and writing was engaging enough to get past it.

Fascinating story and superb writing.

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I will immediately begin to read everything by this writer. The artist has a beautiful writing style and the time/angle shifts in plot are expertly done.
This book is an obvious feat for all involved.

Perfect work!

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Very interesting book but not what I expected at all. Makita is a very fine author. She keeps the reader interested in the topic without a problem. She isn’t shy discussing her vulnerabilities. And she shares an in depth knowledge of a topic that I had never considered and I found that fact strangely enlightening.

Unusual Style and very well written

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Parts of this book dealing with suicides and the past history of the Belvedere are interesting in themselves, or will be, to the curious. But they are not facts that are relevant to the death of Rey Rivera.

People who are reading this book hoping to get more facts on the death of Rey Rivera are probably going to feel gypped. The author doesn’t know anything much more than what is publicly available. And she did try to get more, and much of this book is about how she tried to get it.

What did emerge, slowly and very subtly - and perhaps unintentionally - is a picture of Rey Rivera as a man who wasn’t all that he appeared to be. He had his glory days as a potential Olympic star and water polo player. Those days were gone. He was handsome, superficially impressive and smart. But he wasn’t fitted for anything in terms of work and was terrible with money. He ended his life with a big debt, that his far more capable professional wife ended up paying.

Her conclusion is one I keep picking up and rejecting, but it’s possible. Other things are possible too, but if you use Occam’s Razor only a couple things make sense, based on the evidence the public has currently been provided. Anyone looking for a sinister conspiracy explanation needs to look elsewhere.

A Lot of Overthinking

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I saw this story on unsolved mysteries on Netflix. The author answered all of my questions. And for that reason, it was satisfying.

In-depth

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I really enjoyed this book. I didn’t agree that Rey jump voluntarily. I thought the writer told an interesting story. A lot of people might not like the extra stories but I think she filled in an 8 hr book quite nicely:)

Really good info!

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I think the author did a fantastic job with this book, covering all possible aspects to Ray Rivera’s death along with interweaving other stories. I partially agree with the author’s determination, but I believe Rivera committed suicide. I’ve investigated many suicides and not having any apparent motive is not only common, but very normal. There’s also no way it was murder. No one could chuck an over six foot, 220 pound man off of a roof. Also no one could make him jump. He either felt regret, guilt, job dissatisfaction, or great or potential failure. While I won’t discount mental issues like the author suggests, I think Rivera wanted to create a mystery with his death; to make people question his suicide and create doubt.

Suicide

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I was looking for an intriguing murder mystery, this had elements of that but the authors random sidetracks on suicide statistics and other random
Elements interrupted the flow and were often tedious, add on to that the authors penchant to create two dimensional characters and her obvious infatuation with the looks of the main subject and her political biases that were softly weaved in made it cumbersome. Not recommended

Cumbersome and tedious

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This book is a hard listen. It didn’t really stay on topic. One minute they were talking about the topic of Rey Rivera the next minute they’re talking about their obsession with vintage trunks.

Hard to follow!!

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