An Unexplained Death is an obsessive investigation into a mysterious death at the Belvedereāa once-grand hotelāand a poignant, gripping meditation on suicide and voyeurism
āThe poster is new. I notice it right away, taped to a utility pole. Beneath the word āMissing,ā printed in a bold, high-impact font, are two sepia-toned photographs of a man dressed in a bow tie and tux.ā
Most people would keep walking. Maybe theyād pay a bit closer attention to the local news that evening. Mikita Brottman spent ten years sifting through the details of the missing manās 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 Riveraās deathāwhich begins to look more and more like a murderāshe 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.