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The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers |
Customer Rating: 
Sales Rank: 22982
Available from Amazon |
$12.89 |
THE DEFINITIVE DOSSIER ON HISTORY’S MOST HEINOUS!
Hollywood’s make-believe maniacs like Jason, Freddy, and Hannibal Lecter can’t hold a candle to real life monsters like John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and scores of others who have terrorized, tortured, and terminated their way across civilization throughout the ages. Now, from the much-acclaimed author of <i>Deviant, Deranged</i>, and <i>Depraved,</i> comes <i>the</i> ultimate resource on the serial killer phenomenon.
Rigorously researched and packed with the most terrifying, up-to-date information, this innovative and highly compelling compendium covers every aspect of multiple murderers—from psychology to cinema, fetishism to fan clubs, “trophies” to trading cards. Discover:
<b>WHO THEY ARE: </b>Those featured include <b>Ed Gein</b>, the homicidal mama’s boy who inspired fiction’s most famous <i>Psycho</i>, Norman Bates; <b>Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi</b>, sex-crazed killer cousins better known as the Hillside Stranglers; and <b>the Beanes</b>, a fifteenth-century cave-dwelling clan with an insatiable appetite for human flesh
<b>HOW THEY KILL: </b>They shoot, stab, and strangle. Butcher, bludgeon, and burn. Drown, dismember, and devour . . . and other methods of massacre too many and monstrous to mention here.
<b>WHY THEY DO IT:</b> For pleasure and for profit. For celebrity and for “companionship.” For the devil and for dinner. For the thrill of it, for the hell of it, and because “such men are monsters, who live . . .
beyond the frontiers of madness.”
<b><i>PLUS: </i></b>in-depth case studies, classic killers’ nicknames, definitions of every kind of deviance and derangement, and much, much more.
For more than one hundred profiles of lethal loners and killer couples, Bluebeards and black widows, cannibals and copycats— this is an indispensable, spine-tingling, eye-popping investigation into the dark hearts and mad minds of that twisted breed of human whose crimes are the most frightening . . . and fascinating.
Whether used as a reference work to look up specific serial killers or types of serial killer, this book holds its own very, very well. It is a must for any personal library, and not only for those with somewhat morbid interests: this book hold interesting information for those with minds bent towards history, law enforcement, psychology, and a myriad other topics of study.
The book's tone is usually nice and objective, which is what I've come to expect from serious works of nonfiction, especially ones concerning such heinous subject matter. There is very little over-dramatization of the numerous serial killers presented in the book; it's "just the facts" attitude, coupled with a clean, enjoyable to read style, makes it the sort of book you cannot help but read cover-to-cover, even if you intend it only as a reference work.
It is true that this book sometimes is repetitive, and sometimes, it is somewhat lackluster; but, if you just plod on through these parts of the book (which are never more than four or five pages long) you'll be rewarded with some of the most fascinating reading you'll do in a long time.
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