Serial Killers Books

I think this is the first book by the author who has a masters degree in social work. JOn Dunkel was the boy next door but you couldn't imagine somebody like him to be accused of doing such horrendous crimes of murdering innocent young boys. I think that's the problem. We're not looking properly for the signs. Yes, the signs were there. Maybe he was signalling for help to stop. Such monsters often appear quite normal so we can't jump to conclusions without all the facts presented. There is no doubt he was guilty. One only wonders why and what would have prevented the murders? I feel sorry for the people of Belmont. I was the boys' age in 1984 when the murders started happening but I live on the east coast. I could say that it would have changed my life if it happened in my neighborhood. i can only imagine the devastation of the victims' families, friends, relatives, and the other children who they played with. May they all rest in peace. I don't know if Dunkle is still on death row. California has about 600 guys on death row but this book was a slow read for me. I felt sorry for the families of the victims. I was glad that the author gave updates about the main characters like Lisa Thomas who was crucial in helping get him. Dunkle is still a very sick character who did everything to avoid getting caught and put in prison for life. His behavior in the courtroom and with the police department was sickening. He was like the Hillside Strangler trying to claim insanity when he wasn't.

I am only 14 years old and when I selected this book to read for my english class assignment I had no idea how scary it would be. I was not born when all of this was happening even though I live right by Belmont. It makes you think about all the people in this world how could anybody be willing to kill children like him. He worked at ToysRus who knows how many kids he could of killed being around them all day. I feel terrible for all the family members and friends of the 3 poor little boys that were killed by this man. I can not believe anybody would be able to do that. This was an excellent book, but I think it is a little to scary for people my age.

My own son was 10 years old when Lance Turner was murdered at Water Dog Lake. The event profoundly changed the lives of many Belmont residents ... no more hiking alone into Water Dog Lake for sure. Reading Gretchen Brinck's account of that and Jon's other brutal crimes was completely captivating. I have lent the book to approximately 20 friends and their 20-something sons. If being dog-eared defines a good book, this is it. Jon Dunkel was a neighbor so I thank God every day that my son and his friends, one of whom lived next door to Jon, were not part of his web of insanity ... or maybe his "contrived insanity."

I bought this book because of it's great reviews by the readers below. And they were right! This was one of those hard to put down books. It is a great book for reference and a good addition
to a true crime library; But what distinguishes this book is it makes it personal. It speaks of the victims and their families and actually gives them (the victims) a face and a personality.

It is most refreashing to see that Gretchen Brinck and others like her cover all angles of these horrendous crimes. They make it be known that the victims are whats important here, not the criminal. In this book you will find the struggles both the family and the police go through, and also the twisted mind of a killer. Well written book.

I have read many true crime books and found this one rivetting. What was so unbelievable was how this sick young man managed to outwit the police, psychiatrists etc, all the while he continued to kill and hurt. It seemed so unfathomable to me how this kid was not stopped before he killed his 3 young victims. With so many DUI's, attacking a kid with a 2 by 4, running another over - how did he evade capture so long? Did the police truly bungle the situation as much as it seems they did. I also place the blame squarely on Dunkle's family - they were either in deep denial about Dunkle's violence, killing and drinking or just didn't want to face it. Their blindness and apathy lead to the deaths of the 3 boys. No question.
I have tried to google Dunkle to find out what has become of him. All I found out was that he is still on death row and that he is now believed incompetant. A guardian was appointed to him as he cannot represent his own interests. Is he truly psychotic or is he just a sick, fine actor? It looks like he will never be put to death as he will be deemed too ill. As long as he is in prison forever, where he can't harm others, sounds okay to me.

I highly recommend this book. It is chilling and will leave you wondering about how someone can devolve into a serial killer like Dunkle.

This was a good read. The historical facts of the waterfront and islands off of NYC were fascinating and enlightening.

A very well written, fast paced tale of criminal procedure in New York City. Linda Fairstein knows her business having acquired experience and knowledge through her work in the district attorney's office in the Big Apple. If crime of sexual assault is your genre, Killer Heat is one of the best novels to hit the recent market.

This latest legal cum detective fiction brings back the dynamic trio--DA Alex Cooper and her two detective buddies Mercer and Chapman. This time, they are faced with a series of rape-murders with almost no clues. As side stories, Alex prosecutes a serial rapist decades after the events, is faced with gang-related revenge efforts, and, on the lighter side, pursues her romantic involvement with the Frenchman, Luc, who she met in the previous novel in the series.

As in previous entries, Ms. Fairstein's trademark descriptions of various New York City landmarks providing authentic knowledge of the sites and history lend an unparalleled flavor to the story. In the present case, such information relating to Governor's Island and Breezy Point provide background to the plot.

The novel is so well-paced that the reader will have a hard time putting it down before reaching the stirring climax. About all that's unresolved in this, the author's tenth crime novel, is what is going to happen next--if anything--with her relationship with Luc. Nevertheless, it's a great read.

Those who want their heroines tough, strong, and super intelligent know they've found her in Alex Cooper. She's a D.A. in Manhattan and as we meet her again in the tenth offering by Linda Fairstein, she's enjoying victory. It was a tough rape case but Alex won it (and incurred the animus of Latin Princes gang members along the way).

Nonetheless, her winning feeling is soon lost as she is notified that the body of a young woman has been found in an abandoned building. Now, author Fairstein knows this territory well as she once headed the Sex Crimes Unit of the District Attorney's Office, and she minces no words.

After viewing the victim, Alex is offered a cigar by Mike, a detective with the Manhattan North Homicide Squad. Despite the oppressive August heat he puffs on a stogie and encourages her to take one with this advice, ""The stench from that corpse is going to stay in your brain for weeks unless you infuse it right away with something more powerful. Why do you think I've always got a couple of these in my pocket?"

As stated, Alex is tough and while she may be able to get over the sickening smell of death, what she cannot get over is another beaten woman's body found and then a third.

Being directed to catch the killer before the city is deadened by fear is one thing, trying to stay alive when those gang members want revenge is quite another.

Since the introduction of Alex Cooper in 1996 Ms. Fairstein has turned out nine additional thrillers, each more exciting than the last. Tony Award winner Blair Brown gives another sterling performance in her narration of this spine-tingling novel.

- Gail Cooke

This was the first Linda Fairstein book I've read. I wondered about the Five-Star ratings and didn't feel this book warranted that. Maybe it's just not my type of "sleuth" novel. I thought it was boring and it didn't hold my interest. I guess I like more action and not so much courtroom and legal blah blah blah. The characters didn't grab me one way or the other --- they were just "there." I lean more towards the quirky types --- not the run-of-the-mill detectives, DA, etc.

Jaffe's writing is intelligent and provocative. I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Can't wait to read Terror-Dot-Gov and Beyond the Techno Cave.

Harold Jaffe's 15 Serial Killers is the logical extension of his 2002 collection False Positive, in which he variously "treated" newspaper stories in order to reveal the hidden assumptions beneath and behind them. And not just journalists' assumptions, but our own. This project is extended into the favorite realm of the newspaper: celebrities who are "bad," in this case primarily serial killers. But other "bad" celebrities also sprinkle these stories: Madonna has sex with Henry Kissinger and Idi Amin and a strap-on; Dennis Wilson swipes Manson's songs; National Book Award-winner and famous auto-erotic aspyxiator, plagiarist, and transvestite Jerzy Kosinski is conflated with Theodore Kaczynski; Kissinger lectures Duchamp on art. The travesties associated with all celebrity seem on target. Perhaps serial killers are just the most obvious examples.
Jaffe seems less to be setting out to "shock" or "horrify" us readers than to be relating these accounts in several ways that really tame any potential shock we would feel. Only three of these fictions are told from the point of view of the killer: the rest distance the killer in third person or use alternating first and third persons in an interview style that has us identify with the interviewer. This results in our identifying the killers as "them," while we can retain some of the complacency of "us." As a matter of fact, these "docufictions" seem to intentionally massage our complacency in the face of the ho-hum horrors of our times in order to then have us see them in ourselves.
Or so it could be if this were meant to be a mimetic text. But to read Jaffe this way-that is, to discuss his work only by focusing on his subject matter-is perhaps a mistake. After Robbe-Grillet, does subject matter really matter? After Beckett, hasn't subject matter become? What matters is the writing itself.
So what of Jaffe's prose? It is not merely "treated" newspaper writing. The stories contain authorial and editorial insinuations and intrusions, slight turns of phrase that reveal the hand of the writer at work, that move this work beyond its subject matter. I would trust Jaffe as I would Robbe-Grillet. I would rather read five of their pages about a smushed centipede or Charo than I would one of the latest obviously-plotted, winking-at-Hollywood Brand-X Pop Novel. In "Dr. K," the ostensible Kissinger piece, for example, Jaffe writes, "You've seen his Kopf. He wears a size eight-and-a-half hat, which is almost unheard of. Outside D.C." That is not any average newspaper writing. It is an example of style. Flair. Jaffe is not afraid to show his hand.
We may be challenged from time to time to find it in any one piece-where in the fiction/nonfiction interface is "originality," but I think here the question also goes astray. Why should I fancy "originality" to even be a possibility? Isn't our society's social fabric itself merely an illusion? How can anything come of nothing? Is the very notion of "originality" just an elitist put-on meant to keep the elitists up there and us schlubs down here? Question "authority," right? Doesn't that mean, "question the author"? I would feel more uncomfortable if Jaffe wrote his fictions as straightforward third-person narratives. Only three here are truly in third person, and they aren't very straightforward. Straightforward third-person narrative is all hand-holdy and creepy: Take my hand, dear little reader, you who hold my hand, and I will show you the wonders of my world. Yuck! Thank you, Hal, for giving us something to read that actually engages thought. So many readers and writers out there seem to dedicate themselves to soft little comfy chair stories of the wonders of the writer's world, imagined or real. Bridges of Madison County crap. I wish many of more of us wandered out here to reading the real stuff. Jaffe is the real stuff. When Jaffe writes that cannibal Ed Kemper says, "a hero has to be made with Italian bread. What I ate professed to be French," we see the hand of a true stylist. Who cares if he writes about serial killers or cereal fillers? As long as lines like "Yonkers cops decide to cop the glory" and "Lee drinks Coors Lite to keep the calories down, make her more appealing to the highway johns, but the thing is she drinks a whole lot and the watery brew makes her pee" find a seam in Jaffe's texts, they'll keep us reading for his style alone.

If you are a fan of narratives that leave you feeling that strange stimulating combination of humor, unease and engagement (as I am), then you will not be disappointed with Jaffe's latest docufiction work that takes factual information about some of the most infamous killers ever known, from Charles Manson to Henry Kissinger, and treats it, at once giving intriguing insight into these dark and arguably brilliant criminal minds while exposing the exploitative, hypocritical media and culture that voraciously consumes and condemns them at the same time.

Naturally, Jaffe presents all of this material in his usual innovative, unconventional fashion that keeps you thoughtful, amused and engaged until the end. This is a work for those who enjoy having their cultural assumptions interrogated while being thoroughly entertained--not for the unimaginative or feint of mind.

I picked this book up on finals week at the SDSU Bookstore because I've seen multiple copies sitting there, unsold, and kinda felt sorry for this faculty member and his brand of odd fiction. Now I want to take it back. I have read some of Jaffe's other books but this is exactly the same as the others. His talky stories all have the same voice and all have the same theme, with no character development, no emotion, no plot, no structure, and not even a hint of good writing development. It's repetition after repetition and grows old, very old, very fast. One may hope the author may try to expand his horizons and content in his next book.

In 15 SERIAL KILLERS, Harold Jaffe again exhibits his genius in literary technique and sociocultural investigation. The book comprises 15 "docufictions," each a pastiche of prose format inventions, focusing on fifteen figures, including Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Son of Sam, Dr. Kevorkian, the Night Stalker, Carlos the Jackal, Theodore Kaczynski, Charles Manson, and others. With searing intensity, Jaffe probes the psychodynamics of these figures, simultaneously deconstructing and evaluating the cult of attraction and media infatuation surrounding them. The result is a book of crucial relevance, in both aesthetics and subject matter.

Jaffe's literary techniques force the reader to address and process a range of stimuli and make critical connections, in a fashion which mirrors the breadth of inputs--sensory, electronic, pedagogical, corporate, emotional-which an individual must navigate and integrate in the highly-charged world of 2003 and beyond. On a textual level, each of Jaffe's docufictions contains a matrix of interview/interrogatory/ script/editorial/"live" narration/parody/ reconstruction/ dialog/mise-en-scene/biblical-folkloric refrain/commentary-blended and sectioned into an acute and profound biographical sketch.

In the texts, Jaffe reveals the prejudice and incompetence of the police as they attempt to corral the necrophilic and cannibalistic Jeffrey Dahmer; the sadomasochism and dental sensitivity of John Wayne Gacy; the childhood imprisonment, rabbit-love, and obesity theories of David Berkowitz; the asexuality of Dr. Kevorkian (including his repulsion from "the original coochie-coochie" Charo) and his aspirations of cadaver experimentation; the tremendous apathy and merely-average endowment of Richard Ramirez; the lovesickness, false medical casts, and gourmandize of Ted Bundy; the M2F fantasizing and corporate funding of Theodore Kaczynski; the passive-aggressive anti-Semitism and Freudian examination of Carlos the Jackal; the boyhood rapes, theatrics, and Johnny-Cochran admiration of Charles Manson... and much more.

Reading 15 SERIAL KILLERS is enlightening on many levels. The dimensions of Jaffe's prose style expose the limitations and artificial "realism" of much commercial and "workshop" fiction. Jaffe's skill at unveiling the psycho-sexual motivations of his subjects is captivating and instructive. 15 SERIAL KILLERS is in fact a guide to dissecting and processing hidden assumptions and prejudices woven into the media-driven terrain, the nexus of sound byte, spin, lurid detail, prejudice, presumption, juxtaposition, and agenda which constitutes today's reported "reality."

Read this book-eyes wide open...

Wow, what a complex man Gary Evans was. And a huge narcissist if you ask me. This book grabbed me from the beginning and the ending was not what I had expected at all. Matt as usual your thorough investigating on the events are excellent! And some people's reaction of Jim Horton and his relationship with Gary is not fair. I bet if Jim knew earlier and suspected way earlier what Gary really was he would never worked with him as a CI. This is a must read.

Fascinating True Crime Story. Very well written and fast paced.

In true M. William Phelps style, we are introduced to State Officer Jim Horton and professional burgular Gary Evans who, through a series of 496 attention-gripping pages, play a real life of game of Cops & Robbers or Cat & Mouse yet amazingly establish a connection...a friendship, in a skewed sense.

If you are like me and don't mind long, very detail books, you will enjoy this one. Readers are provided with an indepth look into the life of Gary Evans from his meager beginnings; all the while, readers also enjoy a clearly present background of Investigator Jim Horton. And, although not as detailed as the main "characters," the backgrounds of those involved with Evans, whether they be paramour or victim, is also provided to help the reader develop an idea of how that person became involved with Evans and, often later, Horton.

I absolutely loved this book. This is one I would consider to be in the Top 10 of Best Written and All Time Favorites.

If you love true crime, and if you've got a few hours to burn, buy this book. There is something here, something that reaches out of this book and into your mind. You won't put it down, and you won't forget it long after the book is finished. Its like nothing I've ever read before. You are there. The facts, as they come to light,are presented in such a way as to make you feel YOU are the detective. Totally awesome!

I am an avid and continual reader of true crime. In EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE, I feel M. William Phelps has reached the level of some of the truly fine crime writers. (Jack Olsen comes to mind.) This book has all the prerequisites for great true crime: a fascinating story; intelligent literate writing; and meticulous and exhaustive research. Reviews of one of Phelps' more recent books, MURDER IN THE HEARTLAND, chastise Phelps for a sloppy rush job. I can assure you that this is not the case with EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE. This book was clearly a long time in the researching and the writing, and it presents to the reader the reasons contributing to the making of one of the more interesting sociopaths you'll read about. And Gary Evans is indeed a sociopath of the first order.
Additional points for lovers of this genre: the book is well edited. I recall no typos, and very few misused words. The picture section is also interesting and adds to the book, although in the paperback copy I read, the pictures will have fallen out by the 3rd reading.
And, thank God, there is NO interminable courtroom scene description.
I recommend this book unreservedly and totally, even to those who are not in particular true crime devotees.

Hi Randy,
Have been angry for over thirty five years since that day. I will never forget Phil. Glad you put the truth out in a book. You answered many questions for me.
Thank you so much for all you have done.
chris batnick
P.S. I signed out the shotgun from Rodmans Neck...

This was a shocking and gripping report on actual events and the extremely disturbing aftermath. A detailed no-nonsense story about a detective's determination to overcome all the obstacles thrown up by New York city police brass and elected officials...all named...to stop an investigation into the murder of a police officer in a Nation of Islam mosque, Harlem, New York City in 1972. An amazing account.

As a former Lieutenant in the NYPD and in TPF at the time of the Mosque incident, I read this book, both frustrated and proud. Randy Jurgensen is the quintessential NYPD detective; dogged, honorable, dedicated, loyal, and honest. This episode is Department history makes me ashamed of the bosses and politicians who so shamelessly put their careers ahead of justice in the murder of a NYC police officer; alternately, it makes me proud that cops like Randy Jurgensen are around to right those wrongs.

Remember Cardillo!

As a former NYC Police officer, assigned to the 28 Pct.a year after this terrible tragic event I knew many of the people mentioned in the book..My wife also read the book and could not believe the cover up of the killing of Phil Cardillo..We met his wife on many occassions....I also worked with his cousin Mike Cardillo at One Police Plaza...

Charlie Rangel, Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam, Jesse Jackson -- just a few of the individuals currently the darling endorsers of more than one potential 2008 presidential candidate -- are well known for their political posturing, but less well known for their notorious, criminal, acessory-to-murder activities so convincingly exposed & proved in Randy Jurgensen's well-documented Circle of Six. Any normal person who reads this book should be outraged that justice was subverted in this case. And you should be afraid. Really, truly, afraid that the thin blue line keeping evil from overwhelming us ordinary folks is so easily sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. The power people who were never called to account for their horrible coverups, collusion with criminals, & abandment of their public trust are still with us today. Tragically, Officer Roy Cardillo's murder & the cover-up afterward is not isolated in law enforcement. Saldy, the Circle of Six has many more members in many more departments in many more cities. It is wherever the politically powerful advance themselves at the expense -- and the lives -- of those they are supposed to lead. Thankfully, there is one Court, one Judge, and one Book they will ultimately be unable to avoid. Thank you, Det. Jurgensen, for helping to expose the darkness to the light.

I bought this book based on the glowing reviews. I love true crime stories and was excited when this arrived. I tore into it, and it was off to a pretty good start. Then it started to drag...and drag....There were so many little details and names and places that I was bored stiff. I found myself daydreaming and having to reread passages on numerous occasions. I ended up skimming the final few chapters and then picking up at the end. I could not relate at all to the main character, Jack, and I had zero sympathy or empathy for him. He was purely evil and narcissistic and unlikeable, which, according to the author was the opposite of how many people in Vienna's society would have described him. I just didn't get it. Maybe the timing was wrong for me and this really was as great a book as the other reviewers claim. For me it was a borderline painful reading experience.

Congratualations to John Leake on this outstanding work! Having been directly involved with Unterweger's extradition to Austria, I can report that women lawyers, law enforcement officers, and diplomats were instrumental in every aspect of this fugitive's return to Austria to answer for his hideous crimes against women. This gives new meaning to the words "poetic justice."

A murderer gains celebrity and has the intelligentsia spring him. Only in America? Apparently not. This horror story is a wonderfully written account of an Austrian serial killer who used and abused the system and all its bureaucrats to do what came naturally for him. Author John Leake knows how to piece together a jigsaw puzzle of incompetence, luck (good and bad). This is a early page turner that will keep you shaking your head for a long time to come. Bravo.

I don't normally end the last chapter of a book shouting "WOW" but I did with this cliff hanger. The story is so bizarre, the main character so unbelievable, I had to stop and remind myself it's non-fiction. Author John Leake is a superb writer who beautifully captures the nuances of the dozen or so main characters involved in the murder of prostitutes in Austria, Los Angeles and Czech Republic. It's a page turner that kept me up all night to see what happens. I hope Leake is already working on another book and it can be about practically anything and I'll buy it.

Reading this horrifying account of the life of mass murderer Jack Unterweger, reminded me of the parole and subsequent incarceration of Jack Henry Abbott. You may recall that author Norman Mailer championed Abbott's cause and was instrumental in helping the convict gain freedom. The day before his book, In the Belly of the Beast, was reviewed in the NY Times, Abbott stabbed a waiter to death in a Manhattan restaurant. Unterweger had been jailed for the brutal rape and murder of a young girl. After writing a book, his cause for parole was taken up by the Austrian literati. He then proceeded to murder seven Austrian prostitutes, one in Prague and three in LA, all the while, making friends with the police, writing books and producing plays. Unterweger was incredibly narcissistic, sadistic and a sexual predator. The author painstakingly reconstructs the investigation from Austria, Prague and LA often jumping back and forth in time. It was not easy to bring all these threads together to form a cohesive whole, but I believe he did a fine job. This book is not for the squeamish, but should prove impossible to put down for readers of serial killers and also crime buffs.

The first book I read by Kevin O'brien was LEFT FOR DEAD and I really enjoyed it and when I saw the comment by Tess Gerritsen on the cover of ONE LAST SCREAM, I thought, we have a winner here. Well, ONE LAST SCREAM was a pretty good read, but not one of the best ever. My probelm with this one is that I had it figured out extremely early in the book. I mean extremely early. It's true that the secret behind the killings was not really that big a secret and everything was revealed long before the final chapter. Still, a little mystery would not have hurt. Also, the main heroine, Karen, who is not even mentioned in the description on the back cover did indeed make many mistakes that I find it hard to believe a professional therapist in her position would make. And what about George and Karen? Could we have a little resolution there? Okay, enough of that. The action keeps moving and this book is definately not boring. In fact, I'm about to start another Kevin O'brien book right now. LEFT FOR DEAD was very good. ONE LAST SCREAM was okay. If the next one is some where in between, I'll be happy. Kevin O'Brien seems to be a pretty dependable author. Hey, if Tess Gerritsen can recommend it, how bad can it be?

I just read One Last Scream and all the way through the whole book you are wondering and guessing whats going on. I would read it at night before I went to sleep and dream about what was going on and what is Kevin O'Brien trying to tell us is going on that we can't figure out. Lets just say it has to to with multiple personality disorder and maybe someone who didn't die that is killing people. Let me put it this way you think you know but you don't know and the when you find out who the real killer is you will be shocked and then maybe you will figure out it fits. Enjoy reading! I know I did!

Where do I start? This book not only has the page turning that I've come to love from Kevin's books, but great writing too! I thought the characters were very well developed in this book. I enjoyed the interaction with between Amelia and Karen it was wicked at times. I know after I finished the first chapter and saw the killers "mode of operation" I was a little creeped out myself! I would rank this book as one of his best to date, of course they keep getting better each time. Keep up the great writing Kevin, your one of the best.

I AM AN AVID READER OF MYSTERY/THRILLER OR TRUE CRIME BOOKS. I READ OVER 1/2 OF THIS BOOK AND PUT IT DOWN. IT SURE DIDN'T KEEP MY INTEREST.

I had a very hard time putting this book down! I give this book 4/5 stars because there was a time or two when it was a little boring. This is the first book that I have read of Kevin O'Brien's and it won't be the last.
I was very into the book I felt like I knew the characters and could feel what they were feeling; very powerful and thrilling.

Book looked interesting. Ordered it used but would have prefered to order it new. When I got it there was a huge sticker on the front which was disappointing. Would have ordered it new if I knew it was going to look very used.

This incredible, but true story is so well written that one really wishes Hitchcock were alive to capture it's alluring power on film. And I really think that's what makes this book a great and unforgettable journey. I've read two others by the talented Mr. Schecter, both hard to put down, but this one is so deviously fascinating and consistantly well documented. It's not only a well researched piece of journalism, but a bonified shock treatment that lingers long after you've finished it. Highly recommended for crime buffs. And young film-makers please take note: "Saw" and "Hostel" are sheer piffle compared to the hideous life of Earl Leonard Nelson. Truth really is stranger than fiction.

Harold Schechter has produced several highly acclaimed works of true crime including "Depraved" and "Deviant". In "Bestial", Schechter takes on the lesser known Earle Leonard Nelson. On a cross-continental spree that is documented to have taken the lives of 22 landladies and other women, it makes for an interesting chapter in the history of true crime.

Schechter is comendable in his attention to detail in telling the story. While telling the story, the author must be credited for stepping back and allowing the reader to wonder guilty or guilty and insane. Yet at times I found his digressions frustrating. Taking entire chapters to explore facets of the time period or give superficial facts regarding other murders of the era, massively sidetracks the pace of the story. The profile that is painted of the "Gorilla Man" seems clear for a man that has been deceased for more than 80 years and is largely forgotten in American history because of his arrest and execution in Canada.

Those that are fans of Schechter's other books are likely to enjoy the detail of the Nelson's modus operandi. A graphic crime scene picture included in the book is certain to thrill fans of the genre. Still, I can not help but think the book would have been better with certain chapter full of digressions on the editting room floor.

A very well documented account of the "Dark Strangler's" life. This book brings together everything that makes a typical great Schechter book: a very well documented research, an excellent work of putting things into perspective (history, popular culture, etc), a gripping writing style, etc.

It's true that this killer may not be the most astounding killer in history (but still... he strangled women to death and then raped their dead bodies, and afterwards he concealed them under beds, in closets, behind furnaces, etc) but this isn't a good parametre to judge by, at any rate. Sure, his modus operandi is consistently the same, but I don't think this changes anything really. Moreover, that is the killer's deeds, not the author, so it would be slightly ridiculous (perhaps even immoral) to blame Schechter for the killer's "unoriginal" acts; also, it's a bit strange a complaint to make: "I wish that killer did more gruesome things for my personal pleasure as a reader." But anyway...

Harold Schechter's work is impressive because of his documentation and the manner with which he leads the whole thing. As usual, I appreciate it very much when the author quotes newspapers and gives the reader some insight in those times. It's truly a work of History that Schechter offers us here. And that's something I really like about this author: you never fall into the merely morbid curiosity and always benefit from the historical perspective on violence in popular culture, as well as other matters worthy of one's interest.

Excellent book.

This is one of Schechter's best, and IMHO, one of the best true crime novels I have read. It is about a murderer/rapist nicknamed the Gorilla Man, who seemed to be "cursed" from birth. He was abnormal from the beginning and lived a bizarre lifestyle his whole life. Both of his parents had and died of syphillis--it makes you wonder if this disease somehow affected this child's brain and warped him. Even his eating habits were more than strange. He later takes to killing and raping landladies while posing as a potential or actual tenant. He manages to get married--to a woman more than 30 years older than him and proceeds to make her miserable--and scared.

This was a riveting read. I could hardly put it down.

Some of this book was interesting, but most was very slow moving. It just didn't captivate. I believe it could have been better written. I don't feel that I or the author ever got "into the mind" of John Wayne Gacy. Then again, to the author's credit, after reading the book, I'm not sure if anyone could accomplish this feat. I came away feeling that on the surface, Gacy seemed calm and even rational almost all of the time, but was totally the opposite while committing the murders. Either way, the book didn't flow well and is lacking. It wasn't as "meaty" as expected... no pun intended.

I first read this book in 1988 and recently read it again. It still gave me the creeps. In the same league as Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and The Boston Strangler by Gerald Frank. I highly recommend it.

Chilling. I could not put this one down. This book is a dramatized cover of the life and crimes of John Wayne Gacy which reads like a fiction novel (read: not boring or heavy with Dr. Bob said this) yet provides clear, factual, and consistent information in with some of the author's speculation as to what went on in the mind of Mr. Gacy.
The end result is a story which will make the hair on your arms stand on end - not only with possibilities and facts, but the feasible likeness of Mr. Gacy's mindset through his actions.

It's 8 in the morning and im down here in the crawl space digging. i cant stand the smell and the people around here are begining to complain. "it's the sump pipe, besty.i'll take care of it soon." is my patten answer, but really... i dont care. As i bury my lastest prey (boy, it's getting easier every time), i say to my self " Jhon Gacy is a winner! I am the man!" The bodies bruied under the crawl are my trophies! See dad i'am a winner!If i could only get rid of the smell. anyway, im digging and then the doorbell rings. Great another puck asking about when he'll be paid or a copper asking about some kid...maybe the kid im burying now. i dust my pants off after leaving the crawl space and answer the door. "MR. Morgan, here is your package." the ups guy says. At that moment i realize that i just put down the best book i've every read about Jhon Gacy. this book is the best to date. After reading this book, you will have a deep understanding of a sick man and a understanding of how/why he commited these horriable crime---as if you witness them yourself. a real tour de force!!!

I don't know how anyone my age or near my age who grew up in Chicago or the outlying suburbs could not remember the Gacy case. I had just turned 14 and was a freshman in high school when news first broke of his crimes. I remember my mother turning off the television for the 5:00 PM local news because of the lurid footage showing the remains being carried out of the house in bags. And I remember the Chicago Tribune running a full page showing individual pictures of all of the identified victims; the yearbook and school pictures of the boys looked like most of my classmates.

I first read this book back in 1987. I recently read it again, almost 20 years later, and I still believe it to be the most thorough, comprehensive book on Gacy. Cahill, an excellent journalist, has done an excellent job of presenting a complete picture of the man and his crimes. He managed to "get inside Gacy's head" (an unhealthy place) to give the reader a clear look of Gacy's personality, views on life, attitude towards his victims and reactions to his trial.

Along with covering the crimes, investigation, arrest and trial of Gacy, Cahill also delves into Gacy's childhood and early years, including his relationship with his abusive father. The book is detailed, and Cahill writes with the kind of insight that only comes from having a complete understanding of his subject. It's also clear that Cahill researched Gacy thoroughly, and he notes in his introduction that he culled his information from a number of sources.

As can be expected, this book is scary stuff, with two chapters in particular being extremely disturbing and frightening to read. Cahill doesn't merely describe, he casts the reader in the role of witness to one of Gacy's murders, showing Gacy's core of pure evil. That said, this is also the type of book that is tough to put down, and also the type that stays with you long after having finished it.

I too could not disagree more with the reviewer who accused Cahill of plagiarising "Killer Clown." They are two very different books. And while "Killer Clown" is a good book, written largely from a legal/trial and punishment perspective, the better of the two by far is "Buried Dreams." The best overall book on Gacy.

a good read and very detailed shows the inner mind of a serial killer in denial.

I AM HALF WAY THROUGH THIS BOOK AND I CAN'T PUT IT DOWN. WHAT A STORY!! IF YOU ARE A AVID READER OF TRUE CRIME, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU.

I really liked this one. It was very hard to put down.
Why is this book so good?
Because you do not learn about one vision but Jackson gives you the versions of how the people who lived near "The Monster" experienced him.For example you will see Luther through the eyes of the woman who loved him,through the eyes of the detective who tries to nail him for years,and bites his teeth in the case. You will be in the skin of his victims their families,but also you will feel their pain,how scared they are,how he managed to create a web surrounding him with people who got mixed up by this men.

The style of the writer appeals a lot to me,eye for detail
As i said before, when i was reading i felt like i was there.
If you start reading this book,make sure you have a lot of time,cause you can't put it down!
Hope you understand my English

As an avid reader of true crime, I will declare that this is one of the best written pieces of work that I have read short of the infamous Ann Rule works.

This book contains the tale of Tom Luther is able to manipulate women with his good looks and his imaginitive story telling; especially Debra Snider, who fell hard and fast for this sexually sadistic loser. The author holds nothing back from the reader on the viciousness of his crime against Cher Elder and many other women; some of whom is only suspected of harming. In addition, readers are given a walk into the hearts and minds of Cher Elder's parents as they struggle to deal with the death of their daughter and the capture of her killer. As you walk through these vicious crimes and feel the torment of Elder's parents, readers are also given insight into how a normal, education, married mother of two (Snider) can fall in love with someone so evil; and even after learning that the evil remains, still loving that person unconditionally.

I agree with the readers that the book was compelling and generally well written. Much better, actually, than the vast majority of true crime books (and like many, I've read too many to count...), but that is where our views diverge; I have NEVER read a book in my life with more grammatical errors or punctuation errors, for that matter. Without even trying, I counted (in my head alone, and only starting about halfway through the book) 15 sentences with no verbs.

I realize that this will seem like nit-picking, but can't the author or publishing company afford an editor...? It really mars an otherwise excellent book (yes, as another reader wrote, it should have been about 100 pages shorter to eliminate repetitiveness) by an author who shows a lot of potential for a genre where most writers seem to have barely made it through junior high school.

This book's look at the police investigations and court events over the years made this a cut above most true crime books, which tend to be sensationalistic rehashes of basic crime descriptions that anyone could write based upon newspaper reports, for example.

One final note: a list of characters and index would be greatly appreciated. I found myself repeatedly researching previous events (particularly the informants' testimony from various prisons and jails over the years) and digging through dozens of pages simply because the author was too lazy and professional to use an index. Still, well done overall and I'll be reading other books by the author in the future if possible.