Serial Killers Books

Montanari is not yet in the same league with, say Michael Connelly and others, but he writes a darn good, riveting police thriller. Philly is a great town for police procedurals, with its gothic buildings, its parks, its rivers and its fabled police department. Montanari creatively adds to the mix an Amish detective, a woman detective who is also a professional boxer, and a whole lot of info about fairy tales which is absolutely fascinating. He stirs it all up with accurate and authentic details of Philadelphia and ends up with a very well done novel. This is my first Montanari book, but won't be my last.

Merciless is a cops-chase-serial-killer story with maybe a few-too-many too-closely-related killings. A psychopath is killing women as part of a misguided marketing effort while a creative man of the cloth is showing pedophiles how angels are made.
I don't know that it is as thrilling or chilling as the cover suggests, but it is the epidome of the genre and very finishable.
There are enough potential bad guys and overlapping "clues" that the ultimate baddy isn't painfully obvious. The hero and heroin are neither implausibly good nor impossibly bad. The writing flows on sufficient foreshadowing and allusion with refreshing twisties of wry wit.
I read the 2008 Ballentine Mass Market paperback version and their liberal use of typos is an annoying distraction. The TrueStew we are initially introduced to, turns out to be TrueSew...little things like that dribbled throughout the book...make a little reader go grrr.
Last, the ending was good enought that it didn't make me want to reach out and slap the semi-colons out of the author. I cannot stand a lame ending...and for me to think an ending lame, it must be woefully so.
So...read it.

This is my third book by Richard Montanari that I have read. He is clearly not a "one book fluke," because Merciless is just as good his other work. Montanari reminds me of Thomas Harris, both are master storytellers. Merciless is an excellent police procedural with great characters throughout the book. The gore and brutality in this book is not for the squeamish. If you enjoy a suspenseful thriller then you should take a chance on Merciless. Richard Monatanari is an author who I will be buying more from in the future.

Although many readers may find this kind of comment irrelevant, as a Philadelphian familiar with almost every place named in the novel, I found I could not recognize the feel of my city in this story. The author must have friends here, have visited and been shown around the river and parks- but the story doesn't take place anywhere but in "mystery-suspense land." Maybe residents of English villages have the same reaction to Agatha Christie. But a police force with no African-Americans, but with an Amish detective, plus the way neighborhoods are linked to inhabitants and vice-versa, does not feel right. No one expects absolute factual "realism" from murder mysteries, but place and location realism should work better than they do here.

I keep thinking that Richard Montanari's books cannot get any better. And every year or so, I am proven wrong yet again. With each new novel, Montanari keeps taking his readers further and further into the nether reaches of the criminal mind. MERCILESS is no exception.

Montanari's latest work again features Philadelphia police homicide detective Kevin Byrne, who is on the trail of a bizarre serial murderer with the seeming ability to strike and disappear at will, leaving his victims in a chilling, frightening and somehow familiar tableau. Byrne's partner, Jessica Balzano, is by his side, but the focus is primarily on Byrne and his job as opposed to his quietly turbulent domestic situation that --- although not altogether absent --- is kept in the background. Suspects abound, of course, and part of the enjoyment of this wild ride is trying to sort out the innocent from the oh-so-very guilty.

At the same time a vigilante is quietly going about a dark and very deadly business on the streets of Philadelphia --- an avenger whose path will cross with that of Byrne and Balzano before the tale set forth here is done. Montanari introduces a new character as well, a police detective named Joshua Bontrager, who is --- by way of his background --- unique and possibly original in the annals of detective fiction. Bontrager's presence provides more than a bit of lagniappe to the proceedings, but the star ultimately is the author himself, whose fine eye for detail and uncanny narrative ability cause the 400-plus pages of the book to fly by with the speed of a 10-page short story.

If Montanari's name is not on your must-read list of thriller authors, it will be once you begin digging into MERCILESS. Montanari is riveting, addicting and never disappoints as he continues to raise his own bar, novel after novel, and surpass it.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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.

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.

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.

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.

I stumbled across this book in the library and am so glad I picked it up. Having never heard of Roland Molineux before (and not knowing much about Yellow Journalism), I had no idea what to expect, but I was not disappointed. This is a story of greed, lust, and exploitation, all disguised under a prim Victorian facade. Chapters are short and to the point, and make for much page-turning suspense. I wish the author had been able to include more than two photographs of the people spoken of in the books, or even more images of the New York papers with their sensational headlines, as I feel that it would have added to the experience. That is but a small quibble, though; this book is a wonderful true-crime story, and it was fascinating to see how today's explosive media saturation began.

Thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Schecter's book from cover to cover. Purchased after reading a review, possibly in the New York Times Book Review. Book might have benefited from a more compelling jacket image. I would not have picked this book up had I not read the review. Also kept wanting to see more pictures of the characters but I realize that availability of archival images may have played a part. Great story, well told.

I accidentally came across this book at the library. It is a fascinating look at one of the most famous murder trials of the early 20th century, extremely well-written and involving. Even those who do not like "that sort of book" will enjoy this one. The people involved are brought to life by the author's talents, and the research behind the book is thorough and definitive. Absorbing and informative.

Over the past two decades, Harold Schechter has resurrected the stories of many prominent moral monsters from America's past, corrected the numerous myths that have grown up around them, replaced those myths with more fascinating facts, and then related them in compelling narratives that are also scholarly, sensitive, and keenly written.

In resurrecting the crazy story of crazy Roland Molineux and his bizarre journey into murder and in and out of justice, Schechter has written his masterpiece. No question, hands down.

A classic of true crime, and of biography and history. It will be around for many decades to come.

The book provides and excellent description of Victorian life and the Victorian mindset, but I was unable to shake the mind-boggling Victorian habit of actually TAKING some unidentified medicine that someone you don't know sent you in the mail. Schechter explores a world of pomp and priviledge, obsessed with the surface appearance of propriety, but secretly seething with sexual scandals and murderous grudges. This trial marked the beginning of the media circus that subsequent murder trials from Lizzie Borden to OJ Simpson would become, as the outwardly respectable defendent's sordid affairs and violent, cold-blooded nature was dug up by the police and media as much to shock and titillate the public as to achieve justice.

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.

This book is an excellent read. Programed to Kill is well documented, and easily read, a real page turner. I'd like everyone I know to read this book. I learned so much about the inter-connected evil across our world, and you will too. It is an eye opener and complements several other areas of study about the people behind the power on this world. One warning about this book I will add is that it is not for "Pod People" who refuse open their eyes to reality, go back to dancing with an American Idol instead.

I really enjoyed this book. It validates everything else that I have researched about mind control, the government, and the purpose of this type of evil control our government exercises to obtain complete power and control. The theme of societies thoughts are being kept in constant fear as this fear makes us look to the powers in control for "The Answer". This is being used by the press and media very successfully as each of these brutal actions results in our giving up more of our rights for protection. As it was once said," if you give up freedom for security, you have neither." We as americans must wake up to the real agenda of our government and the world governments which are all working together for the one goal of new world order, one world government, one world control.

After reading the review by the person billing himself as "True Patriot," I felt compelled to run a search on the manuscript that was submitted for publication. And what I found, contrary to the reviewer's completely bogus claim, is that the phrase "some say" appears in the book exactly once - and then only as part of a quote lifted from the New York Post. The author, which would be me, not only does not use that phrase "on almost every page," but in fact doesn't use it at all throughout the entire 400+ page book! And that, dear readers, should tell you all you need to know about the veracity of Mr. Patriot's so-called review.

An absolutely awful book. "Some say..." is used on almost every page. Who says? You can make a case for anything by saying "according to some". Here, let me try...According to some, Godzilla is a real creature that is responsible for many earthquakes throughout the world. See how easy it is?
Also, many easy verifiable facts are gotten wrong and the author also manages to make everything connect. How? To paraphrase-"The murder was committed the day before Summer Soltice-a significant day for satanists". Really? The day before? Oh my God! Or the week before some supposed satantic holiday or 3 days after and so on and so on. After reading this, I'm convinced EVERY day is some sort of special day for all the supposed satanists running around.
And many of the cases covered in this book had mistakes made by law enforcement, which can only mean one thing...THEY WERE IN ON IT!
Read SATANIC PANIC if you want to see how people like this author have perpetuated the myth that hundreds of thousands of people are being killed every year by a vast conspiracy of robed, politically-connected, satanic meanies.
Seriously, this book is utter crap.

Before reading this book, I thought I knew. I would say (about politics, govt, military, law enforcement, etc.), "Oh yeah well the whole thing is corrupt obviously, nothing I can do about it." And I thought that because I said that, I understood same. Um, no. If the concept of the govt and media lying to you, is new, then you would definetely benefit from reading this book. If you're a seasoned Initiate, and words like: MK-ULTRA, Cathy O'Brien, Michael Hoffmann, Gurudas, James Shelby Downard, Cryptocracy, Pedephocracy, Twilight Language, the Franklin Cover-Up, None Dare Call It Conspiracy, Alex Jones, Project Paperclip/Project 63, Rex-84 & Operation Garden Plot, etc. etc. etc. then you would also benefit greatly from reading this book. That said, for those of you out there that can't stomach strange "conpiracy theories" then this is definetely the book for you. This book has roughly 500 references and is all facts, no speculation necessary when you have court transcripts, etc.
As another reviewer said in reviewing Trance: Formation of America by Cathy O'Brien, "This book is capable of changing even an atheist such as myself, I was left asking an unanswerable question, where did all this evil come from ?" In my perspective, there is only so much that a human being is capable of, swiftly and quickly killing one's enemies in the event of war is perhaps the worst. Anything beyond that ( underground torture chambers where victims are starved and ritually raped and murdered while being recorded, the tapes sold for approx. $5,000/copy to ultra-rich demons in gated communities, happening all over the planet by people who seem to be remote-contolled by people who themselves seem to be remote-controlled also, etc. ) and I can' be convinced that what is happening in such a "inhumane" way can truly be all human in nature. Some share that opinion with me, others don't, period. But to expand any further on that would be a different book entirely, Hostage to the Devil by Malachi Martin definetely comes to mind ( another amazing read ). In this book you are taken directly into the belly of the beast as it attempts to digest a jalapeno & habanero shake, no joke about it, but what we have in Programmed to Kill is the human facts behind those involved in a sort of corruption on such a mass scale, that it is undreampt of.
Ask yourself a question right quick-like: Do I want to know the truth, or do I want to be comfortable in my ignorance? With regards to current events, this book has opened my eyes more so than any other I can think of, and there are perhaps 300 books on my shelf, 295 of which are non-fiction. This book will change your life, no joke, don't read any further if you wish to stay in the comfort zone state of mind of thinking one knows it all. In reality this book will transform, and possibly give you the knowledge necessary to create the tools which can be used hopefully hands-on to save another's life.

Edinburgh Detective Chief Inspector John Rebus finds himself posted to London to aid the local authorities who are investigating the work of a serial killer, known as the Wolfman, who seems to be one step ahead of the coppers. Once in London, Rebus learns he has ben brought to the big city because he is supposed to be some sort of expert on mass murderers.

Rebus' intrinsic antiauthoritarianism and his intuitive investigative style puts his career in jeopardy as he pairs with George Flight, a by the book detective, who has to cover for his Scottish counterpart at every turn of the plot. The collaboration between these investigators provides much of the tension as they struggle to bring a killer to justice. At the same time Rebus is forced to come to grips with middle-aged and a body that has lost a bit of the edge that he enjoyed as a young SAS paratrooper. His daughter Samantha, now 16, lives in London with his ex-wife and he is appalled with her current boyfriend, a slightly older and testosterone burdened motorcycle courier.

Ian Rankin is one of the real masters of the mystery genre. Series characters require real work and a deft touch to keep them fresh and interesting. John Rebus, like Harry Bosch and Travis McGee, manages to grow in each novel in a way that is respectful to the past works and yet revealing in some new way.

Tooth and Nail is more than a good read. It is a tale of policemen under the microscope of publicity when murders most foul terrorize a big city.

This is Rankin at his best. Buy it, enjoy the thriller and then buy the next one. It seems that once you've started reading Rebus, you just can't get enough!

Tooth and Nail finds Rebus helping out the London police hunt down the serial killer, Wolfman. The novel is filled with a lot of local London color, including a car chase down St. Martin's Lane and around Nelson's Column. I enjoyed this book immensely until the last 40 pages, where killer is caught based on an unsubstantiated "hunch".

Being from NYC I found Rebus's take on fast London city life very amusing. Several pages are devoted to Rebus contemplating the utter inhumanity of the Tube! In fact, the only positive comments come from Rebus's would-be partner, George Flight, although Rebus mocks his attitude: "London is bigger, better, rougher, tougher and more important than anywhere else." It's funny that we would want other people to think our city is rough and tough, because that implies that we are as well, when we are actually victims. Fortunately, from the novel I learned a new way to cope: just chant FYTP.

Rankin is a master at capturing the reader's attention. Clues and red herrings fly like nobody's business. Just keep in mind that this is crime fiction not mystery, that is, don't expect the clues to pan out. The dialog is amazingly realistic, witty, and edgy. Ultimately, Rebus's humanity (he describes himself as having "more ambition than talent") and musings on the human condition are the reason why I find this novel, and Rankin's others, so compelling.

He had wanted to update Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" for modern times, Ian Rankin writes about his first Inspector Rebus novel, "Knots and Crosses" in the introduction to the British compilation "Rebus: The Early Years" (unfortunately, not available in the U.S.), which contains the first three installments of the series. Oblivious to the mere existence of such a thing as the mystery genre - or so Rankin says - he was stunned to soon hear his book described first and foremost as a crime novel. But eventually this characterization prompted him to have a closer look at the work of other mystery writers, and he found that the form suited his purposes just fine; that in fact he "could say everything [he] wanted to say about the world, and still give readers a pacy, gripping narrative."

Bearing in mind the original duality of Jekyll and Hyde, however, Rankin's tales are not dominated by a contrast painted in black and white. While the villains Inspector Rebus faces are certainly every bit as evil as Stevenson's Mr. Hyde, Rebus himself is far from a clean-slated "good guy:" Divorced, cynical, hard-drinking and a former member of the SAS, he is a brother in spirit to every noir detective from Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe to Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch, James Ellroy's squad of crooked cops and Peter Robinson's Alan Banks. Nor is Rebus's Edinburgh the touristy town of Calton Hill, castle and Summer Festival (although the series has meanwhile sparked real-life guided tours to its most famous locations, too) - as befitting a true detective of his ilk, Rankin's antihero moves primarily in the city's dark and dirty underbelly, which is populated by society's losers and where those who have "made it," those with money in their pockets, only show up if they have shady deals to conduct as well.

"Tooth and Nail" (originally titled "Wolfman," for the alias that police have given the subject of their hunt) takes Rebus to London, where - due an earlier case of his own reluctantly deemed an "expert" on serial murderers - he is to assist metro CID with the case of a killer named for the bite marks he leaves on his victims' bodies. Not overly enthusiastic about any aspect of his mission to the capital (and thus mirroring once more the feelings of Rankin himself, who did not much like living there, either, and "brought Rebus to London so he could suffer, too"), Rebus soon alienates his metro counterpart by his constant unwillingness to follow protocol, although the two men get along reasonably well on a personal level. Eventually, Rebus so seriously jeopardizes his and - by extension - Edinburgh CID's reputation with the Met that he is about to be recalled home, when he finally makes the crucial connection that unmasks the killer, just in time to save the young psychologist who has offered her help with the case and who is his latest love interest. (As befits a good noir detective, Rebus has a new flame in every book, not without incurring fresh scars from each separation, however.)

While this series had a terrific start already in its first three novels, published between 1987 and 1992, Rebus's character - and Rankin's writing - has evolved significantly over time. Thus, it is probably wise to read it in the order of publication. Contrary to his nonseries novels, however, which he views much more critically in hindsight, Ian Rankin overall still seems to be happy with his early Rebus books, commenting almost nostalgically: "I can't read them without thinking back to my own early years, my apprenticeship as a crime writer. Read and enjoy." I have nothing to add to that ...

Also recommended:
Rebus: The Early Years (Knots & Crosses / Hide & Seek / Tooth & Nail)
Rebus - The St Leonard's Years
Rebus: The Lost Years (Let It Bleed / Black & Blue / The Hanging Garden)
Rebus: Capital Crimes (Dead Souls / Set in Darkness / The Falls)
Ian Rankin Inspector Rebus CD Collection: Resurrection Men, A Question of Blood, Fleshmarket Alley (Inspector Rebus) (Inspector Rebus)
Exit Music
Rebus's Scotland
Rebus
The Jack Harvey Novels
Rebus: The Complete Short Stories~Ian Rankin

I'm baaaaaack!

After reading the first Rebus novel (Knots and Crosses), I knew I'd continue to read the rest of Ian Rankin's excellent crime fiction stories.

This is actually the third novel in the Inspector Rebus series, and author Ian Rankin's prose continues to astound me. He masterfully weaves a tapestry of plot, character, and location throughout nearly every page (Example from the prologue: `She drives home the knife. The moment, she knows from past experience, is a very intimate one. Her hand is gripped around the knife's cool handle and the thrust takes the blade into the throat up to the hilt until her hand meets the throat itself. Flesh upon flesh. Jacket first, or woollen jersey, cotton shirt or T-shirt, then flesh. Now rent. The knife is writhing, like an animal sniffing. Warm blood covering hilt and hand. (The other hand covers the mouth, stifling screams.) The moment is complete. A meeting. Touching. The body hot, gaping, warm with blood. Seething inside, as insides become outsides. Boiling. The moment is coming to an end all too soon.')

But this time we're no longer in Edinburgh. No? No. Inspector Rebus is sent to London (Oh the pain!) to try and help catch a serial killer whom the local coppers can't pin down. They've nick-named the murderer "The Wolfman", because he bites the victims on the stomach after he kills them. But why send Rebus? Well, in Knots and Crosses, he helped find another serial killer in Edinburgh, and so George Flight (a local London CID guy) requested Scotland's "expert". Rebus sees himself as anything BUT an expert on such things, but reluctantly goes to England's capital to do what he can.

Come to find out, he can do quite a bit; including getting into lots of trouble. He falls for a beautiful psychologist named Liza Frazer (who might have connections with the killer!), disappears for hours or days on end, drinks like a fish, and goes on television and announces that they've caught the killer (even when he knows they haven't). But Rebus' mind works a bit differently than most folks. He can worm his way into a killer's mind as the case unfolds. And we again see how Rebus' past comes to the forefront and aids him in capturing the villain.

The great thing about Rebus is that he's so f#$%ed up that the reader can identify with all of his vices and character flaws. He's no superhuman, and he knows it. But what he does have is a nose for killers, and this bodes poorly for them. Because once Rebus is on your trail, you'll never get away.

Now, it's on to the next in the series!

Header pretty much tells it.

Ness comes across as a fairly dull individual.
Could have done without quite a bit of the info on Cleveland.

Book is gripping and a real pager-turner when the author stays with the slasher and his victims...alas, there isn't enough of it here. Also, what compounds the problem is that the butcher was never caught.

So, what do you got? A John Gilmore SEVERED type of tale? Not quite, because John Gilmore is the superior writer and his book is a compelling read every step of the way (even though John Gilmore was not certain of who did Elizabeth Short in, either.)

But hey, some scribes are born true-crime writers, some are not.

I did say when the author of Torso stays with the bodycount and the ensuing manhunt the book is a scream--by that I mean it just might make your lunch back up.

The Kingsbury Run murders were gruesome and the killer seemingly mocked Cleveland, Ohio, Public Safety Director Eliot Ness in executing the perfect crime.

The crimes - still unsolved - were committed in the mid- to late-1930s with the victims surgically butchered; the heads, arms, legs and torsos cut by someone who seemingly had a medical expertise in removing body parts. Only three of the fourteen victims were ever identified.

Ness - who took center-stage in the investigation - was criticized for the inability in finding the killer. Police detective Peter Merylo actually believed that there were at least 40 murders in Cleveland, Youngstown and Pittsburgh, Pa., spanning three decades that were perpetrated by the individual.

Torso captures the frustration of Ness and the concerns of the public and city leaders while discussing the various theories and suspects. In as much a political as safety decision, Ness ended up raiding & burning several shantytowns in The Flats to clear out an area where it was felt the murderer could feast on any number of "nameless" victims.

According to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, a film on the murders could be released in 2008. While that may bring new focus - and books - on the crime, Torso will surely remain an outstanding resource for those seeking an understanding of those frightening years.

In the 1930s over a dozen murders were attributed to the "Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run", a ravine that runs through Cleveland Ohio and contains this stream and railroad yards. Most of these bodies were unidentified: headless, the arms, legs, and torso were cut up by someone who knew anatomy or butchering. It was never solved, altho one suspect was made to confess, repudiated this confession, and then found a suicide in jail. Such serial murders were rare in America; earlier serial murderers did it for money and left this trail. No motive was ever established for these murders. Most sex murderers are the product of large cities, which have anonymous victims or perpetrators. Chapter Eleven summarizes these cases.

This book is about the later career of Eliot Ness. After Chicago, he was put in charge of the Alcoholic Tax Unit of norther Ohio. He cleaned out bootleggers, hitting a still every day. Organized crime made Cleveland a safe haven for criminals on the run. Corruption had spread everywhere; neighborhood crime had greatly increased. Harold Burton became mayor, and chose Eliot Ness as Director of Public Safety to oversee the police and firemen. (Burton later became a Senator, a friend of Truman, and was appointed to the Supreme Court.) The ineffectiveness of the police was due to widespread corruption and complacency. With Prohibition gone, Ness prosecuted gambling and union racketeering. Ness cultivated a good relationship with reporters, and got favorable publicity. He tried to purge corrupt policemen but was met with silence. Then a police captain was caught in a cemetery lot racket. Another owned a restaurant which fronted for a gambling room. The bodies found in Kingsbury Run highlighted the corruption.

Cleveland had been the worst city (after Los Angeles) for traffic deaths and injuries. Ness purged the traffic division, began arresting drunk drivers, prosecuted ticket fixing, gave harsher penalties for unpaid fines, and started tougher automobile inspections. Ness promoted traffic safety with a public awareness campaign. He began an Emergency Patrol with first aid training to reach any accident within two minutes. This cut traffic deaths by half, and he received national recognition. Some of the increased traffic fines were put back into the police budget. Squad cars now had two-way radios. A single phone call brought police assistance within 60 seconds. Ness was criticized for wasting tax dollars, but in one year overall crime dropped 38%, robberies by 50%! Public success was followed by private problems: divorce, late night socializing, stories of drinking.

Ness later resigned to join the Federal Social Protection Program during WW 2. Afterwards, he became a businessman but was not successful. His campaign for Mayor of Cleveland flopped. He later met Oscar Fraley and began to write his book. Just before its publication, Ness died of a heart attack; he never knew of its success.

Not long after his "Untouchables" days, Eliot Ness experienced many successes as Public Safety Director of Cleveland (OH). Unfortunately, capturing the 'Torso Murderer' was not among them. A relatively little known crime, this serial killer haunted Ness' time in Cleveland. This book is both a look at Ness himself after his Chicago accomplishments, and an examination of one of America's greatest unsolved serial killings. If you are interested in either subject, this is an excellent purchase.

The book's title is somewhat misleading us into believing that the 1930s `The Untouchables' character of Elliot Ness ran a serial killer investigation. Half this book is the life and times of Ness who happened to be Director of Public Safety in Cleveland while his skid row turned up mostly unidentifiable dismembered remains of vagrants, it was Ness who gained the most attention throughout the investigation by eventually burning down the homeless slums of the Kingsbury Run district in an attempt to clean out, tag, and fingerprint potential victims in the making, probably destroying the killer's Cleveland homeless hunting grounds, also a turning point event in Ness's career, a prohibitionist alcohol distillery buster, who once put away the national crime lord Al Capone, sadly failed systematically to progress his ratings with the city, eventually becoming involved in a hit and run accident that cost him an election run as Mayor, the over-hyped but none-the-less interesting account of Ness is all here, but maybe a little bit more than a seasoned non-crime fiction reader would care to expect, means you get only about 100 pages of the Torso investigation, where we concentrate on the city coroner Dr. Samuel Gerber and Detective Peter Merylo.

Ness comes into play now and again, obviously as a propaganda figurehead designed to play to the media, backfires most of the time he does appear by getting involved in the wrong thing at the wrong time, still had a very high success rate in exposing corruption, and did work on a number of highly constructive policies like getting kids off the streets and stressing the fight against disease, obviously behind the scenes worked with the ""good guy"" force heavies getting all the important political prohibition work done (alcohol prohibition was a failure not because alcohol is safe to use but because prohibition itself actually increases the prohibited drugs risks, usage rates and overall crime goes up because of it, a statistical fact). It is reading the situation of these same propaganda violent cops becoming cold case serial killer squads, even before the term serial killer was used, makes it an absurd situation of bad police management for the 21st century reader to contend with, and was the reason Ness went bust in the end and even more importantly, why the killer got away with so much in the first place.

Thus the investigation in Torso is not like any other, the cops are a different breed (just like out of a comic book meaning useless in real life) and the concept of `stranger killing' was not even present then. The classic book "The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sugden" is based on the police records at Scotland Yard of the investigation at the end of the 19th century, news paper clippings and various memorandums that followed with surprising valid detail (all 500 pages of it). Torso reads like trying to find anything factual as if anyone except the leads could read, write or file reports, pounded and smashed their way across Cleveland in the hopes of stumbling across a sexual sadist who would suddenly admit to picking up homeless people, decapitating them with a large blade while they where asleep and or tying them up beforehand so they could not escape, a paraphiliac, expertly removed all the appendages after death with `knowledge of surgery' and bisected the body, sometimes used chemicals or freezers to keep his victims, would then wrap the pieces and begin his very strange dumping process which ranged from never-found victims, to victim's body parts appearing in the middle of the city for everyone to see, going to great lengths to leave two incomplete victims from different time periods together in the same spot, it stands to reason that Dr. Samuel Gerber and Detective Peter Merylo would give us a much better angle, and it is with the medical evidence that Gerber comes off as a sort of new-wave criminology serial killer expert, knowingly prevented other coroners from going near the victim's body parts, rightly asserts himself as a scientist in among all the investigative despair, leading some to suspect and challenge Gerber himself, after his conclusions that a recent severed leg was the work of the same hand, this statement exonerated various numbers of peoples who where obviously rotting in jail on suspicion of being the killer.

Merylo correctly guessed that the killer was somewhat mobile in the area and probably moved on after the killings that did not stop at #12, Merylo at the end of his career guessed that it was probably above forty. Dr. Francis E. Sweeney is the mystery Ness suspect not named in this book but the evidence is circumstantial at best. Gerber may have given the investigators a better idea of who there man was if he did not also subscribe himself to propaganda theories (druggie maniac). It is almost a certainty that if the investigators conducted better searches of abandoned train carts that they would have discovered the killer's `laboratory', a series of abandoned carts containing three different bodies that came from Youngstown after being there for almost a year, was almost certainly that unacknowledged lab of his, but Gerber did not examine these bodies. From the victims that could be identified all where prostitutes or homosexuals. The killer probably killed them away from his home, suggesting that he lived homelessly or with a family, certainly hung around the lower classes of society, befriended vagrants and some other loiterers who where happy enough to sleep with him in train carts (if this fact you are reading now had have been known at the start it would have probably prevented more death), resided in the general area and probably killed and mutilated several times before the first official Torso was found, meaning he learned his `surgical skill' that way.

He should have been caught earlier. Torso is a shallow account of the subject matter but still essential non-fiction crime literature.

Watch them Die has an excellent plot and was very suspenseful. I work at an ice cream shop and since the cold has come, not much business. So I read, and this book actually terrified me. someone would come in and I would jump 3 feet high. The ending, however, was dissapointing.

I was the copy editor for "Watch Them Die." Imagine my distress at being singled out as the one who marred your enjoyment of the book, William. I enjoyed working on the book, thought it was well written, compelling, and inventive, and gave its editing a lot of time and care. Ah, well.

This book was great. The author has great ideas that he puts into great description in the book. It is all about a woman with a young boy that is plagued by a serial killer that sends her video tapes of how he will kill them. All the clips are from famous movies suck as THe Godfather and Rosemary's Baby. Then you find out that she is being chased by her abusive husband. The book is all about murderers and stalkers and mixed identities. I liked it.

This book should be illegal. This book is so addictive and engrossing, Kevin O'Brien should be locked up. A few spelling errors aside, (but that's the copy editor's fault), I found myself finishing it in three days. Not as creepy and dark as "Make Them Cry", but clever nonetheless. My only problem is the number of coincidences and leaps of logic towards the end, and one mistake... characters shooting on video talk about using a higher speed film - video cameras don't use film! But this novel is still a keeper and I look forward to Kevin's next thrill-ride.

SUMMARY: Hannah Doyle is an abused wife on the run with her four year old son, who has settled in Seattle for the time being. Everything is going well; Hannah, a film buff, has a job at a video store which she loves, attends a film class at the local community college, and has the unconditional love of her precocious son, Guy. Soon, Hannah becomes the object of affection for three different men, all of whom, she realizes, are following her. While worrying that her husband has found her at last, she begins receiving videos of old movies cued to notorious murder scenes; soon, people Hannah knows, even if only tangentially, start dying in exactly the manner of the movies. This killer has decided Hannah will be his next leading lady. Who can she trust?

WHY YOU'LL LIKE IT: Wonderful characterization; you come to know and care about these characters, particularly Hannah and her son. The action sequences are taut and well-told, and the suspense is kept at a breakneck pace. The plot is original and terrifying. Genuine surprises frequently abound.

WHY YOU WON'T: Too many chefs spoil the soup, and in this case, too many stalkers spoil the story. It can be difficult to keep up with who is who in this novel frought with a plethora of characters. Some plot devices are overly contrived, and seem to make the work longer than in needs to be.

BOTTOM LINE: Above average thriller from a writer who knows how to tell a good, and horrifying, story. Definitely recommend.

I really did like this book. I have too say that it did give me nightmares since I grew up in Wichita. The authors did a very good job. The storyline keeps you turning the pages.

The writing isnt spellbinding, but the essential nutrients are there.

The book (and others) compell me to wonder about the FBI serial killer wizards. The thought crossed my mind that maybe theyre more like psychics and palm readers than scientists. Feather merchants?

This riveting chronological narrative of Wichita's infamous Bind Torture Kill (BTK) murders is one of the finest true crime books I've ever read, as well as the definitive account of the crimes (and capture) of the churchgoing citizen serial killer Dennis Rader.

What made the BTK case so unusual, of course, was the very ordinary nature of the killer himself, a Boy Scout (who learned his knots all too well), civil servant, husband, and father to two.

No one could believe that this solid member of the community could have committed such heinous acts, or that he could have gotten away with his crimes for decades.

Unfortunately even this comprehensive and well-written book can't answer the ultimate mystery: what made BTK kill? He was NOT the product of an abusive or alcoholic home. Yet from early adolescence he was driven by sexual compulsions he could not control, which somehow caused him to confuse sex with bondage and suffering in his mind.

At any rate, this book is a page-turner if ever there was one; I defy you to put it down until you finish it. IMO this title is FAR superior to FBI profiler John Douglas' book on the same subject.

Highly recommended.

Ths is at best a run of the mill true crime story which concentrates more on the cops who caught him than the killer himself.Very little attempt is made in understanding the mind of BTK. Do we really need to know about the family life of the detectives on the case, i dont think so

Dennis Rader also known as BTK Killer which stands for Bind, Torture, and Kill murdered over ten innocent people over the period of 30 years. He had led a double life of devoted husband and father in Wichita, Kansas. He was also a serial killer who murdered the entire Otero family on January 15, 1974. The book is well-written and told by the people who were directly involved in the investigation and case. Since January 15, 1974 when the Oteros were brutally murdered, Wichita had learned that there was a monster in the mist. For over 30 years, people particularly women checked to make sure the phone lines weren't cut as they entered their homes. Women were terrified because the main target of his BTK's victims are women. Rader's secret life was complicated by his obligations as husband, father, and Christian. While the police wondered why BTK stopped killing, it was because he was busy. Rader was smart, calculated, slick, and purely evil in determining his victims. He stalked them, followed them, monitored them, and watched their habits before he attacked like a predator to the prey, BTK knew he didn't want to get caught because he was ashamed of how his other life as husband and father would be shattered. He also worked in the security business ADT setting up alarms. Think of the irony, here was a man who installed security systems because of the BTK killings. Rader knew no mercy towards his victims. When he wasn't raping and killing, he posed and wore his victims clothing. The authors of this collaborative effort did an amazing job in putting the story together. It's not without effort that this is probably the best book on the BTK case that I have read so far. Also, the book goes insides those affected by the case that went unsolved for so long. Wichita lived in horror and terror for over 30 years. The terrorism that BTK inflicted upon Wichita for so long affected those residents. Rader also knew how to play games with the police, press, and his victims. One victim, Anna Williams, came home to find her home burgled and then she later learned that she was a potential victim of BTK from a chilling note. Rader loved to play deadly games of scaring people. He had changed his modus operandi several times which threw off police. Unlike Bundy, Gacy, and Dahmer, Rader is fascinating because he knew how to be careful, controlling, and deadly at the same. He watched, stalked, wrote notes, and learned how to pick his victims carefully. He made notes on when to attack to rape and kill his potential victims. He defiled his victims by posing their dead bodies and even wearing the victims' clothing at times. He showed no mercy towards even the youngest of victims and would have gladly killed Shirley's children if he had the time and change but the phone rang constantly. He is now spending the rest of his life in prison but nothing will make up for the terror and horror of the residents of Wichita and it's surrounding area of what BTK had done to them. It is no longer innocent anymore as it once was. People now regularly locked their doors, watched their children carefully, and protected themselves with security alarms and made sure their phone lines were not cut off. This book is the best book so far on the BTK killer.

This is a good text, but I found myself wanting more. Several reviewers have spoken about how the authors did a good job of providing a new Ripper suspect, but I didn't feel they tied up the loose ends. There is mention of murders in Jamaica and Nicaragua late in the book, but no evident that Dr T. was ever in those countries at the time of the murders. There was a brief mention of an American `ripper event' in New York City, but no details surrounding this event. The evidence surrounding the Batty Street Lodger was very interesting, but the authors should have flushed that line of reasoning out further.

However the largest weakness of the text surrounds Mary Kelly. In the second appendix the authors decide that Mary is not a Ripper victim, apparently because Dr. T. might have been in police custody at the time of her murder. This might in fact be accurate, but this sort of material needs to be a chapter within the body of their text. This is a HUGE point within their theory and it's added in at the end. The authors spent significant time talking about Mary Kelly, only to discount the murder at the very end of the book because it didn't agree with their theory. This is a major flaw in their argument.

Additionally, early sections of the book spend a good deal of time talking about the Lincoln Assassination and Dr. T's arrest as a suspect in that affair. Unfortunately, these events are never tied back to the Whitechapel affair. Finally, very little information is provided regarding what happened to Dr. T. after he left London. Perhaps this information is not available, but one of the leading reasons to suspect Dr T. is he left London in 1888 (under suspicion). Additionally, if ripper-like murders happened in other parts of the world, this would be a big indicator that he was the Ripper, but only if you can show he was in those locals at the time of the murders.

Having read many Ripper texts, this one is more entertaining than most; however, it left me feeling the authors could have done more with their suspect. They did not convince me they had found Jack, only that Jack the Ripper and the Batty Street Lodger were probably one and the same person.

The Littlechild letter was an exciting find, but I remained unconvinced Tumblety was a viable JTR suspect. Unlike other JTR books though, I feel the authors present their story in an honest and well researched manner and I didn't get the feeling facts were fudged or glossed over altogether.

While Tumblety probably didn't commit the crimes (he didn't fit the description very well and I cannot believe JTR was that organized and competent to amass a small fortune), I wouldn't rule out he murdered others and I would still recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Whitechapel murders.

I was impressed with this book.The best Ripper book yet.Gives the facts ,and no newspaper biases. Timewise,it fits Dr.Tumblity.
Socially,it fits Dr.Tumblity.The O'tumblity's were Irish immigrants ,of the 1830s potatoe famine.He had a poor childhood and few prospects for social acceptance,in the WASP society,of the 19th century.Tumblity was a good medic,during the Civil War.He was even a gate-crasher at the Lincoln White-House.Yet,after the war,he was persona non grata. He had plucked medals off the dead solider's chests and boasted an impressive military service,all Munchhausen quitoxic fabrications. Like a social peacock, trying to impress the local fauna.Yet,it was faux plummage.Tumblity's wife was unfaithful and left him a embittered misogynist.The Tumblity quack sold peppered cure-alls,and performed abortions ,in the backroom,of his foot-to-the-ground office.When Tumblity passed on ,at a St.Louis catholic hospital,on South Euclid ,he donated all the jewlery he had to the unknowing sisters.The rings were from prostitutes and poor women that had no ready-cash for Tumblity's questionable abortion services. No worthy doctor sullied their hands in this dark business of "Angel-making".But,Tumblity did.This Tumblity deemed himself a "respectable gentelman".He had to be frustrated by being restricted to the nether-world of Victorian society.I believe Tumblity met Monty Druitt at a college pub.Tumblity lavished on young artsy college boys,such as Patricia Cornwall's suspect.The chaulked "Juwes" comment ,was atributed to Monty Druitt ,yet probably written by the old fox Tumblity.Tumblity had a falling out with Druitt,dumping his body in the still-water.The corpse was found some weeks later and Tumblity was long gone,having taken a steamer,back to Rochester,New York.Jack is slang for a "puerile boy" and a "ripper" rips things open.The young Tumblity was an saucy erotica porn reader and aware of the street-whores of the lower eastside.The elder Tumblity was an avid theatre goer,watching the performances of the Booth family.(Yet,i do not know if Tumblity having been ejected by the Lincoln beef-eaters,then help hatch the assassination plot with John Wilkes Booth.) Tumblity was also a fan of Gilbert&Sullivan.Tumblity visited his sister(1875) ,from Vallejo,CA and watched the "Mikado" ,in near-by Frisco. Amazing!Did the Zodiac know this?? -- Mr.Lusk was a Mason,yet Tumblity was rejected as a Mason. You do the addition and go figure here.The best evidence provided here is proven and sound. A great book!

I enjoyed this book. Admittedly, it has sat on my shelf for three years, waiting until I was in a suitably dark mood to be tempted by it. The authors present a lot of evidence and show very thorough research. The killer they suggest seems entirely plausible, much more so than in the other Ripper book I read and enjoyed (at the end of which, the author's conclusion was that the man had simply stopped killing. Serial killers don't just stop. So that was implausible). Good book.

Contrary to what Reviewer #2 has to say with his low rating, having read MANY "Studies" of the Ripper over the years, I find the case brought against "Dr." Tumblety to be by FAR the MOST likely; there is just TOO much coincidence for it NOT to be this man. Of particular interest are a SIMILAR rash of murder/mutilations performed AFTER the Whitechapel murders in another locale where Tumblety was proven to have been in at the same time as THAT series occured. PLUS Tumblety's collection of fetuses, etc. HIGHLY recommended, to me one of the MOST compelling books yet written on the topic, with more than enough proof provided to prove Tumblety's guilt.