Serial Murder Books

There is only one way for anyone to crawl up inside the mind of another, and that MUST come from the horses mouth, so to speak, and that's all we've tried to do here. .. in his own words and thougts.
The book has not been written yet (!) that knows or understands the mind of David Berkowitz. Like all he does NOW is to project a new image that has respectable Ministries vying his attention> He is frighteing!!! aside from being a great actor. I have sixteen years of him in my mind, and don't know ow to get it out???

the poems written by david berkowitz in prison show a warmth and sensitivity that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that david has had a deep change of heart. they could not have been written by that raving maniac who called himself "son of sam". Jesus said out of the heart the mouth speaks. the writer of these poems is a tender hearted, sensitive man. "son of sam" is dead.

I believe that Berkwoitz is really a born again christian. He may have been baptized before the killings but he was not born again. Being born again is something that happens in your heart. If he really was pretending im sure he would have taken parole but he said he deserves to be in jail for what he has done, isnt that proof enought that he he is sincere?

quote: berkowitz is so smart he can MAKE people believe what he wants them to believe

David Berkabum still doesn't understand WHY he SLAUGHTERED HIS VICTIMS.

You're saying this guy's reformed and yet he still doesn't know why he slaughered his victims. You're saying the space shuttle's safe to fly but you can't understand why the Columbia broke apart? Doesn't repentance involve taking the time to examine your conscience? Taking the time to understand why you made mistakes?

There are also many lies and inconsistances in his testimony.For example, did any of you born agains know that he was a born again christian long before he slaughtered? Yeah that's right, he was baptized in a baptist church in 1974. Attended church services regularly. Was an active member.

I hope not all born again christians consider this slaughter boy their hero...To do so is to advocate what he's done.

I wont buy your book! Are you floating in money now? He didnt fool anyone. The Christian grows over time. Good Try though. :)

I have not read this book but when I came across it at the book store one day I immediately recognized that the author uses the notoriety of the San Francisco Zodiac murders as his selling point. I am very familiar with the San Francisco Zodiac killings and I admit for a second that I thought the murders had been solved until I realized that the picture of the man on the cover looked too young to be the Zodiac from the late 60's. The release of ZODIAC in 2007 may inspire some viewers who are unfamiliar with the case to want to read the books by Robert Graysmith and may also buy this book as well thinking the case has been solved.

THIS BOOK GIVEs INSIGHT TO A SMALL PERSON WHO WAS NOT THE BIGGEST OR BEST OF THE SERIAL KILLERS I HAVE READ ABOUT. THIS PERSON WAS VERY RANDOM AND JUST WANTED TO MAKE HIMSELF A NAME.HE TRIED TO PATTERN HIMSELF AFTER THE ORIGINAL ZODIAC KILLER & DID NOT DO A GOOD JOB AT THIS. APPEARS TO BE A YOUNG PERSON WHO HAD MENTAL ISSUES THAT GOT TOTALLY OUT OF HAND & DESTROYED PERSONS LIVES IN THE PROCESS. A GOOD BOOK BUT NOT THE BEST I HAVE READ!!

Save your time, save your money, don't purchase this book.

Yes, in NYC this guy was called the Zodiac, but this author uses California's infamous Zodiac Killer symbol, etc. on the cover. So much for imagination.

The book itself is a total waste of time, the writing is poor, there are spelling and grammatical mistakes throughout. If I could have given this book a zero star rating I would have.

If you want good true Crime check out books by Graysmith, Keppel, Rule, Bledsoe and Carlton Smith, these names are KNOWN in the True Crime genre, Crowley is not.

I read a lot of true crime books and all I can say is: spend the money and read the book. Crowley really gets into the mind of the killer. Awesome story-telling.

I've read material safety data sheets more engaging than this. Stick with Graysmith or others if you want a good read.

As always, Rick Geary's art is stupendous, yet as other reviewers have noted, much more could have been done with this graphic novel. The bizarre nooks, crannies, and asphyxiation rooms of H.H.Holmes' castle would have made for a visual feast, but unfortunately Geary focuses on these matters relatively briefly, choosing instead to spend time following Holmes step-by-step as he abandons one wife and child after another and murders his way through most of the children in the Pietzel family. Still, a competent introduction to one of the more horrifying figures of 19th century America.

After reading Erik Larson's non fictional/fictional Devil in the White City book which received critical praise I decided to look at Rick Geary's pictoral novel. Recommended for children in 8th grade i feel this book fails to deliver alot of the back ground information into the 1893 World Fair nor H.H. Holmes. Instead this book gives anyone interested into learning more about both topics alot of holes in the story making it hard to completly understand H.H. Holmes and his murderous rage he left on Chicago. For those who have background knowledge on this subject thi book acts as a quick refresher. Those looking to know the real story of H.H. Holmes I recommend reading The Devil in the White CIty.

Rick Geary, The Beast of Chicago (ComicsLit, 2003)

Man, this is a brilliant idea: a graphic novel about H. H. Holmes, who after decades of obscurity has returned to prominence thanks to The Devil in the White City. (Put aside that Allan W. Eckert attempted to revive the Holmes mystique in the thrilling The Scarlet Mansion twenty years before, one of the formative books of my childhood and youth, and one that desperately needs to come back into print at this particular point in history.) Think of all the fun stuff you could do with a serial killer graphic novel! Oh, wait, you don't have to, you can read From Hell. (And you should.) But, let's face it, we know a lot more about H. H. Holmes, and we suspect even more, and all the great floor plans for that fantastic house are simply begging for graphic novel treatment.

So why is Geary's attempt at the subject matter a paltry, albeit quite gorgeous and wonderfully packaged, eighty pages long? I've no idea. (As a side light, this is the first graphic novel I've read recently where the people who catalog this stuff at the library shouldn't be fired outright for putting it in the YA section, which is rather ironic given its subject matter.) He could have spent eighty pages just on drawings of various aspects of the house, with all its twisting passageways, secret rooms, laboratories, and the like. Instead, the Castle itself gets about a fifth of that, with Holmes' exploits both before and after taking up considerably more room.

His is worth checking out, because it is quite beautifully drawn and does shed light on a much-neglected chapter of American history, but it seems more like a skeletal outline than a finished product. Hopefully, there will be a revised, expanded edition somewhere down the line that does Holmes-- and his victims-- the justice they deserve. ***

Sometime around 1998 I discovered a paragraph or two about the killer Herman Mudgett on some amateur websites, the kind of seat-of-the-pants efforts that consigned them to early webdeaths. They offered measly details about Mudgetts appearance and his castle, but the rousing story arc was there; A fiendish charlatan preying on travelers trekking to Chicago to see the 1893 Worlds Fair, followed by a chase and his "castle" in flames. The details were sparse but they had the intended effect; they were spine-tingling. A lack of photos kept the imagery just out of reach. It was tantalizing to wonder what the castle looked like. Was it something to compete with Chicago's contemporaneous Potter Palmer castle? How had Mudgett's castle escaped mention in all the Chicago architecture histories I'd read? How had Mudgett fallen from the collective memory of a city and a nation, while Lizzie Borden's parents made their bloody exit and she remains notorious to this day? It was like the kids in A Nightmare on Elm Street, growing up oblivious about Freddy Krueger, what he'd done, and what their parents had in turn done to him.

The re-emergence of the Mudgett narrative in the last 5 years has been disappointing. None of these efforts have caught my imagination like those junky retellings where I first learned about him. I'd long ago accepted that Mudgetts "castle" was outwardly just an unremarkable 3-story corner store. The recent best seller, Devil in the White City (about the same topic), had narrative problems that continue here. Relievedly absent is that books excruciating A/B storyline structure, but just as D.I.T.W.C. foundered and got lost in insurance schemes, location shifts, and a rollcall of lesser figures, so does this.

It's the first time the story is told with imagery. One would think that the real opportunity here was the chance to envision those things that we haven't seen till now, and what is really unique about the case. The material should benefit from diagrams and graphics. But it just didn't come to life for me. In other titles in the series Geary's fastidious research and factuality are what make them compelling, here the facts concern the least interesting aspects of the crime: ancillary pawns that Mudgett encountered, and documentation of what he confessed after the fact. There's still way too little about the house. If you wrote about Sarah Winchester, would you start with her very factual checkbook entries? The story requires streamlining. As I read, I became impatient; how much longer would these uninteresting cross-country switcharoos continue? When would the castle and bodies show up? I wished Geary had consigned more of the late victims and shadowy flunkies to anonymity. For me the story IS Mudgett's house, and the way it's design assisted in the dispatch of victims. He saves those details for quite late in the story and then presents them in unpeopled tableaux. There is no horror per se. Worst of all, nearly all the victims simply disappear between panels in the drawings. The tease just goes on too long. Insurance claims, swindles, and train rides aren't especially frightening when visualized.

Unhelpful also is the delineation of "secret" rooms which are drawn exactly like the non-secret rooms you use all day. (How secret can they be..? the door's right there.) Likewise for callouts naming some of the castle's secrets which are not self-explanatory and never make it into the narrative. (The Maze, Five Door Room, Sealed Room, The Hanging Blind Room & Mysterious Closed Room...??!!)

Mudgett is just one of several deviate serial killers associated with Chicago (along with John Wayne Gacy, Larry Eyler, Leopold & Loeb and Richard Speck. And Jeffrey Dahmer snared some of his victims at Carols Speakeasy on Halsted, another Chicago location erased from the collective memory) Makes you wonder if there's something in the water.

This is my 4th title in the series. It is my 4th favorite.

This is the latest in Rick Geary's series A Treasury of Victorian Murder. Many people have become fascinated with H. H. Holmes thanks to the book The Devil And The White City. But unlike that book, this is not a dramatization. Instead it is a simple chronological account of the man based on what little evidence actually exists.

Not a whole lot is know about Dr. Holmes, much is supposition and here say. Geary does an excellent job of recounting the facts as well as highlighting many inconsistencies in the legend (i.e. at one point Holmes admitted to the murder of 27 people but some of them were still alive).

Although Geary's series is written in a comic book format, this is not really a comic book. The reader is drawn in quickly and then the story is presented in a very clear and straightforward manner.

Whether this is your first account of Holmes or your tenth, I am sure you will find the story fascinating.

What a waste of time this book was. Nothing was resolved in the end and the most recurring theme in the story was death. I did not see that villain developing.

The only 2 characters worth reading about were the hotel security(?) guy and his(?)girl and they came to unnecessary bad endings.

Didn't like this book at all

This book was no more than a string of cliches. I was bored to tears the second half of the book.

With "Gas City", Loren Estleman is at the peak of his form, once again crossing the ambiguous line from purely entertainment fiction into the heady realm of literature. (Whatever that is -- you know it when you see it)."Gas City" joins his Doctorowesque Chicago gangster novels and more recent westerns as high art, and also is thematically reminiscent of the big-city corruption novels of W.R. Burnett. Estleman deserves far more critical acclaim in the popular press than he is rightfully accorded. Don't miss this one.

Things are changing in Gas City. The refinery that drives the local economy is failing. The "agreement" between the police chief and the local mob boss that keeps crime confined to "The Circle" is breaking down after the chief's wife dies. The newspapers are trying to decide what mayoral candidate to back and which candidate to flog on the basis of what is likely to increase circulation during these troubled times. And on top of all that there is a serial killer on the loose called "Beaver Cleaver."

The most interesting part of "Gas City" centers around a disgraced former police officer named Palmer who is barely employed as a detective at the seedy Railroad Arms hotel. Palmer begins to wonder what he has gotten himself into when he gets curious about a suspicious, unregistered guest in Room 116. He is reminded once again of what he liked about being a policeman. He might want to be respectable again.

He decides to kick the booze and the cigarettes, but he doesn't get much support. Even his girlfriend (who is a prostitute) says she liked Palmer better as a drunk.

There is a lot to like in "Gas City." There are some interesting themes, some unique descriptions, some great characters, and some humorous moments. There is a lot going on.

It's not all good, though. I could not get a handle on the city at the center of the story. It sounds like a cross between Manhattan and Tulsa. It has a race track, a mob boss, ethnic neighborhoods, and a convention center, but only two TV stations?

My main problem with Gas City was that it had no single driving plot to it. When I was finished I felt that "Gas City" was a collection of subplots and supporting characters for a daytime soap opera.

Unneedful of haste, Loren Estleman, in this standalone novel, limns a tale of an `ordinary' Midwestern blue-collar city with its usual equal parts of good guys and bad, corruption and greed, which with one precipitating event begins to boil to a point where it may just combust. Pivotal characters include Police Chief Francis Russell, married for 55 years to his beloved Martha ("Marty"), and devastated by her death as the book opens; Anthony Zeno ("Tony Z"], boss of The Circle, an area of ten square blocks ["the only thing the area required to be considered an independent city was its telephone exchange"] to which all the sex-for-sale, drugs, gambling, etc. of the city are confined; Nicholas Bianco ("Mr. White"), Tony's boss; Moe Shiel, the unofficial and unsworn Chief of Police of the Circle, as well as its unelected Mayor; and Hugh Dungannon, Russell's boyhood friend now a Bishop in the church; and assorted others. The town was built around an oil company which is and always has been its most important component and employer.

Russell's life is now immeasurably saddened. He hasn't seen his daughter in 12 years; his son was killed while serving in the Armed Forces in southeast Asia. He has served as Chief for five terms, during all of which time he has had an "understanding" the local Mafia boss With his wife's death, the latter is unsure whether Russell will "continue to hold up his end." Indeed, he ponders whether redemption is possible, and considers actually doing the job he was hired to do all those years ago.

In addition to those described above, the book is full of colorful characters: The hotel detective who says of himself: "Being a busted copy was as bad as being a defrocked priest. It took practice to keep your lies straight;" Zeno's wife, Deanne, whose husband describes her as "healthy as a horse. And just as expensive to keep;" a local judge who "had developed the bad habit, after seventy, of slipping in and out of gear when he was running for reelection. In his dotage he thought his seat on the bench had something to do with ballots." In the midst of a mayoral campaign, the town is hit with a serial killer, variously referred to as the Black Bag killer [for his choice of container for body parts] or Beaver Cleaver [for his choice of weapon].

I found I had to pay close attention when reading for fear of missing subtlely wonderful passages, which abound. One of my favorites was this description of Russell's reactions upon his wife's passing: "And then the rage and heat were gone, and there was a hole through him and he had to turn so the wind wouldn't whistle through it. He'd been preparing for this moment for weeks - years, he corrected, from the time the results of the first tests had come back and he'd stopped arguing with them - and he'd hoped the dread of the waiting would give way to a sense of release. He'd felt it for a moment, with the last exhalation, when she took her leave of her body, a lacy apparition in a cheap religious print. But this was a new level of emptiness. What he'd thought was the bottom collapsed beneath his weight, the thinnest of crusts, and he went plummeting yet again. It was like falling in a dream. They said if you woke up before you hit, you were okay, but if you didn't, well, that was when people died in their sleep. It seemed better than this eternal falling."

"Gas City" is a very pleasurable and satisfying read, and is recommended.

This collection is great. I owned this book for years and would always go back and forth flipping through the pages, finding new twisted tales.

Another reviewer called it inaccurate, well, maybe, who cares really, I read it for the hair raising tales and pure shock and awe!

If you like serial killer literature, I haven't seen too many better then this book!

And I'm not. There are many murderers listed in this book, in apparently no kind of order, so if you're looking for a specific one, take your time. Most of these are the gory killers, whose sadism and senseless torture of their victims (humans and animals alike) would make me ill if I read it, so I skipped those parts, which left me with not much to read.

I will have to take the word of previous reviewers who noted errors in the stories, since I'm not very familiar with the serial/torture killer type. I did notice that Mr. Everitt mentioned that Charles Whitman wrote a note requesting an autopsy before he went on his shooting spree in the tower at the University of Texas, but the author fails to mention that one was done afterward, and a large tumor was found in his brain. Just so you know.

The segment on the Bender family is fascinating. Luring travelers to their country home for dinner and a night's board, and Wham! Don't sit with your back to a sheet room-divider is the moral I guess. The chapter on Sawney Beane is just as great. Inbred Scottish cannibals living in a cave, where the only entrance is concealed by water due to the tide most of the day. Why isn't this story a movie?

This book is a quick-reference book for the numerous serial killers that have roamed the land since the 1800s. This book starts with those who thought they were werewolves (feasting on children), to those who believed they were cannibals and breeded with each other, to the notorious Speck, Killer Clown and Dahmer. There are a few pages dedicated to each killer, complete with an easy-reference index. Only the most gruesome details are highlighted.

i wish i had seen that guy from swedens review before i bought that book.. i must agree with him.. from the first page i was reading incorrect information.. i will be returning this book for sure. i was all excited to get the book and when i saw incorrect information in first page, i went to the part about dahmer (about whom i have read a lot of books) and the info there was not consistant w/other books on him. i would like to know where they got some of their information for this book. it reminds me of another bad book 'cannibal killers' by moira martingale. if you want to read a really decent, accurate book... read a book by john douglas or robert ressler!!!

Reading the analysis of Robert Ressler it would seem that he is at odds not only with the book, but with his peers as well. Indeed the use of both inductive and deductive logic as part of the process used by the FBI has been suggested by other former alumni (copy available on request if you doubt my word) and seems well supported by the few documents or books released on the subject.

The question arises what, if any, method of empirical analysis of crime would be used to track the changes over time in MO suggested by Douglas and others.

If VICAP and HITS are not "A Complete Waste of Time" (with apologies to Monty Python) then what exactly is the point? More directly, tell us what crimes have been solved or reduced using it? This book discusses that.

A survey of incarcerated offenders with a more methodical and statistically valid codebook are a focal point of this book. This is a reliable way to provide information that utlimately turns what some derisively consider little more than witchcraft into the full promise it holds. Dr. Godwins book argues the merit and methodology needed to do it.

Indeed, many of the common myths portrayed in popular media by Ressler or Douglas are proven false in resources studied by legitimate methods included in this book. That alone would make it worth the price.

While not belittling the work of the BSU, I would suggest that they have expropriated a significant thing which deserves a more complete and well founded data base. Even in the context of variability in human nature, the fact that former BSU alumni are able to argue typologies rather than each case as being an individual suggests some commonality in the perpetrators.

A conclusive, unbiased study of incarcerated offenders as well as a more relevant analysis of violent crime will curb this annoying tendency to see a very limited few offer their services or expertise in this area.

I will offer that there are areas with which I do not agree with Maurice, but he makes a clear and convincing argument for re-evaluating the way statistics are gathered, analyzed and possibly may actually produce something worthwhile.

So long as behavioral science continues it's foray into the judicial process, I think a better study is called for. In the meantime, I see it as a bit lopsided in terms of equality for both defense and prosecution (cases in Georgia and Colorado notwithstanding).

I have read many books pertaining to profiling and Godwin has by far done the most research on crime scene behavior. I commend him for this but does it really take SSA to come to the conclusion that serial murderers utilize the same behaviors in the majority of their offenses. Also one needs a Ph.D in Stats to understand the majority of Godwin's discussions. It appears to me that Godwin has attempted to mask his weak arguments, and very difficult arguments to understand, with a whole lot of meaningless statistics. Statistics I might add, that are displayed on very hard to read graphs and tables. I was also very confused at how Godwin described inductive and deductive reasoning. If I am correct, Godwin believes the FBI's method is deductive. This is anything but the truth. It is purely an inductive process. The FBI utilizes specific behaviors in a crime scene to develop a generalized profile.(Specific to General). Like I said, Godwin did much work but much work does not always equate to a quality piece of work. I also find it very hard to believe that an investigator can find this book useful. If a law enforcement officer can understand this book I'd be very surprised. They have enough trouble with simple charts and graphs. SSA would most likely be gibberish to them.

I gleaned a totally difference opinion from Dr. Godwin's book, Hunting Serial Predators than the review by Pat Brown. First of all, I think that the book demolished more than a few specific myths about current profiling approaches - Dr. Godwin covered a broad range of approaches and showed their weaknesses. Obviously the reader, Pat Brown, did not read the entire book or fully understand what she was reading. Dr. Goodwin examined for the very first time the consistency of serial killers' crime scene behaviors from one offense to another and showed that they are very consistent on an empirical foundation. This very finding explodes the myths propounded in all the literature on serial murder. While others claim this fact might be obvious, they have not provided the literature demonstrating this. In regards to the grouping of behaviors, the behaviors were not done subjectively as is the case by individual profilers who use their experiences and gut feelings. Rather, the behaviors were group by the computer analysis and each classification was defended strongly with the support of psychological literature. For example, Dr. Godwin found a group of crime scene actions that revealed the aspects of serial killers who specifically targeted and murdered their victims indoors - no other serial murder classification does this. He also showed what the dominant focus of serial murder is - that it was not entirely sexual. Can't quite understand how this Pat Brown misses these very important points in the book. Also, the four case studies in the book were just used for demonstrating purposes as I understand the reading of the book. I found the book to be a strong foundation to built a computerized linking data system for law enforcement use using the four classification types described. I also found the way in which Dr. Godwin used the information in his research to profile the serial murder case in Raleigh, North Carolina helpful. I also found the book, considering the statistical nature of the book, an easy read.

If Godwin wants to reach people, he is going to have to learn to write to the audience that needs this information. Based on this book, he seems confortable with data. There is a lot of it in this book. However, it is difficult to understand and follow the way it is written. For that reason, I don't believe that many in law enforcement will find this book helpful.

Godwin deserves an A+ for giving a scientific look at the so-called "science" of criminal profiling. Criminal profiling, as practiced by the FBI, -- and as I had long suspected -- has gotten much more Hollywood hype than it deserves. This book is NOT written in the entertaining film noir narratives of John Douglas et al., nor is it a compilation of juicy murder cases. Rather, it is a scientific analysis of the profiling methods as they ought to be employed. Godwin exposes the statistical pitfalls and the wrong turns made by the current FBI profiling methods, and he suggests ways in which the profiling methods could be improved. Even if you aren't a statistician (with knowledge of cluster analysis and correlation coefficients), Godwin gives plenty of solid and readable introductory material and conclusions which can easily be understood by the interested layman. This is a must read for anyone considering a career in law enforcement and criminology.

I started reading this book as soon as I got it. Dennis goes straight into the minds of the rapists', letting them tell their stories, and I liked that. However, I thought I was ordering this book because I thought it was a book about ONE serial rapist and what crimes he comitted, this book turned out ok. Detailed, right from the mouths of the offenders. He makes you understand what rape is about.

All in all, I would have to say this is a good book. If your offended by dirty or sexual words, then this book isn't for you. You can really know what is on their minds when you read what they say.

Excellent, written by a pro, easy read. Not just facts and figures but a self-defense and a survival guide for every woman. Women, don't fall an easy prey, scream "fire" and fight back - you will be glad you did!

I wish I could give it 0 stars. This book is garbage. I felt sick after reading it, not because of the graphic descriptions of assaults, but because Stevens, as a law enforcement trainer, sociology doctorate, and former professor, has access to open-minded people who are now just as stupid as he is. Do not waste your time. Do not believe what he writes. I wouldn't even GIVE this book away, it's going right to the trash.

This book is excellent. Straight from the mouthes of the rapist themselves, they go into detail about how they choose their victims and what they do to them and how not to become a victim.

I've been ordering books from amazon for many years, and no matter how much I liked or disliked them, I have never felt strongly enough to actually sit down and write a review. All that changed with this book. It is a complete waste of the pages it was written on. Never have I read such garbage. Apparently the author teaches law-enforcement officers. I guess that explains why so many have absolutely no empathy for victims of rape. The author's opinions in this book truly do a disservice to victims everywhere. Survivors, do not waste your money on this book. You will regret it.

I disagree with some of the other reviewers. I too read a lot of true crime books. Robert Scott has written a true crime book about one of America's most dangerous serial killers. Robert "Bob" Spangler was the adopted son of a prominent Iowa state professor. Sadly, all those around him started dying mysteriously. Bob who was married unhappily to Nancy Stahlman and the father of two teenage children wanted out of the marriage but his mistress did not want the troubles of teenage children. Sadly, Bob arranged to make his first wife's death to look like a suicide on December 30, 1978 in Littleton, Colorado (hometown of Columbine high school). He also murdered his children with a gun and made it look like it was entirely his wife's fault. Bob continued to live in the house of death afterwards without much conscience. His second wife who he killed for would also die under the suspicious circumstances of a pill-forced suicide in 1994. His third wife would be pushed down in the Grand Canyon in Arizona during one of Bob's many hiking trips. His adopted father died under mysterious circumstances despite his advanced age after a visit from his son. His motivation was all selfish. He never did anything for anybody else. He was a successful businessman in his own right but his personal life was surrounded by death. Bob could sleep very well in his Littleton house as well as other places. Until the law finally caught up with him, it just seemed like he was getting away with murder. His second and third wives had included him in his estate if they died before him. His father also had a sizable fortune. Bob just didn't want to work no more and he took a very different road. He killed his own children because he couldn't control them anymore as teenagers and showed absolutely no remorse for his crimes which are just unspeakable and horrendous. I can't imagine somebody to be so cold, calculated, and homicidal towards the people including his three wives and two children who he was supposed to love. Imagine, he shot to death his own children for no reason because they would just be trouble with his extra-marital relationship. I can't blame his wives because I think they were madly in love with him and paid dearly with their lives as well one way or another. His children were another story. Maybe they would have brought him to justice for their mother's death. Most people in Bob's situation would have just left the wife and divorce. I guess Bob just couldn't handle losing his money and grip on his life.

As a general rule, I found Robert Scott to be an excellent true crime genre writer; however, with this book I was a little disappointed. While the story was definitely one that should have been written, often the reader is subjected to phrases such as "It is unclear..." and "It is unknown..." Unfortunately, these phrases seem to proceed sentences that would have contained facts very important to the case...and, of course, the reader.

I brought this book and finished it withen a day, although a bit desturbing it is one that you will not be able to put down, i have a few of robert scoots books now & they are all easy reading & very detailed, a must for any book collection

I just finished this book and wish there had been more "meat" in it. Of course, the story, which is very interesting, (what kind of person would kill his own teenage children and two of his wives without a shred of remorse?) practically tells itself. The problem is that the author failed to think about the kinds of questions a reader might have. For example, he spends only one paragraph mentioning that Robert Spangler's father died under very suspicious circumstances when his son, who stood to inherit a large amount of money, visited him. I wanted to know more! The author also tends to include too many quotes from newspapers, police reports, etc., but doesn't seem to provide a lot of fresh information. Text is repetitive (for example, stating the location of an FBI lab not once but twice within a few paragraphs), contains grammatical errors, and there is just too much conjecture (also repetitive) on the part of the author. Why wasn't this book more carefully proofread?
All in all, I wasn't left with that satisfied feeling I get after reading Ann Rule, who just states the facts and does a lot of digging to back up any conclusions she makes.

I have no idea why the main character had the motivation to definately murder 4 people (and possibly 7, but he did not admit to the others) It is an o.k. that would have benefited from interviews with family members of the murdered victims who knew the killer Bob. It also would have benefited from an interview with Bob himself (but I realize this is impossible due to him being deceased. )

The main character is a serial killer. I didn't identify with him. I didn't feel sympathy for him. I didn't like him.

The author complicates the novel by throwing in timecrawls -- sudden flashbacks with no warning. They made a bad novel worse.

The entire novel is devoted to how the killer goes wandering about, killing at random. The author writes a thin veneer of charming sociopath, which may appeal to shallow people.

My recommendation: burn this book for warmth while reading a good Stephen King novel.

Watch out for Vann Siegert. 'He isn't short and he isn't tall, he isn't anything at all.' But he is waiting. I hate to say it, the ending to the movie was better than the book, but for everything else, read the book. If you want to find out Vann's philosophy on life and death, read the book. Want to find out why 'The Minus Man', read the book, but, if you want Janeane, watch the movie.

First book I've read done in first person, I liked it.

It's so simple and that is scary.With this story we get to see inside the mind of a simple man.A simple man that simply kills.His habit of killing is the equivalent to a nicotine addiction.He simply needs his fix and he doesn't have to go to great lengths to get it.A drop of some poison as easy as buying a pack of cigarettes. I loved this book but I have to admit that I had the ADVANTAGE of seeing the movie first.Owen Wilson is so damn lovable and cute and that made the story so damn terrifying.It is a completely believable work of fiction.I'm not sure what you should do first---rent the movie or read the book. Whichever order, make sure you do both.

The Minus Man is a harrowing journey into the mind of a mild mannered man who happens to be a psychopath. His method of killing is a quiet one, poison laced Southern Comfort. Lew McCreary's novel is spellbinding, using a finely tuned skill to make the reader care for, if not love a murderer. And a mass murderer at that. Van Siegert is one of the most fascinating characters I've come across in recent memory. His calm descriptions of killing are intended to convey a sense of normalcy in murder. The fact that he kills for no reason is scary enough, the idea that he can easily validate his murders is terrifying. If you are a fan of novels about psycho killers but want something that's not a slasherflick on the page, check out this book!

The Minus Man was made into an excellent film starring Owen Wilson (in a sorely overlooked performance) as the quiet, yet lethal Van Siegert. Read the book, watch the movie, and don't drink from a stranger's flask.

An interesting book in that it was an unusual approach.
I found it a little far-fetched on more than one occasion but being a bit of a daydreamer I thought it had some interesting thoughts to ponder, about out-of-body experiences.
An agreeable read but if you prefer to be scared you might prefer one of Herbert's other books.

Herbert had a good idea here, but his delivery is so agonizingly tedious that I hated him by the end of the book. I'm one of those people who can't quit in the middle...If I were, I would have. He can take many pages to describe in the dryest manner some of the most uninteresting things...even things like describing exactly how the person's fingers wrap around an object in order to pick it up. So many times I simply wanted to scream "Get on with it man!!!" The two stars are for his imagination. The idea of a person dying while of on an OBE was fascinating in itself. There were horrifying moments, but I had difficulty relating to the characters and the ultimate resolution was less than satisfying.

NOBODY TRUE is James Herbert's best work in years, arguably his best yet. It is also one of the most original and compelling "horror" books in the past decade. Herbert takes what could have been a preposterous plot, and through brilliant narrative and several twists and turns, makes it a must read for genre fans.
The hero, James True, is capable of OBEs---out of body experiences which enable him to leave his physical self behind and wander around. Unfortunately, during one of these OBEs, he is brutally murdered and mutilated apparently by a vicious serial killer who has claimed four other victims. So when James returns from his OBE, he has no body to go back to.
Herbert skillfully approaches the many aspects of his story: the business partners/friends who he finds he may not have really known; his wife Andrea (kind of funny, if you remember the Andrea True Connection and MORE MORE MORE?), who also has dark secrets; his little girl, Primrose; the horrifying serial killer, horribly disfigured and vicious; his somewhat looney mother and his estranged father. All are interwoven into the exquisite plot, and the reader will find by the time the book is over, he may be a little sad at its inevitable tragic but fulfilling conclusion.
NOBODY TRUE is good writing and good reading; let's hope Herbert continues to show a resurgence in his writing skills.

This is an intriguing chiller thriller by Great Britain's master of horror and the supernatural. Written as a first person narrative by the protagonist, James True, a successful graphic artist with his own business, the reader discovers that for years James has been capable of having out-of-body experiences. He is able to project his essence, leaving his body behind, as he wanders around totally unfettered by physical constraints. Unfortunately, on his last such foray, he returns to his body only to discover that he had been brutally murdered and mutilated while he was out-of-body.

At first, the police believe his murder to be the work of a serial killer, and, despite his obvious limitations, James sets out hell-bent to find his murderer. What he finds, however, is betrayal, heartbreak, and fear, as he discovers things about his wife, his beloved daughter, and his business partner that he never knew. He also meets the serial killer, a decidedly creepy character that will have some surprises in store for the reader. Just when the reader has it all figured out, the author pulls a rabbit out of the hat.

Peppered with wry, macabre humor, the plot is so inventive that the reader cannot help but keep turning the pages of this book, despite its falling somewhat short in terms of character development. It is an entertaining, quick read.

I lost interest in this book about 100+ pages into it. The pace in this story is very slow, which would have been fine if there was some important detail being introduced. However, James Herbert beats us to death with repetitiveness. How many times do we need to be reminded of how it feels like to travel while he experiences his OBE?? Many times he refers to it as a "Star Treky" trasporter experience. The narrator keeps harping the sadness he feels looking in on his daughter and putting his arm around his wife as she is sleeping (he's touching her, but not really touching her). It's as though James Herbert is trying to fill up space by constantly repeating his main character's thoughts that it makes you feel as though you're reading what was on page 33 again on page 82. I'm a big fan of keeping books around if I lose interest, in case I get another spark to go back and give it another chance. I actually threw this book away. Even a story like this one, which follows the thought process of a man who's been robbed of his body and life, needs to have momentum. I will give the author another chance, but this book (as the British would say) is "bloody boring".