Book Review: Serial Killers and Psychopaths: True Life Cases that Shocked the World

Serial Killers and Psychopaths: True Life Cases that Shocked the World, by Charlotte Greig and John Marlowe (Arcturus, 2020, $16.99, 464 pp) Review by Skye Anderson

Really! It's hard to believe, isn't it?

We get books to review from authors, publishers, bookstores, used book stores, as gifts, from libraries - you name it.

Recently on a trip to a 'superbookstore,' we saw a display of about 10 books on the subject of crime, mysteries, etc. - and we wanted them all but finally settled for only Serial Killers and Psychopaths.

Although a long book, at over 400 pages, it is my favorite kind (not my favorite book) - the kind with short chapters so you can take it wherever you go, get interrupted, and not be upset. You can come back to it much later and not miss anything because each chapter stands alone. You can read it in any order.

Organization

Ten sections include a history, Victorian cases, lust murderers, spree murderers, and, of course, serial killers. Many take place in England or Germany, a few in other countries such as Australia, Ukraine and Russia, and a number of them in the US but only a few that you may be familiar with - Ted Bundy*, the Columbine case, Son of Sam, the Beltway Snipers, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and a very few women. Missing is the clock tower shooting in 1966 at the University of Texas-Austin by former Marine Charles Whitman as well as Bonnie and Clyde.

Each story begins with a paragraph summary of the end of the story, then reports on the person's life from its beginning with many details and many names, reminiscent of Russian novels. I suspect the authors tried to recreate the police and newspaper reports into something like fascinating prose but the stories still were based on what happened chronologically and, after reading a few, you know what comes next. One, however, seems to have been truncated. . . . 

The Cure has Occurred

So, I'm cured. I will not be returning to that store for any of the other books in the crime/mystery/killer display. All in all, I was not fascinated with Serial Killers - although some readers will be grossed out by the deeds done, the stories were told matter-of-factly and I was really looking for more depth such as learning why. All we do know is that these people often come from broken families, or abusive families, or that the perpetrators themselves suffered a concussion as a youngster.

However, I will follow up this review with one that is more middle-road, so you, dear reader do not get the wrong idea!

*I am not sure all the facts are correct. I know a lot about Ted Bundy, having attended the same schools, majored in the same subject about the same time, and am a member of the sorority he managed to wreck so much havoc in - and some of the facts related in Serial Killers differ from what I learned over and over again.