This true account of the serial killer vampire rapist was the most different true crime book I have ever read. Very in-depth account of the crimes and the conviction of the killer. This book is not for the faint of heart as it is very graphic as it goes into the descriptions of the crimes and there are detailed photos. The author, J.T. Hunter, draws you into the story giving a background on the killer, his crimes, and the conviction. Giving it 4 stars. ( )

My apologies to the author, but this book, for me, is a train wreck. Some of my thoughts:

While the research seems solid, the book reads like summaries of various newspaper articles, with occasional author input along the way. The details are repetitious and could easily be condensed to half this book's length.

Yes, these are rapes and murders, sex crimes, but at times I felt like I was reading a bad porn fantasy. I suppose this was the author's attempt to get us into the killer's head, despite having absolutely no input from Crutchley or his victims. We're told one rape victim's thighs are "silky," which made me cringe. There is an absolute disrespect for the victims, in that the rapes are sensationalized in tone and detail. Dialogue is included, and yet it's clear that this is fiction coming from the author, not real words from Crutchley or his victims.

We're told what people are thinking at certain times and about certain situations, when the author couldn't possibly know what any of these people thought because he didn't interview anyone.

I got no real sense of Crutchley as a person. We're repeatedly told that he's brilliant, though I saw no evidence of such intelligence. We're told about childish tantrums and we're given an onslaught of his behavior regarding sex. By the end, that's all I knew about this man, who, in this book, is more caricature than intelligent killer.

Throughout the book, Crutchley is portrayed as cocky and self-assured, convinced, even after his arrest, that he'll be found innocent. And then suddenly he accepts a plea deal that keeps him in prison. But we don't know what happened that so abruptly changed his mind. Or maybe he was never really self-assured to begin with. I have no idea.

And, so, all I feel at the end is frustrated. ( )

This is the second true crime novel I have read by this author. I am going backwards. I started with a more recent novel and now read this first one by Mr. Hunter. I did see a different from this earlier book to the more recent one.

While. I found this story to be very weird but fascinating at the same time; there were times when I felt like the pacing of the book got bogged down with too many details. In the beginning it showed the killer taking women and how his obsession started. Afterwards, it seemed that the story than took a couple steps backwards to talk about all of the details about the killer and everyone involved in the case. Don't get me wrong as I did find this interesting but I felt like I could have done without all details even the minor ones.

Yet, as I stated. I have read a more recent book from Mr. Hunter and he seemed to find that better balance between the details and the case. The cases he writes about are very fascinating. I had never heard of these cases. True crime readers who have not read a book from Mr. Hunter may want to do so. ( )

Bought this book, well the kindle edition a few days ago. It had raving reviews on amazon.
Probably because of that I was quite disappointed. Not because of the writing because that was good but because of what happened.

I hated that they suspected him of so many crimes and they did not do their job properly. Thanks to their mistakes he did not have a long time in jail as he should of have. That they were able to contain him is not thanks to the police work in this case.

I would give this book no more than a 3.5 but I would buy another book by this author because I did not like what happened but that is not the writer's fault. ( )

This is take 2 on writing a review for this book. Take one sounded like a review of the man and not a review of the book. We will hope I can do better.

Hunter does an excellent job discussing the victims, their experiences, their feelings, and when lucky their escapes. He covers the crimes Crutchley is accused of, the trial, and the ravings, letters, and discussions of Crutchley.

He manages to convey without as much judgment as I feel regarding the fact that Crutchley is suspected of having killed 30 women but no murder charges were ever filed against him. Hunter is fair in his evaluations and a very good writer. I was very impressed by the authors ability to draw and color the picture of the lives of the families of the women lost and their need to bring them home.

If you enjoy true crime novels I would highly recommend this book. ( )