After reading about 40% of this book I felt overwhelmed with gruesome details of the most horrific murders throughout the ages. There was some discussion at the beginning of the book about the possible "whys", but that was followed by groupings of serial killers by sub-type (number of participants, gender, race, and so on). It just became too much. I could see from chapter headings that their might have been more about the "why" in later chapters, but my stomach wasn't strong enough to handle the sheer volume of gore.

I probably should have known better and just skipped this altogether. ( )

I'd give the book 5 stars if it didn't repeat a lot of the info halfway through which kept getting repetitive. Other than that I couldn't put it down. ( )

Despite the possibly scary subject, the book itself is not very frightening. It tells the stories of many killers, from the middle ages till the modern era in quite a factly manner.
I found it an interesting book.
One I bought a long time ago after reading about moles in the CIA and laying hands on a book about Chikatilo.
A lot is know already nowadays about the why, how, when, what, where, a lot of information I more or less knew. But it was still worth my while, because it was also a book about the history of this phenomenon 'serial murderer'. ( )

The dark side of human nature is an endless source of morbid fascination, and with this book we go right to the heart of some of the most appalling human behavior. Despite the brutality of the topic, the author's conversational writing style makes this an easy book to read.

We start at the beginning, when the term 'serial killer' was first defined. The author talks about specific traits common to serial killers, using notorious cases as examples. From there, this book covers a little bit of everything, from the types of killers, to their methods of killing and body disposal. The cases explored span from Jack the Ripper to modern-day killers.

A major flaw in this book, for me, was the repetition. The author relies on a handful of the more well-known serial killers for examples, and the same details are cited multiple times throughout. This might be due, in part, to the way the book is set up, though the information is repeated as if we hadn't read the exact details in a different section.

The other problem area, for me, was with the 'Why They Kill' section. We're lead to believe that all serial killers have mother issues, come from abusive homes, and are abnormally fixated on sex. While this is a general truth for many killers, it's an oversimplification and not true for all killers. The author also appears to support the nurture over nature theory, which is another generality that doesn't hold true. Abuse, in and of itself, does not create a serial killer. The fact is that, most often, it's a combination of nature and nurture, and occasionally simply nature. In fairness, much of the neuroscience research in this area has been published within the past decade, before this book's publication. Still, I felt this section tried too hard to simplify a complicated issue.

Overall, this is a good read, covering a vast topic and focusing on a handful of darkly intriguing cases. ( )

Harold Schechter is one of the leading authorities on American serial killers, and he has a very readable writing style. I've read several of his books, and I have "enjoyed" (I am not sure if that is the correct word, considering the subject matter) each of them.

The book is incredibly in depth, covering a range of topics (starting with how the term "serial killer" entered the English language, then delving into common characteristics of serial killers, why and how they kill, how they're caught, and much more). Each section is punctuated with at least one in depth case file illustrating the points already discussed. There is a ton of information to be found here, and it's the perfect resource for those writers who want to incorporate an accurate portrayal of a serial killer in a piece of fiction. Those who want to learn more about serial killers will also find this useful.

My only complaint is that the author repeats himself quite often. There are several places where entire sentences are almost repeated verbatim. I understand that each chapter details something different, and perhaps the author didn't intend for this book to be read cover to cover, but it got rather annoying. Also, the author mentioned a few serial killers without giving much background on them, as if expecting the reader to know who they were. There were a few I didn't (for example, the only reason I've ever heard of the name Peter Kuerten was because of the movie "Copycat").

Altogether, a staggering amount of information is packed into this book, and I'd recommend it to those who are interested in the subject matter. ( )