The November ScaredyCat: Serial Killers

Whether you're reading about a real serial killer like Jack the Ripper or someone who came out of an author's mind, there are tons of options here.

Some of the more famous novels include books from the Silence of the Lambs series by Thomas Harris, the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay, The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson, and American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis.

On top of these options, you've got nonfiction--not just nonfiction about particular series, but books like Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters and Bad Men Do What Good Men Dream: A Forensic Psychologist Illuminates the Darker Side of Human Behavior. And then there are all those true crime books...

Personally? My very favorite one is fairly recent--The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison. It's incredibly dark, but if you want a dark book, I can't recommend it enough.

For my part, I plan to read the third/last book in The Collector Trilogy by Dot Hutchison that began with The Butterfly Garden, and then maybe move on to something else in addition to that, though we'll see what happens.

So, let us know what you're reading, and what you recommend! Welcome to the challenge!

I am planning on reading The 50/50 Killer by Steve Mosby.

Haven't had time to figure out yet what I'll read, but commenting so I don't forget to come back and do so... likely not till the weekend!

Ok, so a few that I may choose between:

H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White Devil / Adam Selzer
The Cuckoo's Calling / Robert Galbraith
Green River Running Red / Ann Rule
Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings... / Lyndsay Faye

I've started reading The Fear Collector by Gregg Olsen, which is really interesting--reads like a mix of true crime and fictional suspense, building off of investigations of Ted Bundy to go into fictional territory.

I’m reading Ill Will for this one and it is a bit creepy.

>6 Kristelh: That took me a while to get into but I really liked it.

Having trouble finding a book for this month. The one I originally picked wasn't appealing.

>6 Kristelh: and >7 sturlington:, I had a slow start with Ill Will also, but ended up really enjoying it -- I keep meaning to read more of Chaon's work!

>7 sturlington:, Good luck finding something! I'm sure you've already looked at the top post, but maybe as more people chime in there'll be a book that catches your eye...

>7 sturlington: and >8 whitewavedarling:. It has taken awhile to get into. I might be turning the bend finally. I had these as possible’s for this kit; ScaredyKit (serial killers): American Psycho, The Alienist, The Wasp Factory, Ill Will, Vernon God Little

>9 Kristelh:, I LOVE The Alienist :) I've been meaning to read The Wasp Factory, too, but have yet to get around to it.

I finished Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes, about a killer in Detroit who turns his victims into disturbing art projects.

>11 staci426:, Would you recommend it? Around Halloween, my husband and I watched an old Vincent Price movie called House of Wax--built on the same idea. I'm curious what a more contemporary idea of that would look like, because as much as the movie was clearly dated and a bit melodramatic, it was also surprisingly dark for a 1950s horror movie.

Finished Ill Will by Dan Chaon for serial killer.

>10 whitewavedarling:, I don't know when I will get to Alienist. It is a big book and usually I put it off because of other books I need to also get too. May be one that waits for my retirement.

>12 whitewavedarling: I enjoyed it. I was a little confused in the beginning because the story was told from five different points of view, but once I figured out who everyone was and what was going on, I really got into it. It was a great blend of horror, mystery, thriller and a bit of the supernatural.

>14 staci426:, I'll have to keep an eye out for it!

>13 Kristelh:, I totally understand, though I will tell you that I found it to be a 'fast read' :) I've been meaning to re-read it since watching the television show based off of it, but haven't gotten around to it. My goal is to re-read it before Season 2 comes around!

I've finished Perfection by Walter Satterthwait. Two detectives work the case of a Florida serial killer who targets heavy-set women. The police chapters are interspersed with chapters of the killer's narration, and he's a gourmand who walks the reader through all the meals he makes, and his hunt at the local grocery store for his next victim.

I finished The Yard by Alex Grecian. I love the Victorian England setting and the idea of a newly minted Scotland Yard murder squad in the wake of Jack the Ripper's killing spree. Wonderful first book in the series.

I was planning on reading The 50/50 Killer, a book I've had on my TBR for eons, but unfortunately I left it at my Mom's so I am going to go for The Dark Winter by David Mark as it has a "serial killer" tag.

the December thread is up; https://www.librarything.com/topic/298854

Finished The Fear Collector. Full review...

This felt really different from Olsen's other works, but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it. It almost reads like a mash-up of true crime and procedural, to where it feels like real life is bleeding into the fiction and vice versa. At first, my mind kept on wanting to know more about where the lines were blurred between fact and reality, but as I got further into the book my brain finally relaxed and just got twisted up with the story. I have a feeling that this will be most interesting (and slightly crazy-making) for readers like me who enjoy both the nonfiction history and the fictional stories surrounding serial killers, and I'm glad I picked it up. That said, if I were going to recommend an Olsen book to a reader who isn't yet familiar with his work, I'd probably point them to the Waterman and Stark series first.

Still, recommended. I really enjoyed the way this came together.

I've finished another one for this month, Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. This is the first book in the Hannibal Lecter series.

>21 staci426: That's a good one. Will you be going on to The Silence of the Lambs? I think that's my favorite of the series. I didn't care for the next two books, though.

>22 sturlington: Yes, I really enjoyed it and hope to continue with the series. I'm thinking of reading The Silence of the Lambs for January's ScardyKIT. I think I remember seeing it on the NPR list.

H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil / Adam Selzer
4 stars

H.H. Holmes, born Herman Mudgett, did more than murder women in his “hotel” during the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. He was all about money and not shy about committing fraud to gain it. He had a number of alias’s, and he lied all the time. He was “married” to three women, but only legally married to the first, since he never divorced her. He eventually wrote a “confession” with more lies, as he confessed to killing people he couldn’t have. He was only convicted of murdering one person, Ben Pitezel, though it’s fairly certain, he also killed three of Ben’s children. There were a few women who worked for/with him in his “hotel” who were most likely murdered by him.

There is so much misinformation out there. Adam Selzer went to primary sources to write this book. Even many of those are not reliable, but Selzer does his best to sift through all the information and try to come up with the most plausible story of Holmes. It was good, and for enjoyment of/interest in the book, I’d actually give it 3.5 stars (good), but I really want to give it an overall of 4 stars for all the detailed research. I feel like this should be the primary book on Holmes, with all the research that went into it. Selzer also looks at other books/articles written about Holmes and looks deeper into where the information came from for those works to determine how legitimate the information is (including Eric Larson’s “The Devil in the White City”). Well worth the read for anyone interested in learning more about Holmes.

I have completed Dark Winter which was a police procedural set in Hull, England. The main character, DS Aector McAvoy hunts down a serial killer who targets people who have already survived horrific events.

>21 staci426: >22 sturlington: I finished The Silence of the Lambs for this challenge. Wow, this was one scary book! I thought it was very well written. I probably should have started with the first book in the series, but this one showed up in a Little Library near my house so I picked it up.

I also finished Absolution by Caro Ramsay, a police procedural set in Glasgow in which the detectives hunt for a serial killer.