The Book List are mini-posts about books I have on my shelf (or digital shelf) that I have yet to read.
Warning: The Book Blurb section has graphic quotes from serial killers discussing rape and murder.
I used to have a serial killer compendium when I was growing up (probably my sister’s), and that was definitely a go-to book for quiet afternoons. True crime is morbid…but interesting.
Today, we are going to look at another book I haven’t read yet, but will probably end up dissecting in the near future. The book is called The Voices of Serial Killers
Summary
The book is written by Christopher Berry-Dee and centers on (as the book states): “The World’s Most Maniacal Murderers in their Own Words.” The book features killers Gary Ray Bowles Robin Gecht, Robert Joe Lang, and many others.
In the introduction, the author explains that he has had over 20 years of experience corresponding with serial killers. He states that he attempts to “tell stories in the killer’s own words as much as possible” in order to understand the “motives of such monsters in human guise.”
And, as you read ahead–be warned that some of the excerpts are very disturbing!
Book blurb
From the book:
HEINOUS MURDERS
NIGHTMARISH CRIME SCENES
THE KILLERSย OWN WORDS
The Voices of Serial Killers provides blow-by-blow accounts of the killersย ruthless actions, and then goes even further to let you hear their own words.
Wayne Adam Ford, who went on an uncontrollable spree of raping and dismembering prostitutes before turning himself in with a single female breast in his jacket pocket: “I didnย’t wanna kill anybody. I just feel certain, certain things, ya know…I just want everything to stop.ย”
David Allan Gore, a cop who used his badge to abduct teenage girls so he could take them to his secret lair to rape and torture them for days: “You have no idea how thrilling it was to me to have a victim in my secluded place when NO one could find us. I could take my time with them.”
Bobby Joe Long, aka the “Classified Ad Rapist,ย” who fooled his victims into thinking he would only rape them before strangling them to death anyway: Give a b**** a choice between getting (explicit) and getting hurt, you know what sheยs gonna pick.ย
And many more?
Critical response
Reviews on GoodReads appear middling for the most part but lean favorably. However, reviewers point out that the book is often repetitive or there is an apparent over usage of cliches.
Amazon reviewers, meanwhile, give the book a 3.9 out of 5 as an aggregate. Positive reviewers describe the book as “Amazing” and “Haunted and Jagged” while negative reviews put down the writing and questioned whether there should have been more background stories for the killers.
Impressions
I love True Crime as a genre but have found in recent years that the extreme infatuation with murderers among the population is a little alarming (the Ted Bundy is Bae memes were particularly gross). Yet, my own fascination with Gothic horror and horror movies counters my own feelings of blech about the murder and torture of real humans. People should read what interests them and that’s that.
Nevertheless, a good True Crime book on a rainy day is perfect, so as the fall approaches in a month or so, I think I will be reading through this one.
Works Cited
Berry-Dee, Christopher. The Voices of Serial Killers. Ulysses Press. Sept. 6, 2011. Print.
