Best Serial Killer Books Non Fiction
Last week, I had the honor of hosting Dr. Berit Brogaard, author of, at my library. Though the book is generally about extraordinary things the brain can do, the topic of this talk was “The Making of a Serial Killer.” After scheduling this talk three months ago, I decided on the topic of this 100 Must Read list: serial killer books and books about serial killers!I’ve only separated the books into three categories: Nonfiction, Fiction, and YA Fiction. Some of the books in the nonfiction list are biographies, studies of several real-life serial killers, or scientific looks into what makes a serial killer. The Fiction section includes romantic suspense, psychological thrillers, satires, and everything in between. SERIAL KILLER BOOKS: NONFICTIONby Harold Schechter – “More than 100 profiles of lethal loners and killer couples, bluebeards and black widows, cannibals and copycats.”.
By Erik Larson – “The true tale of the 1893 World’s Fair intertwined with the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death.”by Claudia Rowe – “A female journalist chronicles her unusual connection with a convicted serial killer and her search to understand the darkness inside us.”by Colin Wilson and Donald Seaman – “Discover what turns an ordinary human being into a compulsive killer.”by Peter Vronsky – “Exposes and investigates the phenomenon of women who kill—and the political, economic, social and sexual implications buried with each victim.”.
There's a darkness that lives deep within all of our psyches, and that darkness often manifests as a certain kind of morbid curiosity that spurs us to binge watch every single. It’s the thing that makes us slow down at a nasty car accident, the voice in our head that insists that we ask for the gory details of an untimely death. It’s not the best part of us, not by a long shot, but it’s definitely there. Probably one of the safest ways we can scratch that nasty itch that lives in the back of our minds is by reading about serial killers. A serial killer, by traditional definition, is a person who has murdered three or more people, but they have to have a resting period in between kills, or else they’re just spree killers. If the awesome TV show Criminal Minds has taught me anything, it's that serial killers are terrifying — no matter why they kill.I’ve compiled a list of 12 nonfiction books that center on serial killers.
These books are guaranteed to satisfy that terrible part of your mind that craves knowledge about the sociopaths and psychopaths among us: 1. Ann Rule has written about a million true crime stories, but none so insane as. The nonfiction account centers on Rule as she reports a story on a terrifying mass murderer — all without knowing that one of her close friends, Ted Bundy, was actually the person she was hunting.
Best Serial Killer Books Ever Written
Ted Bundy murdered at least 30 women between 1974 and 1978, and had actually met Rule at a Seattle suicide hotline. This is one of the most definitive biographies of Bundy of all time, and it's made all the more chilling by the fact that she knew him so personally. By Erik Larson. Holmes was considered, and boy did he set the bar pretty high. Operating between 1888 to 1894, he was the most active during the World's Fair in Chicago, often preying on young women who came to the city for new opportunities. Utilizing the methods of only the most dastardly Batman villains, Holmes constructed a giant 'Murder Castle' and often killed employees, lovers, and guests of the hotel in horrifyingly gruesome ways. Alternates between tales of the fair's construction and Holmes' horrible crimes.
By Philip Carlo. Known as 'The Night Stalker,' Richard Ramirez murdered at least 13 women between 1984 and 1985. When Ramirez was caught, his trial was probably one of the most sensational trials in history (which is saying something, given how people were such fans of Ted Bundy). In, author Philip Carlo painstakingly details the crimes of this vicious serial killer over the course of three years and utilizes hundreds of hours of exclusive interview material with Ramirez conducted while he was on Death Row.
By Terry Sullivan with Peter T. John Wayne Gacy was the kind of guy who used to dress up as a clown for charity events, parades, and parties in order to entertain the children. He was also the kind of guy who would viciously rape and murder 33 boys and young men, burying 26 of them underneath the crawl space of his home. John Wayne Gacy is truly the stuff of nightmares and is probably the reason why everyone is currently afraid of clowns. Is also the type of book that creeps out even the most obsessive true crime novel readers, so you have been warned. 5.by Harold Schechter.
Ed Gein may not have the same body count as most of the serial killers on this list, but he makes up for that by being the creepiest kind of person you can imagine. The inspiration for Norman Bates from Psycho, as well as Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Gein showed a fascination with dead bodies that would eventually lead to murder. When he was caught, his house had been turned into such a museum of horrors that not even Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs would have been able to stand it, mostly thanks to his love of robbing graves.
Tells the story of this terrifying murderer. By Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi. We all know Jack the Ripper at this point; he's basically one of the most famous (and terrifying) serial killers in the world. This mysterious man dispatched five prostitutes in Whitechapel, London during the tail end of the Victorian Era, and although he has never been caught, there are more theories about the identity of this murderer than there are stars in the the sky. But is different, because it dares to wonder if old Jack The Ripper was magical. Not even joking — this book is deadly serious. This is definitely the book you should read if there's even a tiny part of you that believes in the paranormal.
By Anthony Holden. Graham Young was an English serial killer who preferred to use poison to dispatch his victims. He poisoned his family and up to 70 others, several of whom died. Obsessed with becoming the most famous poisoner in the world, Young actually kept a diary of observations on the reactions of his victims. He eventually became the youngest inmate at the infamous British asylum of Broadmoor. Tells the true story behind this enigmatic figure, showing a chilling portrait of a sociopath.
Michael Gordon. What is it about Victorian London that really makes murderers spooky? Also, is there any name for a series of murders more terrifying than '? Between the years 1887 to 1889 and a few times in 1902, a mysterious murderer left his victims as a pile of dismembered body parts.
The Torso Murders were often overshadowed by those of Jack the Ripper, but this book posits that perhaps Jack and this murderer were one and the same. Although that's not canonical, it's still a pretty fascinating idea. By Joyce Egginton.