3 comments about Serial Killers: Issues Explored Through the Green River Murders.

1. After co-writing the Search for the Green River Killer, Tomas Guillen sums this case up expertly. Even if you haven't read the earlier book, you'll understand the dynamics that allowed Gary Ridgway to get away with these crimes for 22 years. I highly recommend this book.



2. i purchased this book as a resource for a research project / poster presentation for a forensic science course in my undergrad work. this book provided valuable, unbiased insight as to the things that went wrong during the green river murder investigation. there were things in the book that provided great insight as to the mistakes and shortcomings of the entire investigation.
   if information is required as to the true things that went wrong and you require information as to why the apprehension of gary ridgway took so long, this is a great reference.



3. This book should be required reading for anyone who aspires to go into police work. In these days of CSI, Profiling, Clairvoyants and nervous municipal administrators who hope it never happens in their jurisdictions. the book gives more insight into the variables that although boring to some, can affect the final outcome of the entire investigation. The keyword to the failure of any investigation of this sort is "linkage blindness". This impaired the investigation from start to finish and contributed to the effect that a guy with an IQ of 82 could continue to kill in his own "backyard" for 22 years and not be apprehended by a $30,000,000 Task Force comprised of all of the best "experts" at the time? Those included the FBI, media-generated experts,administrators along with those who wrote "God, I'm great" books all telling their individual stories about their involvement with self-emulating biases and ghost writers.Always be skeptical of "experts". Smith and Guillen almost got a Pulitzer for their work on THE SEARCH FOR THE GREEN RIVER KILLER and the investigators would probably have had a better chance of solving it sooner if they would have had the same advantages of having had the same resources and employed some the same techniques as the authors. If you are looking for a blood,guts,gore and TV version get Jerry Springer to write a book about it. Every TV version about this case is pure crap written for advertising ratings and for the "heroes" to record their "legends". If you are seriously considering reading about the truth of the investigation more than for any other reason this is the book to read. For the cost you can't go wrong. If anyone is interested about the victims and their families read Ann Rule's book "GREEN RIVER, TURNING RED". "SERIAL KILLERS-ISSUES EXPLORED THROUGH THE GREEN RIVER MURDERS" This is a good critique that can only contribute to making fewer mistakes in future investigations of serial crimes. Some of the "heroes" are seriously deflated that only the truth has a way of doing.

1 comments about First Word Search: Easy First Words (First Word Search).

1. This word search is simple enough yet challenging for my twin boys. The letters are good size and it is not overwhelming for them to complete one puzzle.

No comments about FBI: A Centennial History 1908-2008 (Hardcover): A Centennial History 1908-2008.

5 comments about White Mischief.

1. This is a simply fascinating book for anyone interested in colonial Africa, murder mysteries and just plain good writing. The author James Fox, an erudite Eton graduate, does much more than simply describe the wild African setting, the fascinating murder involved and the absurdly decadent lifestyle of the characters involved. He also tracks the process of his research and the input of the quirky British author, Cyril Connelly who simultaneously studied the events at hand.

   Fox uses the murder of man-about-town Lord Erroll as a backdrop to chronicle the deterioration of a British subculture in the early 1900's. While war was being waged in Europe, this group of moneyed and titled hedonists (who left their kiddies back home) lived a surrealistic life of partying, drinking, drugging and partner swapping. Such a detached lifestyle virtually requires a murder or two as a logical conclusion.

   Although the accused, Lord "Jock" Delves Broughton, is aquitted in an African trial (with lots of perjury involved) Fox makes no secret of his opinion that Boughton was the culprit. That does not dampen the book one bit because it is the cast of characters and how they talk about each other that is the best part of the book. The only problem I had with Fox's ultimate theory is that he bases it upon an interview with an eccentric, elderly woman who was only 15 years old at the time of the crime. Although she claims the suspect confessed the crime to her immediately after its commission, she did not reveal that alleged fact to anyone until Fox interviewed her in the 1980's. As a legal professional, I find that kind of evidence inherently not credible. This woman had plenty of opportunity to reveal the alleged confession on many prior occasions and Fox's reasons for her failure to do so are a bit far-fetched.This slight criticism does not in any way demean the entire book however as the rest of Fox's research and conclusions based thereupon seem sound.

   All in all, this is a fascinating book that is hard to put down. The peripheral characters such as Alice de Janze and Lord Soames are equally as intriguing as the main characters.




2. If you ever had any royalist sentiment -- or harbored a feeling that British aristocrats are superior beings -- this book should cure you. The characters of "White Mischief" are about the most disgusting and useless bunch of parasites that can be imagined.
   
   "White Mischief" is about a murder in colonial Kenya in 1941 and the people who were involved in the case. The murderee was Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Errol, and the accused murderer was Sir John Henry Delves Broughton. This book is an examination of the free and easy "Happy Valley" society that both belonged to, a recapitulation of the trial, and an examination of the evidence. The author's investigation, carried out over decades, includes interviews with people connected with the case, including the loathsome Diana, wife of the accused murderer and mistress of the murderee -- and a strong candidate among others to be the mastermind of the affair. (As this book, although non-fiction, is something of a murder mystery, I won't spoil it by revealing the author's conclusions as to who killed Lord Errol.)
   
   It's a crackin' good story, set in the splendid "White Highlands" of Kenya. To me "White Mischief" is also a cautionary tale of what happens when a privileged minority is allowed to run wild.
   
   Smallchief



3. The 1941 murder of Lord Erroll in Kenya would seem an irresistible subject for a writer: Erroll, an extremely handsome cad given to all number of vices, was gunned down one night and left in the wild after publicly cuckolding a fellow hereditary peer. The atmopshere of colonialist decadence the story provides is incredibly heady, and the first part of Fox's work detailing the central cast of characters and the murder itself has a real lurid charm (and it also provided the focus of the 1987 film version of the book with Charles Dance and Greta Scacchi). But then the book gets immersed in the trial of the cuckolded husband, Sir Jock Delves Broughton, and begins to get mired down in all manner of details that become very dull. Then near the midway point, Fox then details how his mentor, Cyril Connolly, became obsessed with Lord Erroll's murder and decided to write a book about it. Connolly is himself almost as much of a snob as the decadent aristocrats of Kenya's happy Valley implicated in the crime, and Fox too seems addicted to dropping names right and left. You become so lost in the sea of titled names that you begin to lose all interest in what otherwise would seem to be a can't-fail topic.



4. This brilliant book examines the story of the British colony of Kenya in the 1940s, particularly the white upper class that immigrated their as settlers and enjoyed themselves immensely. This is a culture that is vanished completely, both in England, with the class distinctions and 'public school' and in Africa and elswhere, where colonial societies have vanished.
   
   A brilliant study of a philandering wealthy society in the 'Happy Valley' settlement in Kenya, the 'White highlands' and the sort of folk who immigrated their. It examines the death of Lord Errol, a man of many disguises who loved not only women but also marriage to increase his wealth. This murder upset the small colony when it took place in 1941 and was a great scandal.
   
   This picture painted by this book is brilliant and loving, touching, interesting, history and novel rolled into one.
   
   Seth J. Frantzman



5. Interesting and easy read - Fox has done his research well. My late husband's parents were Kenya settlers and his father had NO respect for the Happy Valley crowd AT ALL. Fox has certainly filled in many of the gaps left in the story my husband, Len Gill told me and has introduced me to a new side of some of the characters Len knew. I only wish I had read this book before my husband died of cancer. So many questions - so little time for answers.

5 comments about The Human Predator: A Historical Chronicle of Serial Murder and Forensic Investigation.

1. 
   If you're looking for the perfect gift for someone who's riveted to television shows like CSI, you won't find a better one than Dr. Katherine Ramland's latest book, THE HUMAN PREDATOR: A Historical Chronicle of Serial Murder and Forensic Investigation (Berkley Hardcover; Oct. 4, 2005). It's an extraordinarily well-researched book, written in a flowing, easy-to-understand style. You'll not only learn about serial murder but also the historical background of forensic science in its response to this phenomenon.
   
   THE HUMAN PREDATOR is the first book-length chronicle of the serial killer from ancient Rome to the present day, and it becomes clear that cultural factors influence their manifestation. While not every killer could be included, lest the book become encyclopedic, key cases from different time periods are analyzed for the "specific cultural conditions, individual processing of those conditions, and opportunity" that affected that criminal's development. In the Dark Ages, for example, wealthy nobles like French hero Gilles de Rais and the Countess Elizabeth Bathory made Jack the Ripper look like a Boy Scout.
   
   Threaded throughout this absorbing book is how science and psychology evolved alongside the history of the serial killer, providing the tools to catch these criminals and a growing understanding of their psyche. Forensic sciences developed early: in 1247, a Chinese lawyer produced the first work of forensic science, including how to tell the difference between a suicide, homicide and natural death. The U.S. has led development of a body of knowledge about serial killers, mostly through the FBI's legendary Behavioral Analysis Unit that played a key role in The Silence of the Lambs. Ramsland knows firsthand the pioneering contributions of these profilers, John Douglas, Robert Ressler and Roy Hazelwood, having written about and with them.



2. I have read several books detailing the history of serial murder or murders. The majority follow a sequencial history of the individuals involved in this type of crime. This particular book has, to me, a slightly different and facinating approach. Yes it follows a sequencial approach through time, but the way the author intertwines history itself, political, religious, etc and the evolving societies with the dark characters that litter history it makes for much more interesting reading.
   The book gives examples of what was occurring in the world and how these criminals were woven into that patchwork. Runing the same timeline Ramsland also details how forensic investigation also evolved and developed along with the perpertartors. If you just want to know who the serial murders were buy a straigh history of them. If you want to be entertained by what was happening in the world as criminals and their detection related to history this is the book for you.
   I personally found the approach different and facinating reading.



3. I suppose that being a cable television "star"and an attractive looking woman has its advantages..You can write a whole slew of badly written books and still get them published..Katherine Ramsland has a Ph.d in"philosophy"..it is obvious,after reading any one of her numerous,badly written books,that her doctorate was not in creative writing...Still,in this world today one need only have the required piece of academic paper in order to get doors opened,and need not actually have any real talent for telling a story...I have a nephew who graduated from a culinary arts school...now one would think that he could cook the pants off of most folks,but in reality he can hardly cook at all..Oh,yes,he passed all of the required courses to obtain his degree,but that did not mean that he actually learned how to make a tasty meal..
   Ramsland's serial killer opus is nothing more than a compendium of facts thrown together in a sort of timeline ...nothing deep,nothing penetrating,indeed,nothing particularly new or interesting..So-and-so the serial killer killed such and such...police caught up with him and in such and such year he went to prison,while at the same time so-and-so scientist discovered this or that forensic technique...This,in a nutshell,is how the whole 306 pages of Ramsland's opus reads...
   I would think that ,even for the casual reader interested in either serial killers or forensic science,this sort of paragraph and a half approach would be a little bit sparse...certainly for those who want DETAILS,Ramslandd's opus is a disappointment...Thrown in along with all of the very very short tidbits about crime and science is a junior high school styled history of world events...nothing deep here either..Ramsland merely writes that ,for example,at the time such and such killer was killing and/or such and such scientist was discovering,Napoleon,or maybe Caligula,or maybe the roman catholic church was doing something or another that is noteworthy...All in all a bland narrative that should be avoided at all costs...



4. I have to say I personally enjoyed reading this book, as a criminal justice student and self-proclaimed serial killer expert I have read this one from front to back. Dr. Ramsland is a great author and despite a previous bad review on Amazon I found this book to be a great edition to my library. This one actually got me a few "A Plus" grades when I included it in my works cited, excellent read and I recommend it to anyone who reads this type of book even when you aren't doing a research paper.



5. I don't understand some of the positive reviews of this book that appear here; perhaps they read a different book than the one I read. The book I read is a shallow, hastily written book that would appear to me to be useful neither to scholars nor the general audience. The entire book consists of a list of one or two paragraph summaries of alleged serial killers (and, oddly, other killers) throughout history, needlessly padded by equally shallow historical summaries of whatever historical era that chapter covers. Also interspersed are one or two paragraph summaries of developments in criminology--even those that have zero to do with serial killers (in other words, more padding).
   
   There is no analysis to speak of, just a collection of anecdotes, but even the anecdotes are so brief and devoid of detail that they do not pique the interest. There is nothing like a case study here, just shallow summaries. And none of the text is sourced at all, which is particularly relevant for the early chapters, where the sources of information are likely to be particularly controversial.
   
   So the book is not interesting enough for a general reader, but the lack of analysis or detail makes it useless for an academic or criminal justice professional, so I am at pains to think of an audience that might actually find this book useful. Even for people who simply want to ogle at a list of serial killers and their exploits, there are various "encyclopedias" of serial killers that provide more detail.
   
   The book was so tedious it was difficult to finish, and one would not think that a book on a subject like serial killers of all things, would have difficulties in holding the interest. But the problem is that there really isn't anything of substance in this book. I urge people to look elsewhere, such as the overview of serial killers by Peter Vronsky. This book is unlikely to satisfy.

5 comments about Empty Promises.

1. I cannot sleep well if I have read too much Ann Rule. I find myself looking a little bit longer at the stranger sitting next to me on the bus. I am a wee bit more suspicious of that friendly man down by the pool. Ann Rule continues to dig into her own crime files (a former Deattle area policewoman)and opens the files on cases that make us ask why? A young woman
   witnesses her husband murdered, and yet tries to convince the police it was an accidentand his killer is innocent. A recently discharged gay
   soldier(profiled in People and in the media)tries to tie his new lover's murder with his new celebrity,a once happy, beautiful young woman slowly falls under the control of a
   sexual predator...her husband, and eventually vanishes. Rule gives these and other chilling crimes a human face. That is what she does best. In the retelling of not only the crimes, but their impacts on family, friends and community, she is able to jolt us from our thinking..."not here, not me". She gives human faces to all involved,even the most vile. She also allows parents to once again present a fresh memory of a young, still happy person both victims and perperatrator)and unravels the tangles skeins that weave their deadly frabric. Just don't red too much at once.



2. Ex-cop and serial killer expert Ann Rule isn't a profound writer. She tells the same story over and over again with new victims and grisly variations on the way a human being can die. I suppose there's nothing profound about me either, since I read her stories. But it's a relief to know that no matter how badly my life is behaving, I'm better off than the victims of Rule's psychopaths.
   
   The title story, "Empty Promises" is 216 pages long, and I had a problem empathizing with the victim, an abused wife who eventually disappears, because the husband in this case is such an unrelenting crudball. Ann Rule allows Steve Sherer absolutely no redeeming features and as a result, I can't figure out why Jami married him, much less went out on that first date with Steve. She learned right away that Steve was still beating up his previous girlfriend. It was quickly obvious that he was into drugs, thievery, and insurance scams. He bullied Jami into dyeing her hair blond and getting her breasts enlarged. Part of this bullying went on while Steve was in prison. Then when he is set free, Jami MARRIES him, supports him financially, and bears his child. When she finally decides to leave him for yet another druggie, Jami disappears.
   
   The only really interesting thing about this story is the trial, which was conducted on purely circumstantial evidence and the personality of the accused.
   
   This book's shorter case histories are more interesting and varied than the long, sad story of Jami and Steve:
   
   "Bitter Lake"--another woman tries to break off a relationship with an overly-possessive boyfriend with a very brutal outcome.
   
   "Young Love"--A teen-age romance goes sour and the boy breaks into his ex-girl-friend's college dorm, loaded down with dynamite.
   
   "Love and Insurance"--Two publicity-seeking men enter into a gay relationship that lasts only until one of them is murdered.
   
   "The Gentler Sex"--Some women are tempted by the thought of widowhood, cushioned by scads of life insurance, including the wife of one hard-to-kill Marine drill instructor.
   
   "The Conjugal Visit"--Nowadays some prisons include nearly all the comforts of home, including conjugal relations. Even a man who has committed crimes of extreme violence can sometimes fool prison officials into thinking he is willing to reform. When cop-killer, kidnapper, and repeat felon Carl Bowles is allowed to visit his 'fiancée' in a Motel 6 room, the couple disappears.
   
   "Killers on the Road"--Some American murderers are named after the roads where they pick up their victims. Ann Rule shares one of the first trials she covered as a true-crime writer. A married woman goes missing on the way home from work. Her killers are traced only after another one of their victims survives multiple gunshot wounds.
   
   "A Dangerous Mind"--A pretty blond child is murdered in her own home during the dark hours of the night. This case predated by almost two decades that of JonBenét Ramsey.
   
   "To Kill and Kill Again"--Four separate victims have only one thing in common--their nineteen-year-old killer.
   
   "The Stockholm Syndrome"--This true case was explored on the TV show, "Forensic Files." A young couple and their collie meet a stranger while camping in the woods.



3. "Empty Promises" is a collection of short stories by Ann Rule, built around one long, book-length story. The main story is about Jami and Steve Sherer. He is a drug addict, thief, insurance defrauder, and con man who uses and abuses his wife Jami and finally murders her. The big lesson in Ann Rule's books is that people are not always as they appear on the surface, and charm is often a tool used by the dishonest to manipulate the naive. Often, as is the case in the title story "Empty Promises", it is hard to understand how an abused woman could be so compliant and stupid about staying with her abuser. One thing I know from experience is that men like Steve Sherer have practiced lying and sneaking from childhood. From the day they meet a potential girlfriend, they carefully construct an intricate web of lies, and they are very, very good at it. They always have an ex-girlfriend in the wings who they are still threatening and abusing. They always have at least one other potential or second-string girlfriend waiting in the wings to support them if the main wife or girlfriend manages to get away. They enlist friends and family members to back up their stories, and for some reason these people support them. It is hard feel too much sympathy for Jami Sherer, after all, she helped him defraud insurance companies, and was into drugs herself. The man she picked out to leave Steve for was an even worse druggie than Steve. But no matter how stupid or even complicit a woman is, no one ever deserves the brainwashing and violence the victim of a pathological narcissist goes through. I have wondered over the years how many women Ann Rule has helped get away from men who are manipulating and using them. I bet it is a lot. Thanks for this book, Ann.



4. All of Ann Rule's books a very well written. Very interesting story.
   Excellent read.



5. I confess I read everything by Ann Rule that I can get my hands on. My admiration for her began when I read "The Stranger Beside Me," her bone-chilling account of her unsuspecting friendship with Ted Bundy, the man who was later discovered to be one of the most horrific serial killers of our time. The title story of this book, "Empty Promises," is all too familiar -- the wife as victim to her husband's control and abuse. It is a gripping story that sadly occurs often all around us, but is never the less quite frustrating to read. I am accustomed to Rule repeating herself often, describing again and again how helpless the woman felt, how cruel the husband was. The repetition is something I have just come to expect from the author and I have come to overlook it for the most part.
   
   The frustrating part is trying to understand how the victim, Jami, could possibly allow herself to remain involved with Steve, her husband, for more than a few months. Granted, she fell for her husband's declarations of love after he beat her, but come on -- I kept wanting to scream at her to get a clue and get out. She had a supportive family who tried to convince her to leave, but interestingly, they never offered any solutioin other than for her to stay in their house with them. I cannot help but wonder why, when Jami was finally ready to leave after years of abuse, they did not secret her away to a hotel or a relative or something that would not have been easily tracked by her husband. Everyone around Jami seems maddeningly helpless, and Jami herself often seems idiotic.
   
   The story was entertaining, and I realize that hindsight is 20-20, but good grief; if a few people had been a little smarter and more prone to taking action, Jami would be alive today. I know these things happen in real life all the time and often with the victim ending up dead. But I have to wonder why those around them simply gnash their teeth and wring their hands over their worry for the victim and don't do anything concrete and intelligent to help the victim really get away.

5 comments about Every Move You Make.

1. Fascinating True Crime Story. Very well written and fast paced.



2. Wow, what a complex man Gary Evans was. And a huge narcissist if you ask me. This book grabbed me from the beginning and the ending was not what I had expected at all. Matt as usual your thorough investigating on the events are excellent! And some people's reaction of Jim Horton and his relationship with Gary is not fair. I bet if Jim knew earlier and suspected way earlier what Gary really was he would never worked with him as a CI. This is a must read.



3. In true M. William Phelps style, we are introduced to State Officer Jim Horton and professional burgular Gary Evans who, through a series of 496 attention-gripping pages, play a real life of game of Cops & Robbers or Cat & Mouse yet amazingly establish a connection...a friendship, in a skewed sense.
   
   If you are like me and don't mind long, very detail books, you will enjoy this one. Readers are provided with an indepth look into the life of Gary Evans from his meager beginnings; all the while, readers also enjoy a clearly present background of Investigator Jim Horton. And, although not as detailed as the main "characters," the backgrounds of those involved with Evans, whether they be paramour or victim, is also provided to help the reader develop an idea of how that person became involved with Evans and, often later, Horton.
   
   I absolutely loved this book. This is one I would consider to be in the Top 10 of Best Written and All Time Favorites.



4. I am an avid and continual reader of true crime. In EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE, I feel M. William Phelps has reached the level of some of the truly fine crime writers. (Jack Olsen comes to mind.) This book has all the prerequisites for great true crime: a fascinating story; intelligent literate writing; and meticulous and exhaustive research. Reviews of one of Phelps' more recent books, MURDER IN THE HEARTLAND, chastise Phelps for a sloppy rush job. I can assure you that this is not the case with EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE. This book was clearly a long time in the researching and the writing, and it presents to the reader the reasons contributing to the making of one of the more interesting sociopaths you'll read about. And Gary Evans is indeed a sociopath of the first order.
   Additional points for lovers of this genre: the book is well edited. I recall no typos, and very few misused words. The picture section is also interesting and adds to the book, although in the paperback copy I read, the pictures will have fallen out by the 3rd reading.
   And, thank God, there is NO interminable courtroom scene description.
   I recommend this book unreservedly and totally, even to those who are not in particular true crime devotees.



5. Let's face it, most true crime books today are about spouses who kill. In this book, Phelps uncovers and write about Gary Charles Evans, a little known serial killer and burglar of antiques in New England. For the most part, Gary C. Evans is a complicated criminal. He can survive in the wilderness but can't survive prison life. He killed three of his best childhood friends who were his partners in crime rather than face jailtime. Maybe he thought that he wanted to see what he could get away with crimewise. With a determined police detective like Jim Horton, he gets his man after he ran for his life.

5 comments about Congratulations, You Have Just Met the I. C. F..

1. Cass wasn't there a lot of the time.
   Too much 'secondhand' knowledge, to keep me gripped for long. But an easy read and entertaining all the same.
   I'd like to read more of what these people are thinking and feeling, than just related events.
   Cass, Gardner, Swallow, Leach and co, write your stuff 'first hand' - it would be facinating.
   No doubt these books are the life breath of DVDs like 'Green Street' or 'Football Factory'; both of which bear no resemblence to what really went (goes) on.
   Buy 'Good Afternoon, Gentlemen, the Name's Bill Gardner' by Bill Gardner and Cass Pennant - good read. Gardner is a diamond. Totally loyal to WHU and all it stands for. He certainly has my resect.
   West Ham usually win in their battles. A tough bunch indeed.
   They are definitely the second hardest firm since the Great War.
   The hardest being Millwall of course. Always outnumbered, never outdone. Sounds like a good title for a MFC book.
   If you REALLY want to know about WHU, buy Bobby Moore: By the Person Who Knew Him Best by Tina Moore. A GREAT read. He is WHU.
   Lord Moore of Dagenham, I refer to him as.



2. Its not unusual to see black people at
   football matches these days but back in the 70's and early 80's there
   were a lot of skinheads on the terraces and they were mostly extreme
   right wing racists. I didn't go to football at all in the UK in the
   70's but I remember going to see my first England match in 85 and
   being quite shocked by some of the racist chanting from some sections
   of the crowd at our own players. In short if you were black and
   standing on the terraces behind the goals (where all the hardcore
   fans gather) then you were seriously hard. Cass Pennant was that, a feared man as well. His writing is clear and focused, and this book is a great account of West Ham United's main firm, the Inter City Firm. Their rucks with rivals are still spoken of with awe, and one didn't venture into their turf on a game day without expecting to catch a beat down! Wild tales, especially to us Yanks!



3. The title of the book is their business card, I think it's brilliant on their part though I can't say I'm sorry I was never handed one. Or perhaps I am. There are probably large cardboard boxes full of what's written about football hooligans. They analyze the why and the how; violence seems to attract a sort of fascination and I admit I am not immune to it. And I am not immune to a level of admiration for anyone like Bill Gardner who could walk up to the mob of another firm and say "Good afternoon gentlemen. The name's Bill Gardner." And then the ruck's on. It's a sort of utter fearlessness and abandon, and this book won't analyze anything, it'll bring it to life for you through the words of all the right faces in the Inner City Firm. It's stories of the West Ham supporters through the height of violence in the 70's and the 80's, along with a glimpse into the meaning of the violence from some of the most feared men of the I.C.F. You'll find no academics or reporters talking about hooligans here, I love it because here people get to speak for themselves.
   
   Interestingly enough, though, there's very little said about West Ham or football itself. A great book with a lot more about football is Eduardo Galeano's Soccer in Sun and Shadow, highlighting the great games and the great players and the politics behind it all, a great counterpoint to give context to a book like this one...



4. This guy was really there versus some of the tripe you see coming outy about soccer.



5. as a reader of many hooligan books, this has been done well enough by cass pennant, it keeps u interested and concetrates on the violence and what these guys got up to. there is still a bit of the old, there was 700 of them and just 2 of us and we still gave em a slap, but not too much (woulda have got 4 stars if he left some of that out). the ICF are a very proud bunch, from reading other books they were a well respected firm in their time, he gives a good account.

1 comments about The Trunk Murderess: Winnie Ruth Judd.

1. I was completely unfamiliar with this case when I read this book. The first section is quite dry with extraneous detail (a common foible of true crime books, I admit) about Phoenix of the 1930's and I almost decided to put it down. I'm glad I didn't. Although the details of the crime itself were interesting, I found the real enjoyment of this book came from following the bizarre course of Ruth Judd's life. I kept turning pages to find out what would happen to her next. About the time she opened up her own beauty salon in the insane asylum, I was totally hooked. What a fascinating life she led, albeit a sad one.

5 comments about The Man Who Killed Boys: The John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Story.

1. Linedecker's description of the events as they were portrayed in the media is accurate and complete. Trouble is, it appears he simply went to all the old newspaper articles to cull the information he needed. He also managed to go through police reports. But this books is scant on first person interviews. All the quotes in the book appear to have been taken from newspapers. The book follows an easy narrative, one that is logical and continues to move forward. I agree with another reviewer's comment that the narrative at times is homophobic. But that's not surprising from a book originally published in 1980. While this book is lacking in content, it should not be ignored by those who are interested in Gacy. It at least provides a perspective of how the horrific events of the murders were revealed, as well as the typical nonchalance police exhibit when confronted with missing teen reports.



2. While not as good as Buried Dreams or Killer Clown,which go into much greater detail about the entire story,this book had some details that I had not known when I read the other books many years ago. A lot of info on gacys neighbors,friends and mostly,some of his victims stories that were not as well publicized as the other unfortunate kids.



3. This book really was rather disappointing. After reading the back cover and Introduction, the reader is told to expect detailed insight into the details of this near north side Chicago house of horrors and the man who owned it.

   While The Man Who Killed Boys offers to the reader a reasonably accurate chronicle of the events that were Gacy's twisted reality, it fails to dig deep below the surface to explore what made him tick. Moreover, it fails to probe Gacy's past as it glosses over his childhood years and spends the majority of the pages reciting murder after murder scene.

   The back cover tells us that The Man Who Killed Boys recreates the drama of Gacy's trial... the book spends less precious few pages talking about the actual trial, while it consumes many a page discussing Gacy's jail conditions and other items related to his confinement.

   If you want to read a story, this is probably an acceptable choice. But if you're seeking an explanation for or insight into what powers a monster like Gacy, keep moving as you wont find it here.




4. If you are reading all or much of what material is out there on the Gacy case, you will likely come across this book. Published in 1980, it's now a rather dated account of the Gacy murders. Other reviewers have mentioned the book's homophobic slant, with which I agree. Linedecker also uses the last few pages to editorialize on the faults in "the system" for dealing with known sexual predators, criticizing--among other things--the "liberal" civil right activists who Linedecker feels thwart law enforcement's efforts to treat sex offenders.
   
   Linedecker covers the main points of the Gacy case, and the book itself is a quick and easy read. It's obvious Linedecker made the effort to interview the victims' families at length, as you will find information on several of the victims that is not provided in other books on the case. Then again, at the time the book was published, a gag order was in effect for many of the direct participants in the case, so the number of sources Linedecker had access to was limited. Book is average at best, not a total bore but not in the "couldn't put it down" category either. For a better and more complete account of the Gacy case, skip this one and buy "Killer Clown" or "Buried Dreams" instead.



5. The man who killed boys should be called the man who loved sex with dead boys, because that is ultimately what Gacy was doing with the boys he killed. This book while it does NOT go into much detail concerning Gacy's childhood, is still a very good read. I found the interviews with Gacy's neighbors to be very interesting and they revealed some previously unknown details about the man (or monster?). I sincerely believe that Gacy's bizarre obsession with bodies has its roots way back in the 1950s and quite possibly includes the Peterson-Schuesler murder from that period. I had the opportunity to correspond (verbally and literally) with one of Gacy's childhood friends from that period recently and what he revealed about Gacy's childhood was downright shocking. Hopefully one day the complete TRUTH will come out concerning this man...or monster...