No comments about Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murder.

3 comments about Johnny And Me: The True Story Of John Wayne Gacy.

1. I enjoyed reading this very personal and engaging true-life story about a simpler time in America. It tells of the reality beneath this nostalgic image, shedding light on the question of why, from this seemingly idyllic environment, an innocent child developed to become the unbelievably evil "killer clown".



2. Very charming book. Brought back many memories of my old neighborhoods in Chicago. It was an interesting insight into John Wayne Gacys childhood. A good read.



3. This is another book that was awful to read. Doesn't anyone edit books anymore before they are published? This book had typos, misspelled words, incomplete sentences, run-on sentences, and the impression that a five year old wrote it. The book gave absolutely no real incite to the reason for John Wayne Gacy becoming the way he did. I think there was more to the story. I think his father may very well have been gay and probably sexually abused him. He had some weird sexual ideas at a very early age. Did the father ever in his life smile? The father was weird and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I am sorry that Johnny was abused the way he was and not one appropriate adult stood up for him. I know what that feels like. However, 33 young men payed with their lives for the "monster" the Gacys created.

2 comments about A Question of Doubt: The John Wayne Gacy Story.

1. This book, (clearly) written by Gacy himself (and without the benefit of an editor), is excellent for those who are already very familiar with the details of his case, and have some understanding of his personality. On it's face, the book is nothing more than "The Lies of John Wayne Gacy: Final Cut" ... but with enough back ground information, the book is an invaluable resource ... It provides the reader with the opportunity (as limited as it may be) to see why it was that Gacy told the stories that he did, what effect he hoped to have on the reader, why he thought that a particular lie might work ... If you are not very familiar with the case, the book is not for you -- if you find a copy, BUY IT ... but set it aside until after you have read another book about Gacy -- I would recommend "Killer Clown" by Terry Sullivan.



2. It is what it is, and well packaged for the viewer. Most have slipcases, a full signture from Gacy and tell his skewed side of the story. A must-have for a true crime fanatic, but not a must-read.

No comments about Fall of the House of Gacy.

No comments about John Wayne Gacy - The FBI Files.

3 comments about The Chicago Killer.

1. This is a chilling true police story about the capture of John Wayne Gacy, one of America's most prolific serial killers. The story is told by the former Chief of Detectives for the Des Plaines, Illinois Police Department, Joseph R. Kozenczak and was co-authored with Karen M. Henrikson. The book offers two additional Bonus Chapters regarding the Use of Psychics in a serial Murder Investigation, along with an insight into the use of a lie-detector which helped in cracking the case. This book is a Silver Commemorative Issue, First Edition. Well worth reading!



2. Given his primary role in the investigation and arrest of John Wayne Gacy and his years of service in law enforcement, I wish I could say better things about Mr. Kozenczak's book.
   
   Unfortunately, I can't. I purchased the book thinking it would offer new insights into the case from a detective who was an active participant. Instead, this is a dull and disjointed book. The writing is awkward, the story is hard to follow, and there are enough typos scattered throughout to make you want to whip out your red pen and start making corrections.
   
   Plus, at least in the edition I read, there's an oversight that should have been caught prior to publication: Kozenczak omits one victim's name entirely--Greg Godzik--when he excerpts the portion of the trial where the prosecution named each identified victim and stated how their bodies were found.
   
   The most interesting part of the book deals with the role of one particular psychic in the investigation, prior to Gacy's arrest when no one but the police knew he was a suspect. Other than that, I can't say this book really held my attention or offered much in the way of new information on the case.
   
   This book was published 25 years after the death of Gacy's last victim, so Mr. Kozenczak has lived with this case for a while and probably knows it better than just about anybody. With that kind of familiarity, I guess I just expected a better book. Mr. Kozenczak has no doubt had a distinguished career and considerable professional achievements, but this book is a mediocre effort at best.



3. I just finished The Chicago Killer. As one reviewer noted--WOW! Did they desperately need a proofreader. At times the typos made it difficult to read. That said...I did enjoy this book. I've read all but 3 books on this case (Jeffrey Rignall's book 29 Below, the book Gacy himself wrote and Fall of the House of Gacy) but they are in my wish list. I was also a penpal of Gacy's for the last 5 years of life.
   Although there wasn't a lot of new information about the case, the information about Kozenczak's contact with the psychics was interesting and I did enjoy the fictional parts relating to what was going on in Gacy's mind as they case progressed. Having had a lot of contact via mail and telephone calls with him, it did strike me as the way Gacy thought.
   For someone unfamiliar with this case I would not suggest this as an introduction--try Buried Dreams. But for true crime enthusiasts you'll want this in your collection

5 comments about Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders.

1. Very informative, thorough, factual, and fast-paced. Covers the period from Gacy's last victim through his trial, written from the law enforcement perspective in engrossing detail.



2. I read (and still have!) the very first paperback version of this book way back in the autumn of 1985. I am old enough to have watched the initial TV news broadcasts of this case from back in December of 1978! This book is a very interesting and entertaining read about the subtle (and sometimes NOT so subtle)surveillance,tracking, taunting and eventual arrest of this man who had been raping,murdering (and sodomizing AFTER they were dead) boys throughout the seventies. While the book does NOT go into very much detail at all about Gacy's private life (other than a few brief glimpses into his marriage and some scattered observations from a neighbor, co-worker, employee and such)it is still a very good book on Gacy, the man and the monster. I am an AVID collector of all things Gacy and will be putting some of my very valuable collection on display up on YOUTUBE very soon.



3. I have read Killer Clown and some other books on the John Wayne Gacy serial murders, and can unequivocally tell you that the book by Terry Sullivan is the most accurate. I should know. I was the Assistant State's Attorney to whom John Wayne Gacy made several confessions, and I testified for the State of Illinois in the trial. Additionally, I spent several hours with the authors as the book was being prepared. If you are looking for a true chronicle of the events leading up to the arrest, trial and conviction of that animal, this book is what you want.



4. This book would have been very well written, if it were a work of fiction. I really didn't sense that the events depicted in this book actually occurred.
   
   But I will say that the author went into great detail in all aspects, including the investigation leading up to the arrest of John Gacy, the search of his property (the most shocking and vividly described part of the book), right down to the nitty-gritty details of the jury selection, defense, and prosecution.



5. Killer Clown is an intense, well- written true-crime story. Filled with shocking details of the John Wayne Gacy murders, it was difficult to put this book down. The book starts with the abduction and murder of his final victim and the discovery of some 29 bodies in Gacy's crawl space, and then works backwards to look in detail at how such an atrocity could have happened.

5 comments about Buried Dreams: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer INSIDE.

1. Chilling. I could not put this one down. This book is a dramatized cover of the life and crimes of John Wayne Gacy which reads like a fiction novel (read: not boring or heavy with Dr. Bob said this) yet provides clear, factual, and consistent information in with some of the author's speculation as to what went on in the mind of Mr. Gacy.
   The end result is a story which will make the hair on your arms stand on end - not only with possibilities and facts, but the feasible likeness of Mr. Gacy's mindset through his actions.



2. I first read this book in 1988 and recently read it again. It still gave me the creeps. In the same league as Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and The Boston Strangler by Gerald Frank. I highly recommend it.



3. Some of this book was interesting, but most was very slow moving. It just didn't captivate. I believe it could have been better written. I don't feel that I or the author ever got "into the mind" of John Wayne Gacy. Then again, to the author's credit, after reading the book, I'm not sure if anyone could accomplish this feat. I came away feeling that on the surface, Gacy seemed calm and even rational almost all of the time, but was totally the opposite while committing the murders. Either way, the book didn't flow well and is lacking. It wasn't as "meaty" as expected... no pun intended.



4. This is a true crime book that attempts to capitalize on the gory nature of the subject to elicit the strongest possible emotional reaction from the reader. Forays "inside the mind" of Gacy are basically subjective, and may be more concerned with generating outrage than with getting at any larger truth.
   
   That being said, it also does a serviceable job of laying out the facts of the case, and anyone who wants to learn about the horrifying details will get their fill here.
   
   Balancing sensationalism and facts is the basic task of the true crime reporter-- this author has chosen to be as sensationalistic as possible, but also has included far more information than is necessary. This means that the book has passages which are a little boring, and passages that are very, very disturbing.
   
   If you want to learn about Gacy, then I suppose that this book is as good a read as any, although something about the fact of the book itself seems sleazy-- for all his condemnation, Cahill is basking in the reflected glow of an obscene act, and that is a little unsettling.



5. Reading these reviews that sound conflicting, I will try to sum up the difference between Killer Clown and Buried Dreams and it is simply this: Cahill is a writer, Sullivan is not. And although Sullivan had help, his book is still almost coldly factual, even as it flows well, but you will not get much out of it that can't be found on a hundred crime sites, besides his own frustration and dedication during the investigation. I'm not condemning this in any way, and if that is what you want as a reader, then Killer Clown will satisfy your cravings for facts and justice.
   
   Cahill, on the other hand, has the same facts of course, but what he does with them is something you won't find anywhere else, something unique. He tells the tale almost from Gacy's point of view, piecing his sick-mindedness and subsequent murders together in a remarkably cohesive and insightful way. Right from the beginning. Some--probably most-- serial killers talk and 'fess up before their executions. Gacy did his confessing early, and then later went for the long shot that somehow he would place doubts in people's minds and save himself from death, by denying what he did. Definitely, he had no remorse. Except for a few slip-ups here and there, he gave no further information on his motivation or how his victims died. Using the facts he had, Cahill filled in these blanks, and answered the tough questions that Sullivan couldn't or wouldn't.
   
   Buried Dreams is not just facts. It is not a text-book blanket profiling of collective criminal minds. It is not the investigation, trial and conviction from the detectives and lawyers points of views. It is as close as Cahill could get to showing us Gacy, personally, from the inside and I doubt it's far off the mark. It's consistent with Gacy's personality right up to his lethal injection. Yes, chilling. As it should be.

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

1. 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.



2. 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.




3. 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...



4. this animal was a sick sick person . it was a book that you just cant believe anyone could do such awfull things to a human being



5. why is this recommended to me?
   
   i'm not a closet case
   
   (like you guys in the illuminati)

5 comments about The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer.

1. As some of the previous reviewers stated:
   Jason Moss goes on and on about how great he is. He complains about his mother a lot - to me, she sounds like a typical mom of a teenager. The author sounds like a boy going through puberty.
   The book SAYS it's about him going into the minds of these serial killers but it's more about the author. Personally, i don't care how great and smart the author is. i wanted to read about the actual journey and letters he wrote to these serial killers and more importantly - the letters the killers wrote to him. He puts in some of HIS full length letters TO the serial killers but only puts in SENTENCES or PARAGRAPHS of the serial killer's responses/letters. i didn't care what HE wrote, i wanna know what THEY wrote.
   IF you can make it through the first half of the book (where it's ALL ABOUT JASON MOSS) the second half of the book is pretty great. i say IF you can make it because i wanted to give up on numerous occasions - my partner suggested i give up because i'd read then complain about the book. i can usually read a book this size in a day at the most - it took me four days bc i'd get so tired of the whiney boy writing it.
   i read a lot of true crime, this is one of the most poorly written books i have ever read!



2. After reading this book I am a little confused on how exactly I felt about it. As with other readers, I was also skeptical about everything Jason Moss stated in his book about certain correspondence he claimed he had. I was also sick of hearing about his poor life, fights with his mom and so on. I was however a little disturbed about his relationship with Gacy and the fact his family seemed "OK" with it and the lengths he went to build this relationship. The book gave me the eww factor I think more then anything. Would I recommend this book, probably, but only to skip through it at the local library.



3. This book fascinated me. I tend to go with my gut instincts about booksd rather than on-line reviews. I read the reviews AFTER I read the book. This is a book that is perplexing in that there's no way to find out if any of it is true. Are the original letters hanging around? Did someone hear the alleged tape from Gacy? Things along those lines. I zipped right through the book and was totally riveted but Mr. Moss does come across as being a little too big for his britches. And, now to find out that he committed suicide makes me wonder if he, perhaps, couldn't live up to or struggled with, the monster he had created. Sad.



4. i am sorry I believed any of the good reviews about this piece of trash. It seems like the whole book is just the authors erotic fantasy. You would hsve to a moron to believe that a visitor at any maximum security prison would be led in and left with a serial killer unguarded.



5. a very interesting read, a unique perspective where the author not only tells a story, but reaches out to serial killers in prison to get inside their minds.