Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters - Softcover

Vronsky, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425196402 ISBN 13: 9780425196403

Publisher: Berkley Books, 2004

Synopsis

A comprehensive examination into the frightening true crime history of serial homicide—including information on America’s most prolific serial killers such as:

Ted Bundy · “Co-ed Killer” Ed Kemper · The BTK Killer · “Highway Stalker” Henry Lee Lucas · Monte Ralph Rissell · “Shoe Fetish Slayer” Jerry Brudos · “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez · “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski · Ed Gein “The Butcher of Plainfield” · “Killer Clown” John Wayne Gacy · Andrew Cunanan · And more...

In this unique book, Peter Vronsky documents the psychological, investigative, and cultural aspects of serial murder, beginning with its first recorded instance in Ancient Rome through fifteenth-century France on to such notorious contemporary cases as cannibal/necrophile Ed Kemper, the BTK killer, Henry Lee Lucas, Monte Ralph Rissell, Jerry Brudos, Richard Ramirez, “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, and the emergence of what he classifies as the “serial rampage killer” such as Andrew Cunanan, who murdered fashion designer Gianni Versace.

Vronsky not only offers sound theories on what makes a serial killer but also makes concrete suggestions on how to survive an encounter with one—from recognizing verbal warning signs to physical confrontational resistance. Exhaustively researched with transcripts of interviews with killers, and featuring up-to-date information on the apprehension and conviction of the Green River killer and the Beltway Snipers, Vronsky’s one-of-a-kind book covers every conceivable aspect of an endlessly riveting true crime phenomenon.

INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Vronsky is the author of two bestselling true-crime histories: Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters and Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters. He is an investigative historian, author, filmmaker and new media designer. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in criminal justice history and espionage in international relations.

Review:

“This formidably comprehensive, brilliantly researched book must be the most wide-ranging work on serial killers that has been written so far. The fact that it sprang from the author’s brief encounters with two serial killers lends it a sense of personal urgency.”—Colin Wilson, author of Killers Among Us and Written in Blood.

“Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters is one of the most complete books I have read on serial killers. If you are fascinated by the human mind and by those who are abnormal, this is the book for you.”—Roundtable Reviews

About this edition

• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0425196402
• ISBN 13: 9780425196403
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 412