Unholy Messenger: The Life and Crimes of the BTK Serial Killer - Hardcover

Singular, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743291247 ISBN 13: 9780743291248

Publisher: Scribner, 2006

Synopsis

To all appearances, Dennis Rader was a model citizen in the small town of Park City, Kansas, where he had lived with his family almost his entire life. He was a town compliance officer, a former Boy Scout leader, the president of his church congregation, and a seemingly ordinary father and husband. But Rader's average life belied the existence of his dark, sadistic other self: he was the BTK serial killer.The self-named BTK (for Bind, Torture, Kill) had terrorized Wichita for thirty-one years, not only with his brutal, sexually motivated crimes, but also through his taunting, elusive communications with the media and law enforcement. In 1974, BTK committed his first murders -- torturing and strangling four members of the Otero family -- and wrote the police an audacious letter declaring his responsibility for the Oteros' deaths and labeling himself, for the first time, BTK. Thus he established a pattern -- stalking and killing a series of ten victims, then bragging and claiming ownership of his crimes -- that ended in 1991 but left law enforcement confounded and the public with deeply troubling memories. Until, that is, he resurfaced in 2004 with another string of letters that would finally lead to his arrest. Drawing from extensive interviews with Rader's pastor, congregation, detectives, and psychologists who worked the case, and from his unnervingly de-tailed thirty-two-hour confession, bestselling author Stephen Singular delves into the disturbing life and crimes of BTK to explore fully -- for the first time -- the most dangerous and complex serial killer of our generation and the man who embodied, at once, astonishing extremes of normality and abnormality. In Unholy Messenger, Singular recounts the year prior to Rader's arrest, in which the BTK killer reemerged, and the aftermath. Woven throughout are the details of his crimes, elaborate schemes, and bids for public attention, and the wrenching impact his deception had on his family, church, and heartland community. attention, and the wrenching impact his deception had on his family, church, and heartland community. The result is a chilling story of a man considered a "spiritual leader" by his pastor and congregation, who turned out to be the devil next door. More than just true crime, Unholy Messenger is a powerful, thoroughly engrossing examination of the intersection between good and evil, and of the psychology and spirituality of a killer in whom faith and bloodshed converged.

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Reviews

Veteran true crime author Singular, who advanced a controversial theory of the Jon-Benet Ramsey murder in Presumed Guilty, has crafted a gripping and chilling tale in this thorough examination of Dennis Rader, the infamous BTK killer, who terrorized Wichita, Kans., for decades. By making use of Rader's extensive confessions, as well as the recollections of his pastor and one of the primary detectives, the author recreates, in macabre detail, the killing spree that claimed 10 lives. Rader's sadism is hard to stomach, especially his modus operandi of murdering people in front of their relatives. The pastor's take on the crimes—that his parishioner (who was president of the congregation) was demonically possessed—may offend some, but Singular puts this theory in context by taking pains to present the theological struggle Rader's crimes presented. Some of the details—for example, of the dialogue between killer and victim just before the murders—appear to be derived solely from Rader's admissions. Overall, Singular has written a solid account that will both fascinate and horrify. (Apr.)
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Singular tells the ghastly tale of Dennis Rader, the serial killer who terrorized Wichita and taunted police for decades, in a mostly dispassionate style that fits Rader's modus operandi perfectly. A meticulous planner who stalked before striking, Rader, whose bland, midwestern Christian Everyman persona makes him all the more chilling, blamed an evil spirit he called Rex for his repeated spells of bloodlust. His particular kicks came from killing people in front of their families and photographing victims' corpses in S&M poses, in one case in the basement of the church in which he served as president of the congregation, an office he took to heart, just as he did his jobs as a city "compliance officer" and a home-security technician, both of which gave him cover for his "projects." Based primarily on Rader's confession and court papers, Singular's account includes Rader's mainline Protestant pastor's views that the BTK slayings manifest Rader's intermittent possession by a demonic force. Such theological aspects distinguish this macabre, riveting, scary case from those of other serial killers. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0743291247
• ISBN 13: 9780743291248
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304