This was one of the first books I bought when my interest in Serial Killers increased whilst at University. With time constraints, I never quite got around to reading it..... until now.
If you are new to the area of Serial Killers then this is a perfect choice as it is the basic overview of some of the most famous serial killers throughout history as well as introducing some other serial killers who are less well known. Trevor Marriott is a retired murder squad detective who appears to have an aim of assessing whether the relevant police forces involved with capturing the killers could have done more in each case. This is certainly the case when he describes The Yorkshire Ripper.
The book is split into countries and Marriott investigates each country in turn. Each country has a number of serial killers and therefore reads like an encyclopaedia. This makes the book easy to put down and return to if you live a busy life. Obviously the USA and the UK have the most pages included as these countries have had more cases of known serial killers.
Marriott writes in a very methodical way and details each case in all of their gruesome details. He describes each killer in minute detail including their childhoods and even continues after they were caught, giving a well rounded view of what happened. It was interesting to learn what happened to them after they were arrested and also the way the court proceedings occurred.
This book got rather tiresome, however, as the way he describes the cases are too methodical and, for me, I needed a bit more regarding the psychological make up of the individual and not just the history. The book is a perfect reference document for those who may be studying criminology and need to know details about a case quickly. However, with my knowledge of certain cases, notably The Moors Murders and others, I noticed that there were some details which were missing which would have been known at the time of writing.
As previously stated, it is an excellent choice when picking a book to introduce you to the interesting and complex area of serial killers and is highly recommended.
What are your thoughts?
Thank you for reading my review.
Next book review: "The Engagements - J. Courtney Sullivan"
No comments:
Post a Comment