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Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters | 
 enlarge | Author: Peter Vronsky
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $8.55
You Save: $7.45 (47%)
New (28) Used (23) from $7.93
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 69355
Media: Paperback
Edition: Trade edition
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 1
ISBN: 0425196402
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1523019
EAN: 9780425196403
ASIN: 0425196402
Publication Date: October 5, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: A20090105201034W
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The comprehensive examination into the frightening history of serial homicide.
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, up to such notorious contemporary cases as cannibal/necrophile Ed Kemper, Henry Lee Lucas, Ted Bundy, and the emergence of what he classifies as the "serial rampage killer" such as Andrew Cunanan.
Vronsky not only offers sound theories on what makes a serial killer, but also provides 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 It Was "The Other Guy Tilt" Who Done It July 6, 2008
R. Schultz (Chicago)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The subtitles of this book promise a lot, but the book hardly delivers on those promises. Given that there really is still so little insight into the psychology of most serial murderers, a lot of the uncertainly here could have been excused if we hadn't been lured into these pages with the cover's promise of "definitiveness" dangled in front of us like candy from a stranger.
The beginning chapters are especially disappointing. They are full of loosely written anecdote, repetitions, backtrackings, and citations of contradictory statistics. There was a recent spike in serial killings; any spike in killings is more apparent than real, probably a function of recording/classifying technique. Serial killers are actually a very rare phenomenon, there only having been 399 in recorded history; serial killers can and probably have lurked ubiquitously, brushing past us all the time, hidden behind facades of normalcy. The reader is ping-ponged between such opposing assertions. Also, statistical breakdowns sometimes confusingly add up to either more or less than 100%.
While the writing remains generally loose, almost to the point of being sloppy throughout, things do improve as Vronsky gets into case studies. He has a particularly long section on Ted Bundy, providing a few insights that didn't come out in the excellent movie, "The Deliberate Stranger," and that didn't get generally circulated. It's the same with Ted Kaczynski, the "Unibomber" whom it's revealed might have been gulled into participating in potentially dangerous and disorienting LSD experiments done at Harvard.
He also has a fairly good section on John Wayne Gacy in which he quotes Gacy as maintaining that it was "the other guy tilt" who killed all the youths found in his crawl space. Actually, that phrase, "The Other Guy Tilt" with its unstudied, sharply akimbo connotations, would have been a better title for this book than the misleadingly conclusive and academic titles that Vronsky chose.
Even with the case studies, there is something to be disappointed about though. The reader might wish that Vronksy had spent less time on already well-documented lives, and had probed more into the backgrounds of killers who got less media coverage, at least in the U.S. There are so many (such as Dr. Marcel Petiot) who are disposed of in thumbnail sketches, even though their elaborate techniques might have provided a gateway into the murderer's mind.
One gets the feeling Vronsky wanted to put something sensational and saleable on the market as quickly as possible, and didn't want to be bothered doing any difficult, original researches. He settled for second-hand sources, then jotted something down.
However, the book did hold my interest. Some of the last chapters provided especially valuable correctives to the impression of forensic infallibility we get from modern TV shows and movies. For example, Vronsky points out some of the failings of the FBI's classification systems.
On the whole, this book is worth reading, but there are probably better-researched volumes on serial killers out there.
 Serial Killers for one and all! March 6, 2008
D. Emmel (Snohomish, WA United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Ever since I first read "The Stranger Beside Me", the ground-breaking book about the serial killings of Ted Bundy, so brilliantly written by Ann Rule, I have read lots of true crime books covering serial killers.
This is one of the best books I've seen covering the topic of serial killers, and is well worth the read. It is truly an educational and well-written study of a stranger who may be beside us!
Amazing November 28, 2007
E. Odom (Raleigh, NC United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
One of the best books on the subject. Comprehensive & detailed w/ case studies. I couldn't put it down.
History, present, and future of serial killers April 11, 2007
Duaa Anwar (Cairo, Egypt)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
A lot of reviews focused on the history covered by this book, but what I found most compelling was in fact the second half, which discussed the "formation" of a serial killer.
In the first half, the author goes back a few centuries to uncover gruesome truths of serial killers across Europe. With every chapter, he steps forward in time, narrating the lives and biographies of famous and not-so-famous killers, from Jack the Ripper to the Boston Strangler. Every page delivers a shock, as the lives and practices of the killers are revealed.
If you manage to survive through the photos in the center without passing out at the gore, you'll find the second half even more gripping. It explains how a serial killer develops, how his behavior differs from others in childhood, how he strikes his first victim, and the pattern that dictates his life from there on. There is plenty on the many types of killers and their various approaches to murder.
A fair portion near the end of the book is dedicated to criminal profiling and crime scene investigation. The book closes with a chilling chapter on how to survive if you find yourself at the mercy of a serial killer.
A very engaging read if you have the heart for the gruesome details!
 Good book by a talented amateur April 5, 2007
DJ Eternal Darkness (Seattle, WA USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
Peter Vronsky has an interesting personal perspective on serial killers. His book does not try to be a definitive source on all serial killers, but does try to provide an over view to the world that some of these killers live in. His writing is thought provoking and brings to light many interesting statistics and facts about both serial killers and profilers. Definitely a great read for both the amateur as well as the professionals who may have to be searching for the killers. Also has a nice bonus chapter about surviving serial killer abductions.
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