Reviews - Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers

399 reviews for:

Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers

Caroline Fraser

3.84 AVERAGE

sultryjove's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

joeydrozario's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

kellishinn's review against another edition

5.0

dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

I am left floored, jaw hanging down, speechless. Growing up in the foothills of Taylor Mountain, I have always wondered why our area was so notorious for serial killers. Caroline weaves her story with such vivid details, I find myself back in my childhood, walking the same trails I shared with monsters.

andriacolette's review

1.0

dark tense medium-paced

The premise of the book is that heavy metal poisoning influenced the development of serial killers. It never gets deeper than that, just geology asides, graphic descriptions of the crimes, and weird autobiography sections that don't make sense. Super disappointing.

Content Warnings

emaried's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 26%

It got too graphic. I wasn’t expecting detailed descriptions of specific murders by people like BTK and Bundy. Don’t really need that in my brain. Far too disturbing. I was hoping for more of a scientific and psychological look at how exposure to lead, arsenic, cadmium, etc., could have affected these killers. Instead, it’s just a chronological telling of the pollution juxtaposed with a chronological telling of the various crimes. I wanted more connections and discussion of the poisoning theory rather than gory details.

The basic idea that pollution exposure could have contributed to the rash of serial killings in the ‘60s-‘80s is interesting though. You just need a tougher stomach than I have to get through the book and see how that theory pans out.

Content Warnings

milabooksit's review against another edition

3.0

dark informative medium-paced

Had Fraser spent some time scientifically explaining the link between toxic pollution and behavior at the beginning of the book rather than at the very end, I would have read this with less skepticism. Because this was missing early on, the book sounded more like correlation and not necessarily causation. While engaging, too much time was spent detailing the crimes of the serial killers rather than proving the theory.
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Content Warnings