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

580 reviews for:

Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers

I'm rating this novel 3.8 and rounded up due to the depth of research that went into this work (still very much sorting out my feelings on this one). As a newcomer to the lead/violent crime hypothesis, I genuinely valued the book's insight into the correlation between the two (I don't believe that this book implies a one-to-one causation).

My main bone of contention is the work suffers under the weight of too broad a scope since it combines memoir, history of environmental toxins in the PNW (along with TX and Mexico), geography, traffic fatalities due to bridge design, and summaries of a crimes committed by many serial killers. Fraser hangs paragraphs of these elements in rough chronological order and, for the most part, allows readers to draw their own connections. For my part, I suspect the memoir vignettes and traffic fatalities function to further saturate the landscape with violence/death and underscore the incompetence of the 'powers that be' to make actionable change. I also wanted a bit more memoir that what is in the book.

Some other head scratching moments are the inclusion of Dennis Rader and Richard Ramirez and the relative absence of evidentiary support. While Rader and Ramirez grew up near plants with toxic chemicals, neither has a connection to the Pacific Northwest and this locations seems to be the book's main focus. In terms of support for lead-violent crime connection, Fraser includes a few articles towards the end of the book and I felt it would be been more effective towards the beginning even though it breaks the loose chronological order of the book.

All that being said, this book is solid and I have a more nuanced perspective of serial killers along with a stronger belief in environmental protection [I personally love the brief mention of Twin Peaks]. I'll definitely be picking up more of Caroline Fraser's books.

shepsterminator's review against another edition

4.0

dark informative tense slow-paced

allisonpiskura's review against another edition

3.0

dark informative tense medium-paced

ejbergen's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH

Too graphic about killings

safetyhorse's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

merryincampbell's review against another edition

4.25

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

becthree's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Dense yet accessible, Caroline Fraser's Murderland gives readers a comprehensive--and I do mean comprehensive--look at proliferation of serial killers in the 20th Century. Case in point, here's what I expected to learn about when I picked up this book:

serial killers
the Pacific Northwest

Here's a brief list of topics covered within:

serial killers
the Pacific Northwest
geology
transportation planning and engineering
metal smelting
the physical and mental effects of heavy metal and toxin exposure
the Christian Science religion

Like I said, dense yet accessible. Its main fault is that it becomes long-winded at times, though it does always return to the main point. I'll be honest though, the intertwining memoir portions got old about halfway through, contributing to that main fault. This was still a good read, however, and I can see myself recommending it to true crime fans regularly. Solid four stars.