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readbyashleyd's review against another edition
dark
informative
slow-paced
5.0
It never fails to blow my mind how truly fucked up serial killers are and I think Gein is in a realm of his own. No he didn’t kill that many but wasn’t what he did almost worse? Desecrating graves and bodies and making the most gruesome creations. So many stories have been based on Gein and they’re each disturbing in their own right but you can’t get more disturbed than the original. It gives me shivers thinking about him preparing all his lamps and bowls and decorations. Such things are just unthinkable to me and it’s even more horrifying because it’s a true story and not a made up horror story.
drew1013's review against another edition
4.0
A quick and well-written true crime book for Halloween time. Schechter really is good at giving you a sense of place and time, of the community in rural Wisconsin, before, during, and after Ed Gein’s horrific crimes.
There were several moments when the writing stood out as especially good. Shockingly good, in the way that I had to stop and appreciate the descriptions and imagery.
I’d heard good things about Schechter from the Last Podcast on the Left guys, and he didn’t disappoint.
There were several moments when the writing stood out as especially good. Shockingly good, in the way that I had to stop and appreciate the descriptions and imagery.
I’d heard good things about Schechter from the Last Podcast on the Left guys, and he didn’t disappoint.
xxstefaniereadsxx's review against another edition
dark
informative
slow-paced
4.0
This book is featured on The Last Podcast On The Left Reading List (Episodes 172-174, Ed Gein). This book is about Ed Gein, who was a serial killer active in the late 1950s. Gein inspired several of our favorite slasher characters, from Norman Bates to Leatherface. While his victim count was relatively small for a serial killer of this renown, his bizarre life has embedded itself into popular memory. Harold Schechter is a great crime writer, and I am looking forward to reading his other books. They have been highly suggested to me.
echoesofhorror1976's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
This one man, an unassuming awkward individual that grew up with an overbearing religious mother inspired some of the most horrifying cult classic horror fiction we know of today. Robert Bloch's Norman Bates ... Thomas Harris' Buffalo Bill ... Texas Chainsaw Massacre and countless others. This true crime biography of sorts tells the story of the original "Psycho" from Plainsville, WI who horrified the small town with his grisly habits and tastes for human flesh and corpses, crossdressing in the skins of women he murdered and so much other graphic horrors that will satisfy fans of extreme horror and brutal true crime reads. This is proof that truth is stranger (and more horrifying) than fiction.
jenna_cross's review against another edition
4.0
What a strange little man. This was a fascinating and tough read. Even though there wasn't that much killing, it was all the other weird and unusual obsessions that really got under my skin. Plus, how is it possible that someone who was only proven to have killed 2 people, inspire some of the scariest and most iconic movie killers of all time!?! Incredible.
georgiat's review against another edition
3.0
Very informative, but parts of it read like a court document.
bkpub's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book but it was so repetitive. I listened to it on Audible and I felt like digging my own grave after I heard “little man” the 40th time. It just grinds on your nerves.