jordan_p16's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 rounded down. Not a huge fan of the narrator, but interesting enough story!
titanic's review
5.0
"He considered himself a nice guy. When Julie Otero had complained that her hands were going numb from her bindings, he had adjusted them. When Joe had said his chest hurt from lying on the floor with broken ribs, he had fetched Joe a coat to rest on. Now, in the darkened bedroom of the house on Hydraulic, he gave the sick woman a sip of water."
I have been seeing this book recommended by every person interested in true crime, which to be honest is the only reason I got it. I hate Dennis Rader more than any other serial killer. He creeps me out. He's one of three, I believe, serial killers that really creep me out. So when I first started reading this book, I was thinking that it was going to put me on edge and that I was going to feel uncomfortable, and want to put it down and forget about it forever - and it did put it down so that I could finish reading another book, but that wasn't because it was bad because this book was the exact opposite. It was brilliant!
This book put so much detail in, and the effort that went into it clearly paid off because I have yet to read a better true crime book - it's my favourite! Most books about crimes focus on criminals and their crimes and their victims but I honestly loved how this one told us about the police force who spend many years tracking down the criminal, and I loved the details of the constant battle between police and press because it shows what it's like to be working on a crime. It's not all easy breezy. It did thirty years to catch the BTK killer, and during that time, The Eagle newspaper got sent messages from Dennis Rader, and they thought it was only fair to let the public know what was going on, and come on, it totally is. Which is another favourite thing of mine, the photos of his messages he sent. I loved reading the letters, laughing a little and the obvious misspellings, and looking at the photographs of the dolls tied to pipes or had drivers licences tied to them. The crime scene photos and photos of the victims were interesting as it brings the crimes to life, it makes you realise that these were real people, they are not just names in a book, they were real people murdered by a horrible man, and this book did a perfect way of capturing that. It was perfect.
I have been seeing this book recommended by every person interested in true crime, which to be honest is the only reason I got it. I hate Dennis Rader more than any other serial killer. He creeps me out. He's one of three, I believe, serial killers that really creep me out. So when I first started reading this book, I was thinking that it was going to put me on edge and that I was going to feel uncomfortable, and want to put it down and forget about it forever - and it did put it down so that I could finish reading another book, but that wasn't because it was bad because this book was the exact opposite. It was brilliant!
This book put so much detail in, and the effort that went into it clearly paid off because I have yet to read a better true crime book - it's my favourite! Most books about crimes focus on criminals and their crimes and their victims but I honestly loved how this one told us about the police force who spend many years tracking down the criminal, and I loved the details of the constant battle between police and press because it shows what it's like to be working on a crime. It's not all easy breezy. It did thirty years to catch the BTK killer, and during that time, The Eagle newspaper got sent messages from Dennis Rader, and they thought it was only fair to let the public know what was going on, and come on, it totally is. Which is another favourite thing of mine, the photos of his messages he sent. I loved reading the letters, laughing a little and the obvious misspellings, and looking at the photographs of the dolls tied to pipes or had drivers licences tied to them. The crime scene photos and photos of the victims were interesting as it brings the crimes to life, it makes you realise that these were real people, they are not just names in a book, they were real people murdered by a horrible man, and this book did a perfect way of capturing that. It was perfect.
readbyashleyd's review
dark
informative
slow-paced
5.0
This is without a single doubt, the most disturbing and traumatizing true crime book I’ve read in a long time. Word of warning, this book is not for the faint of heart, it is brutal and graphic and there are A LOT of potential triggers throughout. It feels weird giving such a book 5 stars because I wouldn’t really say I enjoyed it in the typical sense you normally enjoy a book. My skin was crawling the whole way through and I often had to pause to collect myself while reading it because I was just so disturbed and horrified by what I was reading. The depravity that humans can inflict on each other is truly terrifying, to think that that can happen just chills me to the bone. This book managed to evoke more emotion than me than any book has in a long time and to actually make me feel physically ill, I have never been more horrified by anything I’ve read.
booksandcourt's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
stormlightreader's review
informative
fast-paced
3.5
Positives:
- pictures throughout the book rather than a collection of pictures in the middle
- short summary after some victims stating how the spouse or family were impacted down the line
- the info on Dennis Rader (BTK) was good, like Anne Rule's Green River, Running Red, it wasn't unnecessarily detailed and built a clear picture of the crimes and the length of time it took the police to apprehend him
Negatives:
- There was a bunch of pages (approx. 143-179) on the personal lives/impact BTK was having on the detectives (fine with that) and on the authors who are reporters at The Eagle newspaper in Wichita. I really struggled with the authors (reporters) inserting themselves into the narrative more than necessary. It only happened for a relatively short section of the book and it only annoyed me because they did it in third person but it took me out of the narrative and I struggled to get back into it fully.
- pictures throughout the book rather than a collection of pictures in the middle
- short summary after some victims stating how the spouse or family were impacted down the line
- the info on Dennis Rader (BTK) was good, like Anne Rule's Green River, Running Red, it wasn't unnecessarily detailed and built a clear picture of the crimes and the length of time it took the police to apprehend him
Negatives:
- There was a bunch of pages (approx. 143-179) on the personal lives/impact BTK was having on the detectives (fine with that) and on the authors who are reporters at The Eagle newspaper in Wichita. I really struggled with the authors (reporters) inserting themselves into the narrative more than necessary. It only happened for a relatively short section of the book and it only annoyed me because they did it in third person but it took me out of the narrative and I struggled to get back into it fully.
arszania's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction and Gun violence