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megwilli's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, Death, and Gore
percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition
4.75
I liked the format of each section, dividing each woman/or group of women into their own parts, and then dividing more into short briefs of childhood, adulthood, first kill, etc. I think it really helped me fly through the book pace-wise. I also found the insight into female serial killers interesting and how the author analyzed how historically society has viewed women killers, just basing their actions off of their gender rather than anything else.
The book starts off really strong with one of the most gruesome killers in the book, Erzsebet Bathory. I was about to eat lunch when I started reading and I quickly realized that I might have to wait a bit due to the horrifying imagery in this chapter. However, I feel as though that was not the best figure for the author to start the book on. Sure it really grabs your attention, but afterward there are only a few other really gruesome killers and I didn't feel like any of them really stood up to Bathory's legend. A common way of killing for women is poison, and a lot of the women in this book use poison. I understand statistically that that is how things will end up when writing about female killers, however, after each poisoner it just felt repetitive from a reader's point of view, which is not what you want to keep your reader engaged.
Though the book is titled Lady Killers, the introduction talks about female serial killer statistics. This and the first couple stories, led me to believe that this was about female serial killers. However, there are a few figures that just don't feel like they fit the bill of what the others did. Even though Bathory had accomplices, she did a lot of damage on her own and I don't think that what she did was comparable to singling out Kate Bender from the Bender family, as the whole family took part in the killings and had a system. One of the figures only had one confirmed kill, with other kills a possibility but not a certainty. I just feel like I was misled a little bit, as though perhaps the author could've been clearer about what makes a serial killer or whether or not some figures were confirmed serial killers.
Overall, I did really enjoy the book and these were only some minor gripes I had. I definitely would recommend this book if you enjoy reading about true crime, especially historical true crime.
Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Vomit, Violence, Excrement, Child death, Blood, Pregnancy, Torture, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Abortion, Cannibalism, Animal death, Infidelity, Abandonment, Alcohol, Trafficking, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Confinement, and Colonisation
Minor: Incest and Rape
elysenicole213's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, War, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Trafficking, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse
Minor: Colonisation, Gore, Animal death, Drug abuse, Abortion, Incest, Child death, and Blood
lilithsnow's review against another edition
4.0
It’s a fascinating look into the history of female serial killers.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Abortion, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Abandonment, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Animal death
sarahaf712's review
3.5
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Abortion, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Sexual violence
Minor: Incest
nadia's review against another edition
4.0
The narrative voice Tori Telfer employed was engaging and also injected some humour, but sometimes the occasional levity of it did make me take pause and be like: wait, this really happened? It was almost narrated too 'plainly' at times, if that makes any sense...
This isn't to say that Tori wasn't taking the stories seriously or disrespecting the victims. Far from it. In fact, I really appreciated the discussion around the perceptions and double standards surrounding criminals who are women.
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, and Gore
biacedbooks's review
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content
amna_a's review
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Vomit
beersbooksandbooos's review
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Mental illness