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sofiam19's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Infidelity, Confinement, Slavery, Torture, Body horror, Classism, Death, Excrement, Murder, Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: War, Vomit, and Incest
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
idun_aurora's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, War, Confinement, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts
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
rcsreads's review
2.5
For several of the murdresses I can just Google female serial killers and get more information than Telfer provides and frequently better writing. There's nothing on the Benders that I can't learn from Wikipedia and it has more detail and less of an obsession with how attractive Kate was.
If you want an in depth look at which murdresses were the prettiest then this is the book for you. If you want actual facts then there are plenty of online articles and probably many better written books.
Graphic: Abortion, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Incest, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, and Violence
bookedandbusy's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Torture, Child death, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Incest
epeolatri's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Death, Violence, Child death, and Sexism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Classism
Minor: Sexual content, Torture, Excrement, Rape, Suicide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Incest
amna_a's review
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Vomit
bugfriend's review
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Blood
Minor: Cannibalism, Excrement, Grief, Incest, Rape, and Suicide