A review by katiedreads
Talking with Serial Killers: A chilling study of the world's most evil people by Christopher Berry-Dee

3.0

This was an interesting concept but failed to truly deliver. Each case includes parts of an interview given by the serial killer, parts of their letters to the author, and a summary of the case and murders. Its descriptions are made more palatable by 'dramatic' writing style giving it a very criminal minds feels and distancing you as the reader from the horror. But considering the years of commitment this took, the hundreds of hours interviewing and dozens of letters, there did not seem to be very much 'new' in substance. You got nothing really in-depth about the majority of the murderers, their motivations seemed to be nothing groundbreaking and the lack of true interest in their victims or crimes is only surprising in its callousness. In truth they were just wrong people, wrong place with the majority of the killers having little to no recollections of them as people. The biggest issue I have with this is the author's ego is as heavily imprinted into this text as the killers. But he reveals even less about his thoughts or feelings than the killers do. I think he needed to commit to either a clinical scientific approach, with new substance or admit the lack of me substance and described his experience and emotions when dealing with these killers.