Scan barcode
A review by annieecusack
The Scientist and the Serial Killer by Lise Olsen
challenging
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
3.0
*ARC provided through Netgalley by the publisher*
Wow, I have never read a book like this. I’ve read books about serial killers and other true crime before, but this book just had SO much information — about the killer, about the detectives, about the justice system, about the location, about the families, and about the victims. I think it all probably could have been condensed some, but I also don’t think any of the information presented was uninteresting or completely irrelevant (though I found a lot of it to be unnecessary). The timeline was very difficult to follow, too, as it sort of jumped all over the place. I believe there were just a few technical grammatical inconsistencies throughout, such as using acronyms for organizations only sometimes, and switching between referring to individuals by only their first OR last name. In addition, I thought it was (perhaps unintentionally) unsettling that the author repeatedly referred to the victims of Corll as “beautiful” or “handsome” boys out of context of direct quotes. Finally, I thought the photograph captions could have better specified who was who in pictures with more than one person, and the last photograph lacked a caption at all.
Wow, I have never read a book like this. I’ve read books about serial killers and other true crime before, but this book just had SO much information — about the killer, about the detectives, about the justice system, about the location, about the families, and about the victims. I think it all probably could have been condensed some, but I also don’t think any of the information presented was uninteresting or completely irrelevant (though I found a lot of it to be unnecessary). The timeline was very difficult to follow, too, as it sort of jumped all over the place. I believe there were just a few technical grammatical inconsistencies throughout, such as using acronyms for organizations only sometimes, and switching between referring to individuals by only their first OR last name. In addition, I thought it was (perhaps unintentionally) unsettling that the author repeatedly referred to the victims of Corll as “beautiful” or “handsome” boys out of context of direct quotes. Finally, I thought the photograph captions could have better specified who was who in pictures with more than one person, and the last photograph lacked a caption at all.
Overall, though, a good insight into what the justice system was like in the late 20th-early 21st centuries in regards to social issues, mass murderers and kidnappings, and the process of identifying victims over time. If you’re a fan of highly detailed historical true crime, then this book is for you!