The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers

The Definitive Dossier on History's Most Heinous Killers! Hollywood's make-believe maniacs can't hold a candle to the real life monsters who have terrorized, tortured, and terminated their way across civilization throughout the ages. Now, from the much-acclaimed author of Deviant, Deranged, and Depraved, comes the ultimate resource on the serial killer phenomenon. Rigorously researched, packed with the most terrifying, up-to-date information, this highly compelling compendium covers every aspect of multiple murderers from psychology to cinema, fetishism to fan clubs, "trophies" to trading cards. Discover: Who: Included are Ed Gein, the mama's boy who inspired fiction's most famous Psycho, Norman Bates; Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi, sex-crazed killer cousins known as the Hillside Stranglers; and the Beanes, a cave dwelling clan with an insatiable appetite for human flesh. How: They butcher, bludgeon, and burn. Drown, dismember, and devour ... and other massacre methods too many and monstrous to mention here. Why: For pleasure, for profit. For celebrity, for "companionship." For the devil and for dinner. For the thrill of it, the hell of it, and because "such men are monsters, who live ... beyond the frontiers of madness." Plus: In-depth case studies, definitions of every kind of deviance and derangement, and much more. For more than one hundred profiles of lethal loners and killer couples, Bluebeards and black widows, cannibals and copycats-this is an indispensable, spine-tingling, eye-popping investigation into the dark hearts and mad minds of that twisted breed of human whose crimes are the most frightening ... and fascinating.Harold Schechter is the author of 'The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers', published 2003 under ISBN 9780345465665 and ISBN 0345465660.