Serial Killers - Softcover

Innes, Brian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1905204973 ISBN 13: 9781905204977

Publisher: Quercus Publishing, 2006

Synopsis

They are probably the most notorious and infamous of all multiple murders, yet these are the very same criminals that continue to fascinate us more than any other. Sometimes it is the sheer callous deliberation that seems to capture the public's attention; other times, the macabre double-life led by many such slaughterers. Although the phenomenon has probably existed throughout human history, it is only the advancement of modern police detection methods and psychological profiling, as explained throughout this book, that have identified the deadly category now known as serial killers. From Jack the Ripper, Erszabet Batory, the countess vampire, and Big and Little Harpe to Ted Bundy, the Son of Sam and Jeffrey Dahmer, the whole era of the serial killer is unveiled here. These killers transfix us with an image of an apparently civilized society within which extremely intelligent and rational individuals can commit seemingly random, utterly savage acts of cruelty and depravity. It may well be the darkest side of human activity, but there can be little doubt that the killers listed and described in these pages remain horribly fascinating - sometimes enigmatic and inexplicable - but always terrifyingly gripping.

About this title

About the Author

Brian Innes is a publisher, critic and the author of numerous popular crime-related books including Bodies of Evidence, Profile of a Criminal Mind (both Readers Digest) and Body in Question (Barnes & Noble)

From the Back Cover

The lives and crimes of 50 depraved killers who shocked the
world.

From the Inside Flap

Although the phenomenon has probably existed throughout human
history, it is only advances in modern police detection methods that have
identified the deadly category now known as serial killers. But who are
they? Why do they commit such savage acts? How do they select their
unfortunate victims? And how can they be caught?
To answer these questions, Serial Killers explores, chronologically, the
stories of over 50 of the most vicious murderers in world history. For
each, we hear of their formative experiences, double lives, gruesome crimes
and, for those that did not - chillingly - evade capture, the psychological
profiles and forensic techniques used to ensnare them.
From Jack the Ripper, Ed Gein and The Boston Strangler to Ted Bundy, the
Moors Murderers and Jeffrey Dahmer, the story of the serial killer is
revealed, offering a shocking insight into the extremes of cruelty and
depravity to which man, or sometimes even woman, can sink. Their
motivations may come from the very darkest, most unfathomable impulses of
the human psyche, but the killers described in these pages remain horribly
fascinating and terrifyingly gripping.

Edition details

• Publisher: Quercus Publishing
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1905204973
• ISBN 13: 9781905204977
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208