Why We Love Serial Killers: The Curious Appeal of the World's Most Savage Murderers

A chilling investigation into the deviant mind, “so powerful and provocative, you cannot put it down” (Rita Cosby, New York Times–bestselling author).
 
We know the names: Ted Bundy, Ed Gein, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, among them—serial killers transformed by the media into ghoulish celebrities. Likewise, the success of their fictional counterparts—from Norman Bates to Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to Hannibal Lecter to Dexter—reveal just how eager we are to watch a psychopath in action. But why? Are we curious about the root of their unfathomable compulsions? Might it be the same reason we morbidly stare at a catastrophic automobile accident? Or it is something more? Why We Love Serial Killers “attempts to solve some of these mysteries . . . What made serial killers this way? Why did they kill, and why did they do it so gruesomely? How are they different from us? (Please let them be different from us)” (The Atlantic).
 
In exploring our powerful appetite for the macabre, criminology professor Dr. Scott Bonn also provides a unique perspective into the world of the serial killer, having corresponded with two of the most notorious examples: David Berkowitz, aka Son of Sam, and BTK predator, Dennis Rader. In addition, Bonn examines the criminal profiling techniques used by professionals to identify and apprehend serial predators, discusses the charisma of the sociopath, the rise in “murderabilia” collecting, and examines how and why these killers often become pop-culture icons, escalating both our fears and our fascination. The result is “powerful and a must-read . . . Insightful, compelling, and an excellent source of myth-busting information for laymen and professionals alike” (Burl Barer, Edgar Award–winning author).