7 True Crime Books About Serial Killers
It’s complicated, trying to understand why humans have such a fascination with true crime, especially involving serial killers. Is it the grotesque nature of the murders or an interest in the psychology behind a person who breaks every societal norm imaginable? Maybe it is the sensationalization of the macabre events, or else, the resulting thrill that attracts spectators to watch helpless investigators as they try and track these devilish, often unknown, criminals.
This unnatural attraction towards serial killers has led to the origin of an entirely distinct entertainment genre that includes documentaries, films, and true crime books. A recent example of this being the adaptation of Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit into a must-watch Netflix series based on a book. For admirers of the written word, there have been more than a few fiction and non-fiction books about serial killers. For now, we take on seven thrilling reads that feature some of the most notorious real-life serial killers ever.
American Predator by Maureen Callahan
Israel Keyes is a father, a construction worker, and the “most meticulous serial killer” to date. American Predator has Maureen Callahan taking us on a whirlwind chase that follows Israel Keyes, from Alaska to Texas, in the most engrossing true crime book about serial killers to come out in the last decade. Using interviews, interrogation reports, and previously untold specifics about Keyes arrest, Maureen creates a shocking profile of a man who planned his every move and went about killing randomly for over a decade.
Helter Skelter by Curt Gentry and Vincent Bugliosi
Since the incident in 1969, several books have been written about the Manson murders, a most diabolical happening wherein Charles Manson encouraged his cult followers to go on a murdering rampage that resulted in the loss of seven lives, one of which was actress Sharon Tate. Initially published in 1974, Helter Skelter is the most comprehensive book on the incident, written by Vincent Bugliosi, a prosecutor against Manson during his trial. Here, he writes about the crime, the people behind it, and how Manson orchestrated the murders without being a part of them, sharing elaborate details unknown to the public until then. Helter Skelter is considered as the “best-selling true crime book in history.”
The Five by Hallie Rubenhold
Pick any serial killer across history. You’ll notice that their victims are narrowed down to numbers, mentioned as individuals whose lives, even after their deaths, are shadowed by the larger than life personas of their killers. In the case of The Five, one of the most ground-breaking books about serial killers to come out recently, historian Hallie Rubenhold takes all the attention away from the infamous Jack the Ripper. She, instead, focuses on the five women he supposedly murdered in London during the mid-1800s. Using historical data, clippings, and stories, she humanizes these five women, rejected by generations for being “prostitutes.” The Five is a bold statement about women’s rights, their forgotten identities, and an essential viewpoint about the most consuming serial killer event that has enthralled true crime enthusiasts for centuries.
The Stanger Beside Me by Ann Rule
Some of the best true crime books about serial killers are by authors who personally knew the criminals. Ann Rule met and became friends with Ted Bundy at the beginning of the 1970s when they both worked at a suicide prevention call center. In The Stranger Beside Me, Ann gives us a private account of Ted, with unique insight into his character, before, during, and after his trial. Ann further confesses that it wasn’t until Ted’s sentencing in 1978 that she finally came to terms with him being the killer of 30 women. Subsequent releases of the book feature stories of women who contacted Ann talking about their “near miss” interactions with the famous serial killer. Ann Rule wrote many more true crime novels during her illustrious career, with Small Sacrifices and The Want-Ad Killer being two notable readings.
Nobody’s Women by Steve Miller
When the police visited Anthony Sowell in 2009, a registered sex offender, they wanted him on charges of rape. What they found instead was a horrific house of horrors with bodies of eleven women hidden in the walls, the basement, and in the courtyard. Steve Miller writes about the most dangerous kind of a serial killer, one that can become an active part of the neighborhood around him, without raising suspicion. The author, while exploring the chilling elements of the crimes, chooses to concentrate on the victims, calling them nobody’s women because of their position in society that made them invisible to most and thus vulnerable targets for Sowell. And in doing so Miller takes away the power from the criminal’s hand and puts it firmly with those who matter most, his victims.
My Friend Dahmer by John Backderf
My Friend Dahmer is a book about serial killer psychology that takes on a novel approach by presenting Jeffery Dahmer’s life during high school in a graphic novel format. Written as a memoir by his friend and classmate Derf, the book illustrates Dahmer as a lonesome and awkward student, who showed early signs of what he was to become. Unfortunately, his actions were grossly overlooked by adults at the time. Backderf does muster some compassion towards this lost soul, partly blaming society for not being there. However, My Friend Dahmer is amongst essential books about serial killers because of its intimate and melancholic depiction of a young boy that no one knew had so much evil inside him.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
Published posthumously in 2018, after the sudden death of Michelle McNamara two years earlier, I’ll be Gone in the Dark is an in-depth study of the crimes committed by the Golden State Killer. What makes this an imperative read about true crime is that McNamara devoted all her time and energy documenting a killer who was, at that point, still at large. The book was finally completed by Paul Haynes, Billy Jensen, and Patton Oswalt, her husband, by scouring through her notes and previously written chapters to present an all-inclusive take on the serial rapist and murderer. The book is particularly intriguing because McNamara offers several theories on who the killer might be, creating the profile of a criminal who evaded the law for decades. Incidentally, a suspect was caught and charged for the killings a few months after the book’s release
