18 books like Things a Killer Would Know

What to read after Things a Killer Would Know — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

The True Face of Jack the Ripper Melvin Harris · 1994 · 220p · ≈ 7h · Moderate Melvin Harris, the man chiefly responsible for exposing the "Ripper Diary", now reveals the true face of Jack the Ripper. Harris disposes of all previous candidates and by using FBI techniques he tells the story of how he tracked down the real Ripper. He came to the conclusion that Robert D'Onston Stephenson was a likely suspect for the murders Shares: Murderers, Serial murderers, Serial murders, True Crime

The killer department Robert Cullen · 1993 · ★ 4.0 · 258p · ≈ 8h · Moderate The spellbinding true tale of the discovery, chase, capture, and execution of Andrei Chikatilo, a serial killing madman who sexually assaulted, mutilated, and killed at least 53 women and children near Rostov-on-Don, Russia, between 1978 and 1986. The story is told by Colonel Vicktor Burakov, Soviet Militia, a brilliant, tenacious investigator who would be the very last man I'd want pursuing me… Shares: Murderers, Serial murderers, Serial murders, True Crime

Born Killers Christopher Berry-Dee · 2006 · 270p · ≈ 9h · Moderate But no matter how many people they have killed, no matter how many lives they have ruined and whatever the nature of their sickening crimes, serial killers are still human. Analysing the early years of the lives of men like Jeffrey Dahmer, who abused and killed 17 young men, offers a fascinating insight into the effects of a dysfunctional or abusive childhood. Criminologists Christopher… Shares: Serial murderers, True Crime

Guilty of Nothing Kevin King · 2008 · 70p · ≈ 2h · Moderate When Bill Eck is accused of a crime he didn't commit, the evidence is compelling but not complete. With enough loopholes in the case to run a racehorse through, it seems as though any logical juror or judge would need more evidence to convict anyone in this position. A serial killer who strikes at the site of the racehorse track has every citizen on edge, and Bill is no exception. He is, however,… Shares: Serial murderers, Serial murders

There But For the Grace of God Fred Rosen · 2007 · ★ 3.0 · 278p · ≈ 9h · Moderate They stared into the faces of pure evil . . . and survived!Ted Bundy . . . Jeffrey Dahmer . . .David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz . . . Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer . . .These are some of the names that strike terror into even the bravest of hearts. Human monsters, they preyed upon the unsuspecting, freely feeding their terrible hungers. Their crimes were unspeakable, as they maimed, tortured, killed,… Shares: Serial murderers, Serial murders, True Crime

The Bloody Countess Valentine Penrose · 1970 · 192p · ≈ 6h · Moderate Descended from one of the most ancient aristocratic families of Europe, Erzsebet Bathory bore the psychotic aberrations of centuries of intermarriage. From adolescence she indulged in sadistic lesbian fantasies, where only the spilling of a woman’s blood could satisfy her urges. By middle age, she had regressed to a mirror-fixated state of pathological necro-sadism involving witchcraft, torture,… Shares: Murderers, Serial murderers, Serial murders, True Crime

Portrait of a Killer Patricia Cornwell · 1960 · ★ 3.5 · 391p · ≈ 13h · Moderate "Between August and November 1888, at least seven women were murdered in London's Whitechapel area. The gruesome nature of their deaths caused panic and fear in the East End for months, and gave rise to the sobriquet that was to become shorthand for a serial killer - Jack the Ripper.". "For over a hundred years the murders have remained among the world's greatest unsolved crimes, and a wealth of… Shares: Serial murderers, Serial murders, True Crime

Serial Killers Peter Vronsky · 2004 · ★ 4.0 · 422p · ≈ 14h · Moderate A comprehensive examination into the frightening true crime history of serial homicide—including information on America’s most prolific serial killers such as:Jeffrey Dahmer • Ted Bundy • “Co-ed Killer” Ed Kemper • The BTK Killer • “Highway Stalker” Henry Lee Lucas • Monte Ralph Rissell • “Shoe Fetish Slayer” Jerry Brudos • “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez • “Unabomber”… Shares: Serial murderers, Serial murders, True Crime

The Fifth to Die J. D. Barker · 2018 · 526p · ≈ 17h · Moderate "In the thrilling sequel to The Fourth Monkey, a new serial killer stalks the streets of Chicago, while Detective Porter delves deeper into the dark past of the Four Monkey Killer. Detective Porter and the team have been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds. When the body of a young girl is found beneath the frozen waters of Jackson Park Lagoon, she is… Shares: Serial murderers, Serial murders

Nutcracker Shana Alexander · 1985 · ★ 4.1 · 453p · ≈ 15h · Moderate Nutcracker begins at the ballet but tells the story of a seemingly wholesome all-American family, whose tranquil life's surface erupted in shocking acts of avarice, theft and murder. The victim was Franklin Bradshaw, Mormon self-made millionaire, workaholic. The killer was Bradshaw's grandson, prep school student. The architect of the crime was said to be Frances Schreuder, Bradshaw's daughter,… Shares: Murderers, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

The complete Jack the Ripper Donald Rumbelow · 1975 · ★ 3.9 · 305p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Discover the theories and facts surrounding the Whitechapel murders in David Rumbelow's The Complete Jack the Ripper... It is 1888 in London's Whitechapel district, where one by one a group of prostitutes are brutally murdered. Opium smoking Inspector Fred Abberline is called upon to investigate these horrific murders and through his visions track down and trap Jack the Ripper. David Rumbelow's… Shares: Serial murderers, Serial murders, True Crime

Exquisite Corpse Poppy Z. Brite · 1996 · ★ 3.8 · 244p · ≈ 8h · Moderate To serial slayer Andrew Compton, murder is an art, the most intimate art. After feigning his own death to escape from prison, Compton makes his way to the United States with the sole ambition of bringing his "art" to new heights. Tortured by his own perverse desires, and drawn to possess and destroy young boys, Compton inadvertently joins forces with Jay Byrne, a dissolute playboy who has pushed… Shares: Murderers, Serial murderers, Serial murders

The midnight assassin Skip Hollandsworth · 2015 · ★ 3.9 · 336p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Shares: Serial murderers, Serial murders, True Crime Shares: Serial murderers, Serial murders, True Crime

Killing for Sport Pat Brown · 2003 · 208p · ≈ 6h · Moderate While other profilers tend to conceal the clear facts behind complex technical language and psychobabble, Pat Brown actually tells it like it is. Killing for Sport will intrigue you with its honest portrayal of the predator-next-door, how he hunts for him victims, why he likes to torture them, where he tends to stash their bodies, and more. Movies such as Silence of the Lambs, Seven, American… Shares: Serial murderers, Serial murders, True Crime

The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid Pat Garrett · 2008 · 128p · ≈ 4h · Moderate Hankering for a mostly true tale about the hard-living desperadoes who inhabited America's desert Southwest in the mid-1800s? This biography of the ill-fated gunslinger Billy, the Kid was written by Pat Garrett, the sheriff who shot Billy down. Although some historians now question the veracity of some of the self-aggrandizing bluster Garrett and his ghostwriter included in the book, The… Shares: True Crime, Biography & Memoir

Last Yakuza Jake Adelstein · 2017 · ★ 4.4 · 408p · ≈ 13h · Moderate The Last Yakuza tells the history of the yakuza like it’s never been told before.Makoto Saigo is half-American and half-Japanese in small-town Japan with a set of talents limited to playing guitar and picking fights. With rock stardom off the table, he turns toward the only place where you can start from the bottom and move up through sheer merit, loyalty, and brute force — the yakuza.Saigo,… Shares: True Crime, Biography & Memoir

Chasing the Devil David Reichert · 2004 · ★ 3.2 · 320p · ≈ 10h · Moderate The riveting personal account of one sheriffs epic hunt for America's most heinous serial killer. For eight years, Sheriff David Reichert devoted days and nights to capturing the Green River Killer--the most notorious serial killer in American history. He was the first detective on the case in 1982 and doggedly pursued it as the body count climbed to 49 and it became the most infamous unsolved… Shares: Serial murderers, Serial murders, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

The Boston Strangler Gerald Frank · 1967 · ★ 3.4 · 408p · ≈ 13h · Moderate An account of Albert DeSalvo's reign of terror as the notorious Boston Strangler, an American serial killer who, when finally caught, confessed to the murders of 13 women Shares: Murderers, True Crime

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