The Killers Among Us: Motives Behind Their Madness

Colin Wilso is an author interested in extraordinary human beings. Having read some of his other books, I read this one, my first "true crimes" book ever.It is a survey of some of the worst serial killers of the last forty years or so. An initial perusal of the book had me perplexed as to why there were so little devoted to Charles Manson. Having finished the book, I now know why. Manson is a girl-scout compared to some of these serial killers!I wish that Wilson had speculated as to why we are fascinated with serial killers. Part of the reason may be that we, "normal people", are so regimented that we secretly admire (in some ways) those who go outside of societies norms. Certainly we read these accounts, for the same reason that some of the criminals commit them...we are bored.Interestingly, Wilson posits that murder follows a sort of shadow-side hierarchy of needs, as proposed by Abraham Maslow.Previously murder might have been committed to attain certain basic needs like food or sex, but nowadays it is carried out as an attempt to self-actualize. Wilson also points out that serial killing has risen with the age of equality. Society gives lip service to "equality" but this turns out to be a sham in light of the disparities of wealth and notoriety. About this, Wilson comments that most serial killers are from working-class bacgrounds, and the crimes are committed as a way to acheive the status that eludes them in society at large.This book is a survey and does not go into great depth with any particular serial killer. Frankly, it goes into enough detail for me and I wouldn't care for a huger dose of gore.Only "glitch" that I noticed...Wilso cites the case of a murder in Sweden carried out by a man who has been put into a hynotic trance by another man. Wilso, who has studied the paranormal for over 30 years, should know that you cannot cause a person to do under hypnosis anything that he would be against.Other than that, it was a good introduction to this genre.Thomas

Ambition to kill is what these serial murderers live to each day. Hatred, power, control, and vengeance is whatthe motives of these powerful killers annihilate for.Descriptive facts of how and why murderes killed gives us a powerful insight to what they perceive.

This book is for you if you are keen on some quick and easy overview information on some of our societies killers. It gives you enough information to take on board and further investigate if you so desire. It is an easy read and worth picking up.

Let's face it, the chapters (each one dealing with a specific decade) were too long.I simply couldn't put the book down until I got to the end of the chapter, resulting in a tremendeous lack of sleep! This book is totally absorbing and gives the reader a simple to understand, thought-provoking insight into what may be involved in creating a serial killer. Despite the subject matter, the authors somehow manage to stick almost totally to the facts, without comment, and it is their completely clinical approach that makes the book so shocking yet insightful, without alienating the reader with sensationalist gore. The killers become human beings - no matter how depraved - and it is this realization that it is probably necessary to for us to understand, above all things, if we are to ever rid the world of such heinous crimes.

It was just a little slow at first, but once you get into the book it becomes very interesting. I like a book with details about the actual crimes committed and this book provides them. The writers did a great job. I can't wait to read Book II.