Dr. Ramsland tells the tale of H. H. Holmes, the serial killer who was able to work undetected in Chicago during the 1893 World's Fair. Holmes was actually caught because of a con he executed and the police gradually realized that they stumbled across a man who may be even more gruesome than the fictional Hannibal Lecter. Ramsland tells the story well, weaving scientific discoveries about the minds of psychopaths alongside the story of Holmes, whose tale was also told in Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City. I like that Holmes didn't feel the need to embellish the story, she simply laid out the facts in an easy to read narrative. This is a non-fiction book that not only chronicles the life of one of the most psychopathic serial killers but also delves into why a person becomes that way. From amazon: "H. H. Holmes used the persona of a successful doctor and entrepreneur to draw untold numbers of young women to his three-story Chicago hotel to experiment on before killing them. Not one to waste, he’d often deflesh the corpses to sell the skeletons to medical schools. He enjoyed trying out methods of murder and watching his victims die. Scientists from his era believed Holmes’ brain would unlock the secret of his perversity, but he denied them the chance to find out. Today, we can figure him out without access to his brain. We know more today about the neuroscience of sadistic psychopaths and we can better understand what his brain – if dissected – would reveal. For the first time, we can look to research findings about killers to decode Holmes’s vile behavior."For crime writers who like to write about serial killers and understand the reason some kill, this is a must read.
Do You like book Psychopath (2011)?
Interesting short book about the murderer featured in the Devil in White City novel by Erik Larson.
—lacey_vanessa
Interesting, but not much more in depth or informative than a researched online article.
—Fredja
Interesting, after having read Devil in the White City a couple of years ago.
—clg123
short, easy read. good companion piece to Devil in the White City.)
—nishtha
