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Monsters Who Murder: True Stories of the World's Most Evil Serial Killers
Hidden among us live some of the most depraved and dangerous individuals one could ever imagine. Their enthusiasm for killing knows no bounds and their violent rampages often consume many victims before they are finally brought to justice. In Monsters Who Murder, crime writer Al Ciminio explores the twisted motivations and horrifying crimes of some of the most evil men and women that have walked the earth.
In this book, you will learn
• Keith Hunter Jesperson, who drew smiley faces on his letters to the authorities as he boasted of his atrocious crimes.
• Jeffrey Dahmer, the 'Milwaukee Monster' who dismembered his victims and kept a fridge full of body parts.
• Charles Albright, who removed the eyes from dolls and photographs before attempting the same surgery on his unfortunate victims.
• Joseph James DeAngelo, the rapist murderer 'Golden State Killer' who evaded detection for over 40 years until a DNA match was found on an open-access genealogy website.
• and many more.
Featuring chilling photographs, this gripping account is a must-read for true crime enthusiasts who want insight into the dark side of the human psyche.
ABOUT THE The True Crime Casefiles series covers some of the most shocking crimes and notorious criminals and psychopaths of all time, without shying away from the grisly details. These books include psychological profiles, witness testimonies, court proceedings and more, accompanied by chilling photographs of the people and places involved.
In this book, you will learn
• Keith Hunter Jesperson, who drew smiley faces on his letters to the authorities as he boasted of his atrocious crimes.
• Jeffrey Dahmer, the 'Milwaukee Monster' who dismembered his victims and kept a fridge full of body parts.
• Charles Albright, who removed the eyes from dolls and photographs before attempting the same surgery on his unfortunate victims.
• Joseph James DeAngelo, the rapist murderer 'Golden State Killer' who evaded detection for over 40 years until a DNA match was found on an open-access genealogy website.
• and many more.
Featuring chilling photographs, this gripping account is a must-read for true crime enthusiasts who want insight into the dark side of the human psyche.
ABOUT THE The True Crime Casefiles series covers some of the most shocking crimes and notorious criminals and psychopaths of all time, without shying away from the grisly details. These books include psychological profiles, witness testimonies, court proceedings and more, accompanied by chilling photographs of the people and places involved.
247 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 1, 2023
35 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
August 23, 2023
I received a free copy of, Monsters Who Murder, by Al Cimino, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. There are way too many monster who murder, a few of them found in this book are: The Golden State Killer, BTK killer, The eyeball killer, the kitten killer, the baby killer, and so many more. I did not want to give the murderer name because they do not deserve it, A fascinating book, on people who kill and their crimes, men and women, old and young.
September 5, 2023
3.5 stars
There are so many creepy murderers! At times this book was really interesting, but some just seemed to drag on.. I got a free advanced readers copy from netgalley but my review is unbiased.
There are so many creepy murderers! At times this book was really interesting, but some just seemed to drag on.. I got a free advanced readers copy from netgalley but my review is unbiased.
September 7, 2023
I enjoyed the short stories I'm just not sure all of then were 100% accurate
August 17, 2023
if you are going to write a book about some of the most famous serial killers out there, you should probably get the facts of their stories correct. not only is this book full of inaccuracies, it also had many grammatical and spelling errors that made it hard to focus at times. my biggest issue with the book though was the use of the word “mentally retarded.” there are so many other options to use in place of that and it left a bad taste in my mouth
thank you netgalley for the arc
thank you netgalley for the arc
January 20, 2024
This is essentially a series of Wikipedia articles. Also not entirely sure the details in the book are always accurate given the lack of sources/etc
April 20, 2024
It begins with Jeffrey Dahmer who lured young men to his apartment and totaled seventeen kills when he was finally apprehended. The police found human heads in the freezer and more on the stove. Jeff met his maker in prison.
Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole are next and their crime spree may have left behind more than one hundred victims, although it remains a controversial story. Henry's mom was a vicious prostitute who serviced men in front of her young child. The result was a seriously deranged man whose confessions shocked law enforcement.
The Son of Sam is David Berkowitz, a loner who shot his prey as they made out in parked cars in NYC. He was caught due to a parking ticket and a theory remains of a satanic cult being an overlooked part of the story.
Dennis Nielsen was a lonely young man who killed for company. His houseguests were discovered blocking a drain and Denny died in prison.
Dennis Rader taunted the police with letters as the "BTK Killer." It meant bind, torture, kill and he was captured after a floppy disk was linked to his Lutheran church.
Aileen Wuornos started hooking at the age of twelve, offering up her body in exchange for food. After giving birth at fifteen, she hit the road, turning tricks along the way. Six men were shot to death and Aileen was convicted based largely on the testimony of a lesbian lover. Old Sparky would be her fate.
Mary Bell suffered a horrific childhood, as her prostitute mother used her for the sexual pleasure of her clients. At eleven, Mary strangled a little boy to death and the British court sent her away.
Keith Jesperson offed eight hookers, including a girlfriend and left notes with drawings that made him famous as the "Happy Face Killer." One of the books about him introduced me to the term "lot lizard." They work truck stops across America.
Bruce McArthur was a late bloomer in that he started his murder career at the age of fifty-eight. He killed eight male foreigners in Canada and is in prison.
Luke Magnotta was convicted of murder after posting videos on YouTube of himself torturing and killing animals. He worked his way up to humans.
Marybeth Tinning's nine children all died before the age of five. The state of New York finally smelled a rat and sent supermom to prison.
Dr. Linda Hazzard used a radical diet to cure her patients. Starvation Heights was, as advertised, just that, as after the deaths of two women, one weighing forty pounds, the good doctor was convicted of manslaughter. Greg Olsen has a full length book on the case.
‘I have a problem with women,’ is my favorite line in the book. Richard Cottingham first killed in 1967 and claims to have killed one hundred women. We will never know.
At least the rape and torture trail of Richard Marc Evonitz ended well as the young man shot himself in the head, saving taxpayers the cost of a trial and incarceration.
The Golden State Killer remained on the loose for almost forty years when a family DNA match caught Joseph DeAngelo. "I'll be Gone in the Dark" was a bestseller.
Israel Keye's idol was Ted Bundy, a fine choice by the follower of our American GOAT. Keye's also was a multiple state killer, but unlike Ted, he hanged himself with bedsheets.
Wayne Williams was convicted as the "Atlanta Child Killer" but others may have been involved in the murders.
Peter Tobin was new to me and the serial killer was finally caught after killing a Polish immigrant woman and stuffing her into a confessional booth. The victim had been taken in by a the parish priest and they had become lovers. So much for celibacy.
A few more men are profiled and Derek Percy is the final killer. The Australian hacked up a young girl and was deemed odd but sane enough to be convicted and sent to the pokey.
Cimino is a good writer and I also recommend his book about Ted Bundy.
Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole are next and their crime spree may have left behind more than one hundred victims, although it remains a controversial story. Henry's mom was a vicious prostitute who serviced men in front of her young child. The result was a seriously deranged man whose confessions shocked law enforcement.
The Son of Sam is David Berkowitz, a loner who shot his prey as they made out in parked cars in NYC. He was caught due to a parking ticket and a theory remains of a satanic cult being an overlooked part of the story.
Dennis Nielsen was a lonely young man who killed for company. His houseguests were discovered blocking a drain and Denny died in prison.
Dennis Rader taunted the police with letters as the "BTK Killer." It meant bind, torture, kill and he was captured after a floppy disk was linked to his Lutheran church.
Aileen Wuornos started hooking at the age of twelve, offering up her body in exchange for food. After giving birth at fifteen, she hit the road, turning tricks along the way. Six men were shot to death and Aileen was convicted based largely on the testimony of a lesbian lover. Old Sparky would be her fate.
Mary Bell suffered a horrific childhood, as her prostitute mother used her for the sexual pleasure of her clients. At eleven, Mary strangled a little boy to death and the British court sent her away.
Keith Jesperson offed eight hookers, including a girlfriend and left notes with drawings that made him famous as the "Happy Face Killer." One of the books about him introduced me to the term "lot lizard." They work truck stops across America.
Bruce McArthur was a late bloomer in that he started his murder career at the age of fifty-eight. He killed eight male foreigners in Canada and is in prison.
Luke Magnotta was convicted of murder after posting videos on YouTube of himself torturing and killing animals. He worked his way up to humans.
Marybeth Tinning's nine children all died before the age of five. The state of New York finally smelled a rat and sent supermom to prison.
Dr. Linda Hazzard used a radical diet to cure her patients. Starvation Heights was, as advertised, just that, as after the deaths of two women, one weighing forty pounds, the good doctor was convicted of manslaughter. Greg Olsen has a full length book on the case.
‘I have a problem with women,’ is my favorite line in the book. Richard Cottingham first killed in 1967 and claims to have killed one hundred women. We will never know.
At least the rape and torture trail of Richard Marc Evonitz ended well as the young man shot himself in the head, saving taxpayers the cost of a trial and incarceration.
The Golden State Killer remained on the loose for almost forty years when a family DNA match caught Joseph DeAngelo. "I'll be Gone in the Dark" was a bestseller.
Israel Keye's idol was Ted Bundy, a fine choice by the follower of our American GOAT. Keye's also was a multiple state killer, but unlike Ted, he hanged himself with bedsheets.
Wayne Williams was convicted as the "Atlanta Child Killer" but others may have been involved in the murders.
Peter Tobin was new to me and the serial killer was finally caught after killing a Polish immigrant woman and stuffing her into a confessional booth. The victim had been taken in by a the parish priest and they had become lovers. So much for celibacy.
A few more men are profiled and Derek Percy is the final killer. The Australian hacked up a young girl and was deemed odd but sane enough to be convicted and sent to the pokey.
Cimino is a good writer and I also recommend his book about Ted Bundy.
December 21, 2023
A huge thank you to Netgalley and Arcturus Publishing for giving me a chance to read Monsters Who Murder -True Stories of the World's Most Evil Serial Killers
by Al Cimino in exchange for my honest review.
This was perhaps the most gruesome book I have ever read.
Far from fiction, since we are talking about true crime and real life murderers, this book is really heavy.
Some of the obvious trigger warnings would be murder, rape and sexual abuse of both adults, children and animals and honestly the list could go on and on and on. We are talking about the worst of the worst, serial killers that everyone has heard at least once in their life, even if they are fully aware of their crimes or not.
I haven't read any true crime books in the past, but this book was a dive in the deep for me. A book of pure condensed violence and murder written in the most analytical and cold language, giving you every story almost like a statistic, the factual tone of the entire book makes it all he more raw and real.
Really, a book any true crime fan should have in their library.
by Al Cimino in exchange for my honest review.
This was perhaps the most gruesome book I have ever read.
Far from fiction, since we are talking about true crime and real life murderers, this book is really heavy.
Some of the obvious trigger warnings would be murder, rape and sexual abuse of both adults, children and animals and honestly the list could go on and on and on. We are talking about the worst of the worst, serial killers that everyone has heard at least once in their life, even if they are fully aware of their crimes or not.
I haven't read any true crime books in the past, but this book was a dive in the deep for me. A book of pure condensed violence and murder written in the most analytical and cold language, giving you every story almost like a statistic, the factual tone of the entire book makes it all he more raw and real.
Really, a book any true crime fan should have in their library.
September 13, 2023
Tw: murder (that's obviously a given), child murder, SA. There is also the use of the R slur in the book somewhere around ~80%
Disclaimer: Netgalley gifted me this book and in return I'm leaving an honest review. All opinions my own.
If you're intrigued by true crime and want to read about it without intense gory details, I'd say this book is a good start. I typically choose podcasts or YouTube for that, but I was scrolling through netgalley and requested it. The author covers a few well known ones, and a lot even I've never heard of. We've seen the same 4 or 5 serial killers get tons of books and documentaries, and while a few are well known already in this book, it has sections that are short and to the point about them. The author was kind enough not to provide crime scene photos, which is something that happens a lot with true crime content. Morbid curiosity led me here.
Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.
Disclaimer: Netgalley gifted me this book and in return I'm leaving an honest review. All opinions my own.
If you're intrigued by true crime and want to read about it without intense gory details, I'd say this book is a good start. I typically choose podcasts or YouTube for that, but I was scrolling through netgalley and requested it. The author covers a few well known ones, and a lot even I've never heard of. We've seen the same 4 or 5 serial killers get tons of books and documentaries, and while a few are well known already in this book, it has sections that are short and to the point about them. The author was kind enough not to provide crime scene photos, which is something that happens a lot with true crime content. Morbid curiosity led me here.
Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.
February 4, 2024
Omg I wouldn’t wish anyone to read this book the stories in this book about some of the people that killed and murdered innocent people will stay with me for weeks. This book includes child abuse and animal abuse and and some of the things these monsters (killers) did in this book made me feel physically sick and disgusted. There is one part of the book were there is a crime committed against and animal and what the killer did will stay with me for life as I was physically sick after reading what they did. Am sorri but this book should never of been written let only published. After reading this book I need to wash my eyeballs and brain out. If you do read this book please please read the trigger warnings xxx
August 2, 2024
REVIEW - MONSTERS WHO MURDER BY AL CIMINO
It saddens me to say that this book is non fiction. This gives accounts of some of the world's most violent and notorious serial killers, their childhood, their victims names and graphic details of their attacks and murders.
We are given snippets into the worlds of killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer, Keith Hunter Jesperson, the son of Sam and many more.
I will say that this book has all the trigger warnings you can think of, so it's not for the faint hearted but if you can deal with all that, it's actually really interesting from a psychological pov.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
It saddens me to say that this book is non fiction. This gives accounts of some of the world's most violent and notorious serial killers, their childhood, their victims names and graphic details of their attacks and murders.
We are given snippets into the worlds of killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer, Keith Hunter Jesperson, the son of Sam and many more.
I will say that this book has all the trigger warnings you can think of, so it's not for the faint hearted but if you can deal with all that, it's actually really interesting from a psychological pov.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
April 22, 2024
Get a look into some of the most notorious serial killers of the times. From Jack the Ripper, to a mother who killed all nine of her children - there are short biographies of multiple killers.
I love how the author takes the information, and is able to give us some background information on who the person was before they turned to killing, and about what age they started. There were some very unusual fetishes here, and a few of these killers I didn't know much about. It was interesting to see how things unfolded, and what led them to start killing - and continue.
A great read!
I love how the author takes the information, and is able to give us some background information on who the person was before they turned to killing, and about what age they started. There were some very unusual fetishes here, and a few of these killers I didn't know much about. It was interesting to see how things unfolded, and what led them to start killing - and continue.
A great read!
April 8, 2024
This book was a compilation of short stories about various and sundary characters who are considered some of the most violent serial killers in history.
I would note that some of the most notorious were left out, like Ted Bundy, which was interesting to me. But over all very simple text that was easy to read. It's definitely a creepy topic, but since it doesn't go into deep detail for those with squeamish demeanor. He person only gets 8-12 pages dedicated to them.
I would note that some of the most notorious were left out, like Ted Bundy, which was interesting to me. But over all very simple text that was easy to read. It's definitely a creepy topic, but since it doesn't go into deep detail for those with squeamish demeanor. He person only gets 8-12 pages dedicated to them.
November 5, 2023
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher of Monsters Who Murder, written by Al Camino, for an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. This book tells the story of more than 25 real life monsters, some who are famous, and some who could be considered less well known. I enjoyed this book and the wide variety of cases that were covered, and the information shared.
March 31, 2024
Very good book of several serial killers that terrorized people and did the unthinkable to many victims and their families. This is not for the faint of heart due to the content does include crimes against children. Please be mindful before reading. Book doesn’t go into deep detail but enough to make some uncomfortable.
August 2, 2023
As an avid true crime fan, this was a very interesting read as there were a few cases in this book that I'd not come across before.
However, some of the cases I am very familiar with and I have noticed that there are some inaccuracies in a few of the stories. Aside from that, I did enjoy reading.
However, some of the cases I am very familiar with and I have noticed that there are some inaccuracies in a few of the stories. Aside from that, I did enjoy reading.
September 28, 2023
Rating: 3.25 stars
I found this book several times rather hard to get through.
I picked this book up not having much experience with true crime, and I found that quite a few of the stories dragged and had parts which could have been summed up a bit better.
I found this book several times rather hard to get through.
I picked this book up not having much experience with true crime, and I found that quite a few of the stories dragged and had parts which could have been summed up a bit better.
January 4, 2024
This my second book by this author and I felt this was better than True Crime Stories. The writing flowed a lot better. Again true crime is constructivist interests me so it was interesting to read cases that I had not heard of.
February 2, 2024
I enjoyed the topic but the writing was hard to follow at some points. There were run on sentences throughout the book. I would have to read the paragraph over a few times to grasp what was being said in more than one occasion.
March 2, 2024
I wanted to read this book as research for writing psychological thrillers and it didn't disappoint. There is quite a bit of evil in this world and in that way it was a hard book to read, but very informative and the author did an excellent job.
October 3, 2024
Written in condensed form versus a full story novel of each individual, this book reveals many "Monsters Who Murder."
These individuals are not limited to the United States. A few are from other areas of the world that have been included.
These individuals are not limited to the United States. A few are from other areas of the world that have been included.
November 26, 2024
not exactly in depth exposes think take 5 in book form, if you just want a brief overview and a five minute read this is the book for you. Not exactly chock full of new insights or information and I found it a little dull as well as a little dated most of the crimes were from 20-30 years ago
September 4, 2023
An excellent comprehensive collection of some of the most well known and not so well known criminals. Cimino provides a detailed summary of the case that will be sure to interest the general reader.
September 17, 2023
I found this book fairly interesting. I had read about most of the killers before but a few new ones to me were added. Always interested in true crime.
December 3, 2023
A little repetitive but interesting
March 2, 2025
I didn’t like that it jumped around in the storyline so much. The lack of punctuation and just the writing style in general provided a confusing and frustrating read overall.
January 10, 2024
Similarly to True Crime Stories also by Al Cimino, it feels weird to rate this.
That being said, the cases outlined in this book were "more interesting" if that can be said than in TCS, but I did also find that towards the latter half they were a bit samey and so I didn't enjoy it as much at the end.
There were a few instances about particular cases that I've researched before where the facts in this book were actually incorrect which, while only minor mistakes, seem a bit weird to have got wrong in a true crime book.
That being said, the cases outlined in this book were "more interesting" if that can be said than in TCS, but I did also find that towards the latter half they were a bit samey and so I didn't enjoy it as much at the end.
There were a few instances about particular cases that I've researched before where the facts in this book were actually incorrect which, while only minor mistakes, seem a bit weird to have got wrong in a true crime book.
March 3, 2024
From the moment I watched my first true crime documentary I have been in love with it. Always watching them as I work in the living room on my Etsy shop. It's my calm...
Books on the other hand are new to me for true crime and at this point, i don't think it's going to be a regular thing. Not unless it's specifically about 1 case.
Books seem to skim over the gory details and essentially as a TC lover that's what we watch/read them for. I also have to wonder if over time I've become desensitized to.
full review HERE
Books on the other hand are new to me for true crime and at this point, i don't think it's going to be a regular thing. Not unless it's specifically about 1 case.
Books seem to skim over the gory details and essentially as a TC lover that's what we watch/read them for. I also have to wonder if over time I've become desensitized to.
full review HERE
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews