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Serial Killers Up Close and Very Personal: My Death Row Interviews with the Most Dangerous Men on the Planet
An actress who has bonded deeply with serial killers shares her insights into their minds
Victoria Redstall is a glamorous model, actress, filmmaker, and investigative journalist who has spent years visiting high-security prison and getting to know sadistic killers like Gary Ray Bowles and Keith Hunter Jesperson, "The Happy Face Killer." These hardened killers have opened up to her in a way that they would never do to psychiatrists, prosecutors, or other authority figures, and have revealed terrifying chapters of their lives that might otherwise have stayed hidden forever. In this chilling book she shares every detail and insight, bringing the reader up close and very personal with some of the most dangerous and disturbed serial killers that the world has ever seen.
Victoria Redstall is a glamorous model, actress, filmmaker, and investigative journalist who has spent years visiting high-security prison and getting to know sadistic killers like Gary Ray Bowles and Keith Hunter Jesperson, "The Happy Face Killer." These hardened killers have opened up to her in a way that they would never do to psychiatrists, prosecutors, or other authority figures, and have revealed terrifying chapters of their lives that might otherwise have stayed hidden forever. In this chilling book she shares every detail and insight, bringing the reader up close and very personal with some of the most dangerous and disturbed serial killers that the world has ever seen.
- GenresTrue Crime
260 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2011
4 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Victoria Redstall
7 booksBritish born American true crime writer, model and actress.
Redstall has personally interviewed several serial killers for her books.
Redstall has personally interviewed several serial killers for her books.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 22, 2025
(Loads of profanity and anger below.)
Jesus christ allmighty, this is it. The worst book I've ever read.
I honestly never thought anything would top Fifty Shades of Grey or Twilight but goddamn this was bad. Redstall has a way of writing that was almost sort of funny at first, then slightly annoying, and then so absolutely, painfully cringy and infuriating that I felt like clawing my eyes out and eating them. I want to smack Redstall repeatedly in the face with this fucking joke of a book.
I wasn’t gonna make a detailed review of this pathetically bad joke disguised as literature because 1) no one’s probably gonna read this review and 2) I really don’t feel like spending another minute crawling through this disaster. That being said I’m gonna go into it anyways because this book just makes me so fucking angry it's unreal and I need to vent so I won't lose my mind.
Let’s start with the subtitle: My Death Row Interviews with the Most Dangerous Men on the Planet . Do we inhabit the same planet?? Yeah, I get that the title is supposed to be dramatic yada yada whatever. No one’s gonna read a book titled “Here’s some fat middle aged dudes who killed like maybe four people or some shit”. But goddamn, does the title piss me off. "The most dangerous men on the planet" my ass. Jesus fucking christ. The tone of the book in general is infuriating as well; Redstall is actively trying to convince me that fucking Wayne Adam Ford is the scariest man to ever walk the earth. I get it, these people aren't, you know, great dudes. They did awful shit. A murderer's a murderer, and I don't mean to dismiss their crimes. But.. these dudes ain't exactly John Wayne Gacy. Man, fuck Luis Garavito and Yang Xinhai. Ford is the real shit.
I bought this book because in general I’m into anything and everything that’s got to do with serial killers. I’ve crawled through awful writing before just because I want to know the facts. I did that with Redstall’s book, too, but dear god it was not worth it. All the information on these cases is available on the internet, and reading about them on someones blog doesn't make me consider blinding myself with fire. Redstall writes like an semi-literate 12-year old with unlimited access to mediocre murder documentaries and it drives me insane. Occasionally she’ll desperately try to sound like a serious writer, resulting in serious thesaurus abuse, sentences that are 192 words long and statements that contradict themselves. Also everything is horrifying, gruesome, chilling or grizzly to this woman. Learn some more adjectives you fucking MUPPET
I guess maybe I shouldn’t have expected a person who is “a glamorous model and a vocal spokesmodel for breast enhancement supplements” to be a legendary author. Yeah this one's on me, my bad.
Redstall is so incredibly full of herself it hurts. She constantly talks of herself as a hero and the only investigative journalist (not even going to get into how she absolutely is NOT A FUCKING JOURNALIST) in the world brave enough to interview these ‘horrifying monsters’. Every eight sentences or so she reminds the reader that she is a tough and heroic woman who will leave no stone unturned in search of truth. Never mind that said stones have been turned over sixteen times already, by people with actual skill in writing.
Also apparently she is the most beautiful woman in the world. Or at least that’s what every man she meets thinks of her. According to Redstall, Keith Jesperson said this to her before one interview: “...how could I kill someone with such an inner and outer beauty such as you, Victoria? ...Why would I want to kill such a beautiful part of society?”
I absolutely refuse to believe I’m the only one who thinks this is fake AF. It reads like a line from a sad teenagers diary. No. Fuck you. Nobody on this godforsaken planet has ever said that. To anyone. No. This is SUCH AN IDIOTIC LIE to even tell people!! What compelled you to do this??? I'm on the spectrum and even I can see through this lunacy she attempts to pass as storytelling. STOP IT Fuck you fuck you fuck you
Last, but not least: why do you hate other women so much, Victoria? Why are you so judgmental (yes, I am aware I'm a judgemental cunt myself, thank you very much, I'm still learning to rid myself of internalized misogyny and this book set me back about a DECADE) and a total bitch when discussing either the victims of these men or women who in some other way are connected to the cases? Does it make you feel better about yourself when you victim blame these people? It brings absolutely zero additional value to the story when you describe a person as “a loose woman, a stripper who only cared about herself and her coke habit”. Just fucking stop it. It might surprise you, but prostitutes and strippers with or without drug habits are still people. Why on earth do you find it necessary to talk shit about these people? What do you gain from calling a murder victim ugly? What the fuck is wrong with you?!
“She was no oil painting”
“ this brainless woman”
“ – these mindless souls acting like sluts”
“— all these women had faces so ugly they could stop a clock”
Bullshit book, bullshit person. Don't waste your precious time on this. Not only a horrible writer but also a disgusting person. And in case I haven't said it enough: fuck you, Victoria.
Man I wish it was possible to unread a book.
Jesus christ allmighty, this is it. The worst book I've ever read.
I honestly never thought anything would top Fifty Shades of Grey or Twilight but goddamn this was bad. Redstall has a way of writing that was almost sort of funny at first, then slightly annoying, and then so absolutely, painfully cringy and infuriating that I felt like clawing my eyes out and eating them. I want to smack Redstall repeatedly in the face with this fucking joke of a book.
I wasn’t gonna make a detailed review of this pathetically bad joke disguised as literature because 1) no one’s probably gonna read this review and 2) I really don’t feel like spending another minute crawling through this disaster. That being said I’m gonna go into it anyways because this book just makes me so fucking angry it's unreal and I need to vent so I won't lose my mind.
Let’s start with the subtitle: My Death Row Interviews with the Most Dangerous Men on the Planet . Do we inhabit the same planet?? Yeah, I get that the title is supposed to be dramatic yada yada whatever. No one’s gonna read a book titled “Here’s some fat middle aged dudes who killed like maybe four people or some shit”. But goddamn, does the title piss me off. "The most dangerous men on the planet" my ass. Jesus fucking christ. The tone of the book in general is infuriating as well; Redstall is actively trying to convince me that fucking Wayne Adam Ford is the scariest man to ever walk the earth. I get it, these people aren't, you know, great dudes. They did awful shit. A murderer's a murderer, and I don't mean to dismiss their crimes. But.. these dudes ain't exactly John Wayne Gacy. Man, fuck Luis Garavito and Yang Xinhai. Ford is the real shit.
I bought this book because in general I’m into anything and everything that’s got to do with serial killers. I’ve crawled through awful writing before just because I want to know the facts. I did that with Redstall’s book, too, but dear god it was not worth it. All the information on these cases is available on the internet, and reading about them on someones blog doesn't make me consider blinding myself with fire. Redstall writes like an semi-literate 12-year old with unlimited access to mediocre murder documentaries and it drives me insane. Occasionally she’ll desperately try to sound like a serious writer, resulting in serious thesaurus abuse, sentences that are 192 words long and statements that contradict themselves. Also everything is horrifying, gruesome, chilling or grizzly to this woman. Learn some more adjectives you fucking MUPPET
I guess maybe I shouldn’t have expected a person who is “a glamorous model and a vocal spokesmodel for breast enhancement supplements” to be a legendary author. Yeah this one's on me, my bad.
Redstall is so incredibly full of herself it hurts. She constantly talks of herself as a hero and the only investigative journalist (not even going to get into how she absolutely is NOT A FUCKING JOURNALIST) in the world brave enough to interview these ‘horrifying monsters’. Every eight sentences or so she reminds the reader that she is a tough and heroic woman who will leave no stone unturned in search of truth. Never mind that said stones have been turned over sixteen times already, by people with actual skill in writing.
Also apparently she is the most beautiful woman in the world. Or at least that’s what every man she meets thinks of her. According to Redstall, Keith Jesperson said this to her before one interview: “...how could I kill someone with such an inner and outer beauty such as you, Victoria? ...Why would I want to kill such a beautiful part of society?”
I absolutely refuse to believe I’m the only one who thinks this is fake AF. It reads like a line from a sad teenagers diary. No. Fuck you. Nobody on this godforsaken planet has ever said that. To anyone. No. This is SUCH AN IDIOTIC LIE to even tell people!! What compelled you to do this??? I'm on the spectrum and even I can see through this lunacy she attempts to pass as storytelling. STOP IT Fuck you fuck you fuck you
Last, but not least: why do you hate other women so much, Victoria? Why are you so judgmental (yes, I am aware I'm a judgemental cunt myself, thank you very much, I'm still learning to rid myself of internalized misogyny and this book set me back about a DECADE) and a total bitch when discussing either the victims of these men or women who in some other way are connected to the cases? Does it make you feel better about yourself when you victim blame these people? It brings absolutely zero additional value to the story when you describe a person as “a loose woman, a stripper who only cared about herself and her coke habit”. Just fucking stop it. It might surprise you, but prostitutes and strippers with or without drug habits are still people. Why on earth do you find it necessary to talk shit about these people? What do you gain from calling a murder victim ugly? What the fuck is wrong with you?!
“She was no oil painting”
“ this brainless woman”
“ – these mindless souls acting like sluts”
“— all these women had faces so ugly they could stop a clock”
Bullshit book, bullshit person. Don't waste your precious time on this. Not only a horrible writer but also a disgusting person. And in case I haven't said it enough: fuck you, Victoria.
Man I wish it was possible to unread a book.
February 1, 2012
This would've been an interesting book if the author wasn't so full of herself and deadset on bringing everybody else down. Fair enough, this book is about serial killers and they don't exactly deserve kindness or respect, but is it really an integral part of the 'story' to comment on a serial killer's shoes? And is it really necessary to claim that one of the victims was "no oil painting"? It was like reading chick-lit; an infuriating book to read.
February 15, 2015
To get an idea about what to expect from this “true crime” novel, you just need to look at the back of the book. Up in the left hand corner, you have a photo of the very blonde Victoria Redstall. And Victoria enjoys touting her blonde ambition throughout this novel.
After traipsing through 11 pages of introductions, acknowledgements, forewords etc., where Victoria waxes on about respect and unbiased opinions, the text is littered with personal asides that at best, are offensive, although oftentimes disrespectful to the dead in which she is speaking about.
Discussing serial killers, and crime at large should always be reported with a certain gravitas for the subject matter at hand. I do not think that there is space for frivolity and asides when outlining how a person extinguished multiple lives.
Informed opinion is what counts – there are various forms of information that you can collate when investigating murders, however Victoria appears to place little stock in those tried and true methods of investigative journalism – reports from witnesses and victims? Nah, forget that, lets delve deep into how the serial killer hugged Victoria and thought she was a Madonna – and would NEVER wish to kill her!! (insert giggles).
Here’s some of my favorite passages from Victoria at her “best”
“Of course, she behaved like a slut”
“He never had and respect for these types of women… I was a female he could respect”
She is derogatory towards women, victim blaming a lot of the time – prostitutes especially bear the wrath of the pure, killer respected Victoria, and there is an underlying theme of “they deserved it” from her perspective, as well as those of the killers she met.
Victoria spends a bit of time casting her ire on “murder groupies” – those who write to serial killers wanting to establish a connection or relationship. She degrades these women, and upholds her own intelligence and power – SHE knows the real killers, she’s smelt them, been in rooms for hours with them, she knows their flaws and their truths. Reading this type of hyperbole is hard to take. Why someone would pride themselves on being manipulative (although I would beg to differ on her assumption that she’s reached the truth in these killers) and able to establish true and real connections with serial killers is worse than the “murder groupies” she talks about.
Written in a very “devil may care” prose, Victoria is not a relatable narrator. She flips between personal asides and shoddy retellings of crimes, oftentimes reporting callously and with little regard given to the victims she writes about. There’s a childishness in her ‘in the moment’ stories, where she likens her experiences to Clarice and Hannibal, which would be funny if not for the fact that she’s meeting people who are real and committed real monstrosities, unlike the fable of “The Silence of the Lambs”.
There’s an assumption made by Victoria that her ability to report on such killers makes her an expert in the field. I’d disagree with this wholeheartedly. I find her to be far too flippant and self serving, and also quite embarrassing to those who work hard to learn and become experts in the field of profiling, victimology and criminology.
You’d find better investigative and respectful journalism in People magazine to be honest.
After traipsing through 11 pages of introductions, acknowledgements, forewords etc., where Victoria waxes on about respect and unbiased opinions, the text is littered with personal asides that at best, are offensive, although oftentimes disrespectful to the dead in which she is speaking about.
Discussing serial killers, and crime at large should always be reported with a certain gravitas for the subject matter at hand. I do not think that there is space for frivolity and asides when outlining how a person extinguished multiple lives.
Informed opinion is what counts – there are various forms of information that you can collate when investigating murders, however Victoria appears to place little stock in those tried and true methods of investigative journalism – reports from witnesses and victims? Nah, forget that, lets delve deep into how the serial killer hugged Victoria and thought she was a Madonna – and would NEVER wish to kill her!! (insert giggles).
Here’s some of my favorite passages from Victoria at her “best”
“Of course, she behaved like a slut”
“He never had and respect for these types of women… I was a female he could respect”
She is derogatory towards women, victim blaming a lot of the time – prostitutes especially bear the wrath of the pure, killer respected Victoria, and there is an underlying theme of “they deserved it” from her perspective, as well as those of the killers she met.
Victoria spends a bit of time casting her ire on “murder groupies” – those who write to serial killers wanting to establish a connection or relationship. She degrades these women, and upholds her own intelligence and power – SHE knows the real killers, she’s smelt them, been in rooms for hours with them, she knows their flaws and their truths. Reading this type of hyperbole is hard to take. Why someone would pride themselves on being manipulative (although I would beg to differ on her assumption that she’s reached the truth in these killers) and able to establish true and real connections with serial killers is worse than the “murder groupies” she talks about.
Written in a very “devil may care” prose, Victoria is not a relatable narrator. She flips between personal asides and shoddy retellings of crimes, oftentimes reporting callously and with little regard given to the victims she writes about. There’s a childishness in her ‘in the moment’ stories, where she likens her experiences to Clarice and Hannibal, which would be funny if not for the fact that she’s meeting people who are real and committed real monstrosities, unlike the fable of “The Silence of the Lambs”.
There’s an assumption made by Victoria that her ability to report on such killers makes her an expert in the field. I’d disagree with this wholeheartedly. I find her to be far too flippant and self serving, and also quite embarrassing to those who work hard to learn and become experts in the field of profiling, victimology and criminology.
You’d find better investigative and respectful journalism in People magazine to be honest.
May 1, 2016
I can't finish this book. It seems like it's based more on her opinions than facts, and quite a bit about herself . She was mortified the other inmates and guests knew she was visiting Keith Jesperson.. She even refers to him as 'Mr. Bigmouth' for him telling 'the entire prison population she was coming to visit him.' Why should she even care what the other inmates think, especially if the reason she's there is to interview him. She brags about knowing him more than anyone else, quoting from the book 'so if anyone thinks they know more about keith jesperson than me, take a step forward, if you will.'
April 22, 2018
I would actually enjoy hearing the interviews themselves. I actually liked this story. Its interesting dives right into the crimes. Gives detailed information on the killers and crimes. Fairly graphic. This grizzly subject. It is definitely worth adding to your collection. I liked the book alot.
April 26, 2014
Terrible
January 12, 2015
It wasn't great, it was done like an tabloid. A shame because she had such great source material.
October 31, 2022
Abandoned, primitive style.
March 18, 2021
I read this book as it was a source used on The Last Podcast on the Left. I can only imagine Mr. Parks didn't give this much a lot of praise as I typically trust his judgment and this book was a damn chore to get through.
While what the serial killers themselves had to say was interesting(though we can all say without a doubt that most were trying to make themselves look good as the first two had a holier than thou attitude about how they turned themselves in) what made this book painfully hard to read was the authors ability to somehow throw shade on the damn victims yet simultaneously praise how smart these killers are.
She also gives off a "not-like-other-girls-vibe" that gives her narrative the ability to make your eyes roll directly out of your sockets.
If you want to read an actual fascinating true crime book, find one that doesn't have so much focus on the author as it does the serial killers.
[Spoiler]
There is legitimately a part in the book where she talks about laughing out loud at a damn judge and talking back to him and has the nerve to say she cried all the way home as if we are supposed to feel sorry for that bs. What a cringe fest.
While what the serial killers themselves had to say was interesting(though we can all say without a doubt that most were trying to make themselves look good as the first two had a holier than thou attitude about how they turned themselves in) what made this book painfully hard to read was the authors ability to somehow throw shade on the damn victims yet simultaneously praise how smart these killers are.
She also gives off a "not-like-other-girls-vibe" that gives her narrative the ability to make your eyes roll directly out of your sockets.
If you want to read an actual fascinating true crime book, find one that doesn't have so much focus on the author as it does the serial killers.
[Spoiler]
There is legitimately a part in the book where she talks about laughing out loud at a damn judge and talking back to him and has the nerve to say she cried all the way home as if we are supposed to feel sorry for that bs. What a cringe fest.
December 11, 2020
Maybe you shouldn't write a book about serial killers if you're going to talk about their victims like they had it coming AND insert your opinions on everything AND talk about how tough and awesome and professional and not like those other dumb women you are every other line? Written like a gossip column and with the informative depth of one.
Couldn't even finish it.
Couldn't even finish it.
October 8, 2020
Meh
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 25, 2020
Author too full of herself
June 12, 2025
Nope, not a great read...
June 30, 2025
Reads like it was written by a 16 year old
October 18, 2021
I found this rather boring, and rather centred around the author - somewhat sensationally written, and should have been so much more interesting than it was. And it was all about the author, not the serial killers. I found the author rather distasteful as a person, which came through in her writing.
One that will not be kept on my shelves, but given to charity.
#ABoS
One that will not be kept on my shelves, but given to charity.
#ABoS
February 28, 2012
Absolutely amazing book... a real insight into these guys. Victoria has done a great job. I write to inmates in America (death row and non-death row) and she's really insightful about them and what goes on day-to-day inside their minds.
January 10, 2019
Bizarrely pointless. Great source material but didn't have a clue how to use it. It's mainly about her and I imagine she's seeking fame. God only knows what the prisoners thought lol. She even seemed offended they werent interested in her.
September 9, 2015
Link to the review on my blog:
http://vampireplacebo.wordpress.com/2...
http://vampireplacebo.wordpress.com/2...
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December 29, 2021Review here:
https://nordie.wordpress.com/2021/08/...
https://nordie.wordpress.com/2021/08/...
June 29, 2018
couldnt finish. author far too arrogant!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews