Descent into Madness: The Diary of a Killer

by Vernon Frolick

The tangled path of a crazed fugitive leads through the wilds, the courts, and eventually ends on the final trail. The incredible diaries of Michael Oros outline his thoughts, actions, and reactions throughout his 13-year descent into madness. Michael Oros' confiscated diaries, with entries faithfully kept right to the time an Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) bullet ended his life, chronicle this tragic story, including the murder of RCMP Constable Michael Joseph Buday.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Biography

368 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

Reviews

[Garry Rodgers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I'm Garry Rodgers, the RCMP member who shot and killed Michael Oros - the madman this story entails; the deranged soul that shot and killed my partner, Mike Buday - a best friend.

Vernon Frolick is 99% accurate in 'Descent Into Madness'. Vern had inside access to all the police officers and investigation files involving Oros and the 'Teslin Lake Incident'. But the 1% that Vern didn't write is the supernatural facts that occurred, causing many people to believe that paranormal intervention occurred - that day - on that frozen lake.

It isn't that Vern doesn't know those facts - he felt the ghostly tones would discredit an otherwise fantastic story.

'Descent Into Madness' takes you into a black hole of psychosis, and the lives of police officers sucked into it. If I could rate this book Ten Stars, I would.

Garry Rodgers
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Regimental #34604 (Ret'd)

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Descent into madness follows Michael Oros aka Sheslay Free Mike, who escapes the draft as a young man and lives in the Canadian bush. The book chronicles Oros for lack of better wording, descent into madness. He starts out ideological trying to live off-grid in a community setting helping one another, all working together to make a better life (Manson family style) but he soon realized most people aren't cut out for bush living, and as he watches the friends he makes uproot and head back to the cities, he ends up left with no one for company but his thoughts, and that's never good for an extended period.

Oros was a paranoid schizophrenic and the extreme remoteness and lack of human contact exasperated his condition. Vernon Frolick did an amazing job capturing what Oros must have felt as his insanity progressed, and his delusions became more and more his reality.

I ended up with mixed emotions about Oros and what happened. On the one hand, he was a raging ass hole. He stole from people, he poached animals, and he murdered at least two innocent people. He took what he wanted, and lived how he wanted with no thought or consideration for anyone else. On the other hand, he was suffering from severe mental illness and insane delusions. In his mind what he did was completely justified if not warranted. The government was plotting against him and it was his duty to stop them. It's hard to not feel bad for him. He deserved what he got but none the less it was sad to follow his mental deterioration.

I highly enjoyed it. Hard to believe it is a true story and happened not that long ago.

[Russell Olenick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. On the surface I really enjoyed the outdoor-wilderness adventure that the main character lives out which the author certainly describes in enough detail to have my imagination take me there.
And on a deeper level the author does a great job taking you on Oros' psychological journey from a idealistic hippie to a deranged lawless hermit. The end result of course is a tremendous tragedy. (Although even from the beginning I think there is the reality that Oros was mad - never to live a "normal" life) I felt sympathetic to Oros as the protagonist so the impact of the tragedy affected me significantly. There is a strange and captivating struggle from wanting him to succeed - finding that freedom and somehow making a true friend along the way - and the slow buildup of dread that he is in fact a killer that ends up taking the life of Michael Buday. The RCMP had an impossible mission to bring Oros into custody. There is a real feeling for their bravery. The final confrontation is something incredible and I can see how Garry Rodgers would be led to want to express his story to all that happened.
The upside and entertainment value of any embellishment by the author to create dialogue and make minor character assumptions doesn't take away from the sense that you are reading a true story.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't usually comment on books unless it is one of the fabulous ones I've won on goodreads but in this case I'll make as exception. Reading this book was like getting inside Oros's head and rattling around. It was very heavy and one that you could only read a few pages at a time. You could almost feel like you were sinking into the quagmire that was his mind. It just goes to show that people are not meant to be alone because your mind will start playing tricks on you. I wonder how he would have turned out if he headed back to civilization with the rest of his friend. This would be a good book for someone who is taking psychology to read.

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

A police officer's telling of hunting a mentally ill man in the Canadian wilderness of the Yukon Territory (near Teslin in B.C.) around 1985. We read of this man's growing up in America, his views on how to live, his urge to be by himself, his descent into becoming mad. Could not one but more deaths be avoided? What if the airplane pilot would have forgone his morning coffee? What if the judges wouldn't have had to be so forgiving? What if the Natives would have told him to leave their land? What if the Conservation officer would have paid him a visit?

[Myles · Rating 4 out of 5]

For years I looked for this book, and finally got my hands on it at Christmas. This crazy American bushman committed his crimes just a few hours away from where I now live, in the Yukon. The author got hold of Oros’ diaries and provides the reader with an exceptionally good insight into the mind of this paranoid maniac. The book sometimes strays off course with passages filled with stream of consciousness stuff but for the most part it’s an excellent read.

[Danika Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The use of Oros' diaries gives a haunting insight into the effects of his schizophrenia and the loneliness that came with his struggles of surviving each day. The struggle those RCMP had to go through to capture him was baffling. Very good read, there is beauty the madness as well.

[Gloria Downing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating story if this is something that interests you!

[Carolyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the story is important, this is a very tedious read. I would not recommend. Many parts simply repeat themselves or are superfluous to the actual story.
Either way RIP RCMP Cst Buday.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend lent me this book and i'll admit I didn't expect too much from the cheesy binding and cover with which this book was published...but thank god those expectations turned out to be dead wrong. This book is very well written - and even more so, extremely well thought and lain out. At first I thought having each chapter jump forward and back in decades would get annoying, but the contrivance is so well done that I found myself racing to finish chapters to get back to the past, then back to present - etc. etc. The suspense is very high and well paced, as well, in many portions of the book...only settling now and then just long enough to lull you into thinking the worst is over when deep down you know it can't be. I found myself wondering how much of the book is fictionalized and how much isn't. It is a true story and there are extensive diaries and interviews to go on - but so much detail has to be the author's license to give us an entertaining book while still telling us the facts. Either way or any way he did it, Mr. Frolick put together a very taut and creepy look into disturbing true tale - and ultimately, wrote a really excellent book.

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was on the shelves at the bookstore where I work and after a year or so of occasionally re-noticing it on the shelves and thumbing through it I finally picked it up. It's a rather unique true crime novel in that it's written largely from the killer's perspective through his journals, allowing the reader an insight into his inner thoughts, personal philosophy and indeed the deterioration of his mental state. I found Frolick's writing to be at its best when detailing these contents, often with an almost conversational feel despite generally being the thoughts and writings of a sole individual on his own in the middle of the vast wilderness. This was just fascinating and so much more engrossing and different than your average run-of-the-mill true crime story. I only wish I had picked it up the first time I found it.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting look into the psyche of a killer. I think Goodreads should go with a half star system, I would have liked to have given this better than a 3, however wasn't quite a 4 for me.

When the author is conveying the conversations the officers are having with one another, it seemed like he was trying too hard. Also, some of the initial scenes in the book that seem to go off in an odd tangent where really there is no evidence supporting it, so it becomes more of a poorly written story than a tale based off of what happened.

That being said, totally worth reading, and at 350 pages (it took me a month, but I'm borderline short bus rider) it's a quick read for most.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going into this book I was a bit wary, especially if the killer delved in my country. And I will admit, first starting into it, I wasn't impressed. Thankfully or not, as the page numbers increased, we really got to see who he was. A killer. This book really showed how broken his mind was, and it had me shivering. I'd recommend it, but cautiously, as it isn't for everyone. Vernon Frolick did a great job separating people from just characters, as readers sometimes don't realize just that. And that alone had me getting emotional at the end.

[Jason Mackie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely a waste of time, so is his other books, I couldn’t help but keep thinking how I handed him his ass in court on a bunked up assault charge , by an evil bitch, and put the pricks tail between his legs, the ass hat never seen my win coming, he had his dick pumping more blood than his brain, see he is also a crown prosecutor in Penticton bc.
I bought both of his books at a used book store, for 50 cents each, the tid bit of information should be enough heads up to not waste your time.

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Gives insight into the mind of a troubled man and his demons.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting story of life in Northern B.C. and Yukon and about a "Mad Trapper" that took place in the 1980s.