Spree Killers: Ruthless Perpetrators of Mass Murder

by Rodney Castleden, Gordon Kerr

20 April 1999, Columbine High School, Colorado, USA. Lunchtime. Enter Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold armed with shotguns. Pumping bullets into two classmates they left one dead and the other fighting for his life. They went on the rampage through the school leaving in their wake a trail of bloody death and destruction. In the aftermath fifteen were dead, including the killers, and twenty-four were seriously injured. It is hard to understand why two 17-year-olds carried out this atrocious attack, but sadly, this urge to kill, whether meticulously planned or frighteningly spontaneous, cannot be predicted or prevented. On 5 November 2009, Nidal Malik Hasan was sitting at a desk at Fort Hood military base, just outside Killeen, Texas, awaiting a routine medical test. After a few uneventful seconds had passed, Hasan leapt out of his chair, produced two handguns and sprayed bullets around the room, killing thirteen people and injuring thirty. This attack lasted just ten minutes. SPREE KILLERS examines the events surrounding some of the world's most shocking mass killings; from the loner school kid with a shotgun to postal workers that made one too many deliveries.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2011

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each case was interesting, but many lacked a sense of proper ending or closure. The book, aad a whole, lacked a proper ending. The introduction could have been split to incorporate some kind of rounding off or closure for book. Although I found each case interesting to read, the style of writing has not inspired me to buy or read his other books.

[Keybo Taheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

As mentioned before by another user there really was no conclusion to this book. When I went to wikipedia to look up details on these crimes... there were parts that were literally cut pasted from wikipedia. Overall feels like wikipedia articles arranged into a book with no redeeming quality. 3 star

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

On reading the sub title and introduction to this book I was expecting it to be an exploration of the motivations and psychology of spree killers. This however, was not the case and what followed were simple descriptions of horrible events with no analysis.

Indeed, like another reviewer I found that a lot of the descriptions seemed to be copied word for word from wikipedia. Very disappointing .