The Serial Killer Whisperer: How One Man's Tragedy Helped Unlock the Deadliest Secrets of the World's Most Terrifying Killers

by Pete Earley

Fifteen-year-old Tony Ciaglia had everything a teenager could want until he suffered a horrific head injury at summer camp. When he emerged from a coma, his right side was paralyzed, he had to relearn how to walk and talk, and he needed countless pills to control his emotions.
Abandoned and shunned by his friends, he began writing to serial killers on a whim and discovered that the same traumatic brain injury that made him an outcast to his peers now enabled him to connect emotionally with notorious murderers. Soon many of America’s most dangerous psychopaths were revealing to him heinous details about their crimes—even those they’d never been convicted of.

Tony despaired as he found himself inescapably drawn into their violent worlds of murder, rape, and torture—until he found a way to use his gift. Asked by investigators from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to aid in solving a murder, Tony launched his own searches for forgotten victims with clues provided by the killers themselves.

The Serial Killer Whisperer takes readers into the minds of murderers like never before, but it also tells the inspiring tale of a struggling American family and a tormented young man who found healing and closure in the most unlikely way—by connecting with monsters.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Biography, Psychology, Mystery, Audiobook

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 5, 2012

About the author

Pete Earley is a storyteller who has penned 13 books including the New York Times bestseller The Hot House and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness.
After a 14-year career in journalism, including six years at The Washington Post, Pete became a full-time author with a commitment to expose the stories that entertain and surprise.
His honest reporting and compelling writing helped him garner success as one of few authors with ”the power to introduce new ideas and give them currency,” according to Washingtonian magazine.
When Pete’s life was turned upside down by the events recounted in his book Crazy, he joined the National Alliance of Mental Illness to advocate for strong mental health reform on the public stage.

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello Everyone.
My name is Tony Ciaglia, and I am a traumatic brain injury survivor. I am also the subject of this book, The Serial Killer Whisperer. I love to go online and read the mixed reviews of this book. I do understand that because of the controversial subject matter, this book is not for everyone. Some have questioned the sanity of my parents and brother as to how they could let me engage in such a hobby talking with such heinous people. I can assure you all that I have the most loving family anyone could ever ask for and all of this was done in a controlled atmosphere.

I have been through hell and back as the result of a horrendous jet ski accident that left me in a coma for almost two months. The real story here is a story of struggle, recovery, love of a family, courage, and faith. My story was meant to provide faith to those that may be struggling right now, and hopefully touch people in a way that they have never been touched. For those of you that missed that part of the story, I'm sorry.. maybe you can read it again. =)

Now for the serial killers. I think we are all interested in that darkness, some just don't want to admit it. Whenever I tell people that I write with serial killers I usually get a disgusted look, and then they have a million questions for me. It's ok, I don't mind it and it's okay to admit that you have a strange fascination. Our justice system puzzles me. They set out to convict a man or woman for the terrible crimes or murders that they committed. Once they get a conviction for one or two murders, that's all they care about. Personally, if a man or woman killed 25 people and they were convicted of two, then I want to know what happened to the other 23. It's only fair to the families right? So, that's what I did. I set out on a mission to find out what happened to the "forgotten ones"and to see if I could help people understand these men and women so that they can be avoided.

Now, I did not write this book, Pete Earley did. I did, however, provide him with ALL of the information that is in that book so I guess you could call him a glorified ghost writer in this case. His style and order for this book may not appeal to all. What you need to understand is that I demanded that the story be told the way that I lived it, and the way that the letters were received. I know that it's a tough book to read, but out of respect for the victims and their families, I didn't want any part of the book be sugar coated. I hope you all can find some respect in that.

I'd like to close this by saying that I am humbled by all of your feedback and respect all of your opinions whether good or bad. My family and I poured our heart and soul into the pages of this book and I hope that each of you were able to walk away with something from reading it.

I have a personal webpage at www.tonyciaglia.com and you can contact me through there if you have any questions at all. I do read them all and will do my absolute best to respond to all questions. Also, I appeared on The Doctors on Monday March 26th. In case you missed it, you can find it at www.thedoctorstv.com

Remember to always live in the calm after the storm.

Respectfully,
Tony Ciaglia

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basically, this book is of 2 parts.

- An incredible account of how a family and, in particular, a boy overcame an unsurmountable situation. And even managed to build something remarkable in the process.
- An account of pen-palling with serial killers. Well, this is one kind of fascination. Let's hope it works for everyone involved.

Endearing: This boy's ability to go over his newfound limitations and his family doing all of that to get him to live his life to the full.
Creepy: the serial killer part. Frankly, I would have been very worried about anyone going this way. Though, I can see why the family decided to be open-minded about things. Still, the whole debacle could have gone south in so many ways.

Q:
He was so dedicated to getting better that his therapists began calling him the “the Cliffs Notes for TBI recovery.” If people wanted to see the power of sheer determination and relentless work, they needed to watch Tony. (c)
Q:
A series of brain scans showed that much of his right temporal lobe and left frontal lobe had been destroyed.
At first, Tony could answer questions only with a yes or no. He couldn’t initiate a conversation. He slowly began improving, but even after a month of therapy, his words came out in bursts and were out of sequence. He sounded like a confused Yoda from Star Wars. (c)
Q:
Bulino had noticed during their sessions together that Tony reacted differently when he was called by his full name. For some unexplained reason, it made him focus. (c)

The true crime lettering stuff is very telling:
Q:
Who would have thought you could offend a serial killer? (c)
Q:
I would be willing to bet that you have rubbed shoulders with someone who has killed before. (c)

[Carol]

Serial Killer Whisperer seems a must for fans of true crime. That’s me even though I haven’t read many in the past few years. This may be due to the subject matter or it’s possible I haven’t found a case that interested me.

My plan while reading Serial Killer Whisperer was not to review the book on GR. I was reluctant to share that I actually read this going so far as to suggest it to a GR friend through a message who I knew would want to read it rather than sharing my thoughts by posting any comments. I suppose I was taking the easy way out. If you didn’t know I read it, you couldn’t think “What’s wrong with that woman?” as Serial Killer Whisperer ranks as one of the most disturbing, even nauseating, true crime books I have read however it is one that will remain with me.

When Tony Ciaglia was in his early teens he was in a freak wave runner accident, one that left him brain injured. His traumatic brain injury resulted in friends dumping him and as he grew older was the cause of severe mood swings, problems with relationships; many of the general issues that you would expect when the brain gets slammed as his did. I think it was when he was in his thirties that his therapist suggested he get a hobby to help control the emotional ups and downs. The hobby Tony chooses was an odd one. He decided he was going to correspond with prisoners, but not just any of the myriads of those behind bars. He chose to start a correspondence with serial killers. Gaining his family’s approval of the plan by promising that he will not only let them read what he sends but also allow them to read what responses he sends out several letters. Tony soon has what I hate to call a pen pal relationship with some of the most celebrated serial killers, one in which he and they share a great deal of personal information, what could be perceived as a friendship. He has a phone installed, one he calls “the murder phone”, used only to take calls from these killers.

It is the correspondence itself that causes the most difficulty for this reader, as it is extremely graphic. Many readers question whether the detail shared here is necessary or if you can really call Tony a whisperer. I listened to the book and know for me that hearing the text verbatim describing the murder of the victims made the reality even worse. I did skip parts. After listening to the author’s note, I think I would have to agree that quoting the letters was necessary for an understanding of the subject matter. It’s possible that fewer letters could have been shared with the same results. Peter Earley expresses that he regrets any pain or additional suffering this may have caused the victim’s families and assures the reader that no one was paid for their cooperation nor would any criminals profit from sale of book. He also notes that what is in quotes was taken directly from the letters but letters were not always quoted in their entirety. It is difficult when listening to know where the quote marks are making this a better choice to read. Alan Sklar provides brings just the right sinister narration to the reading of the letters. Earley also notes that all names are real except for a few which were changed by request or necessity and that a map that is described leading to one killer’s trophy stash has been changed in order to keep others from trying to find it. Earley also states that he has constructed the narrative flow as factually as possible.

Note that I do not name the names of these serial killers. If you are interested you will hear enough about them without me giving them the time of day.

There is a fascination with serial murder. I became interested in true crime back in the 70’s when three young girls disappeared near my home. As a young mother of two little girls it was all the more horrible to read about. To this day those girls and their killer(s) have not been found and their cold cases are being looked at once again. Remember this was also the time that Ted Bundy was killing and soon after Michael Ross was in the news. In 1980 a young woman, sister of a young man in our town, was strangled and murdered and dumped in a swap. I became interested in hopes of finding out what goes on in the brain of serial killers but that question has never truly been answered by anything I’ve read. Psychologists give many reasons why we read about these crimes. Dr. Robert Simon explains it this way in the book.

…“Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde nature of serial murders that fascinate us. Most serial killers appear outwardly quite ordinary like your neighbor or mine living normal everyday lives in which just as we do they fill the car with gasoline, hold down a job, and pay taxes,” Simon explained in a professional article. “From behind this veneer of ordinariness their Mr. Hyde personality, representative of the darkest aspect of humanity, jumps out to torture and kill victims—and to transfix us.”

Suffice it to say I have read true crime and will probably do so again.

What moved me forward in Serial Killer Whisperer was Tony’s story itself. Here was something tangible, something you could grab onto and have a chance at understanding. Tony Ciaglia’s TBI is the fascinating aspect of this book. How he and his family struggle and deal with TBI and Tony’s determination to find purpose in his life made the book worth reading. Tony worries that his injury could mean he has the traits of a serial killer but soon learns that there is much that separates him and his prison acquaintances. He realizes that he has the ability “to get those killers to share their innermost thoughts and secrets” and that this does allow some information to be revealed to help lawmakers that would not have been if not for his efforts.

There are interesting statistics given throughout. At the time of this publication, 2012, here is just one that gives pause for thought:

“The most recent figures from law enforcement that there at least 50 serial killers on the prowl at any given time in the United States. Some claim the number could be as high as 200. The FBI has estimated that serial murders could claim an average of 11 lives a day in the Untied States during the twenty-first century.”

I would have appreciated a more thorough wrap-up by Earley in the epilogue. There were several loose ends but I guess that’s the nature of the stories being told. I’ll probably seek out information about Tony Ciaglia in the future to see where his hobby takes him.

[Shaun · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a hodge-podge of oddness.

I'll be the first to admit that I am somewhat fascinated by true crime books, mostly to the extent that they explore the darker side of human nature. The blurb on the back of this book also reminded me of a character from Hannibal the TV series, Will Graham, a sort of savant who has an uncanny ability to empathize, allowing him to feel and think like the killers he is attempting to profile.

Needless to say, the main character in this book (Tony) is no Will Graham, and thus this wasn't quite what I expected. The book opens with Tony's story, describing how a freak WaveRunner accident changes this young boy's life. The days, weeks, months, and years that follow are filled with a number of challenges that include severe emotional outbursts. In a effort to cope, Tony is encouraged to find a hobby, which he does, a letter writing campaign in which he eventually befriends some of the most horrific predators of our time.

The book then becomes a mix of Tony's journey, excerpts from the bizarre correspondence, and vignettes of some of the murders his pen pals have committed.

For starters, I felt that Tony's fascination goes beyond reasonable curiosity and his family's support of his hobby is almost as bizarre as the hobby. Tony repeatedly refers to his pen pals as his friends and seems to take what they tell him at face value. He seemingly lacks insight into himself let alone the killers he befriends. In fact, Tony becomes so drawn into these relationships that he arranges to meet a couple of the convicts.

Secondly, the correspondence provided is disturbingly graphic and almost gratuitously so since it's clear that much of what is being shared by these murderers is either not true or embellished. The letters are also filled with such hateful and crude language as to be offensive to the average person.

Eventually Tony decides to use his relationship with the killers and the insights he's supposedly developed to help solve cold cases and thus give closure to a number of families, but the whole thing still just feels off.

I have eclectic reading tastes and am often drawn to the morbid...but this just left me feeling dirty. There was no payoff here. Nothing profound or interesting. This was rolling around in dirt for the sake of getting dirty. There is no moral to the story and that is its major weakness in my opinion.

Honestly, I think many of these killers saw/see Tony as a gift. Through their correspondence they were able to relive their crimes to a self-proclaimed captive audience (and a rather naïve one at that). From what I've read about this group of individuals, Tony gave them exactly what they craved, which I find kind of icky. He reminded me of the women who often write to these types of men with hopes of pursing a romantic relationship, claiming that they realize these men are simply misunderstood. There is some suggestion that Tony is actually (at least ultimately) the manipulator in these exchanges. But then again, if both parties are being insincere than I don't really see the point.

This was okay considering what it is. I'm not sure I would recommend it, unless you happen to be a hard core reader of books that examine the serial murder, and even then...I'm just not sure.

[Rissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️
Very interesting to say the least.

[Laura Cowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good story, I enjoyed reading it, it's fairly well written (though quite disorganized) and I have a couple of complaints. First is with the title/subtitle. It's incredibly misleading. SPOILER: Tony doesn't get any secrets from any serial killers until the epilogue. The EPILOGUE!!! Sure he talks to them often by mail and phone but is he told secrets? No. It's more like he's cannon fodder the way they detail their kills to him, but hey, no one should expect stories about rainbows from these guys.
The second complaint is about the scope of the book. The subject AKA "The Whisperer" keeps up correspondence with over 40 serial killers & misc. murderous felons during the course of the story. How many do you get to hear about in any detail? Three. Yep, 3. There are two more introduced in the last two chapters and one of them refuses to talk to the guy. One more has a couple paragraphs in the epilogue. Gotta love that epilogue :/
It shoulda been called "Tony and his Serial Killer Pen-Pals; How One Mans Traumatic Brain Injuries Allowed Him To Connect With Psychopaths"

[Ruthy lavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew this story would both fascinate and repulse me, and it did both in equal measure.
The story of Traumatic brain injury survivor Tony Ciaglia and his correspondence to and from infamous serial killers is like nothing I’ve ever read before.
It is a crazy story from the moment of Tony’s unfortunate accident, through his long and painful recovery, up to the time that he thought writing to serial killers would be a good hobby to help him pass the time.
It’s quite bonkers, but for some reason it is incredible and absolutely gripping.
The content of the book is sometimes extremely graphic and harrowing, but plenty of warning is given about this beforehand.
There are a lot of true crime books and biographies out there, but this stands out, it is so unique that I’m still quite shocked at what I just read…. But I found it impossible to put down.
If you love true crime there is no doubt that this will completely enthral you.

[Ashley (spookishmommy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Katherine Addison · Rating 2 out of 5]

[library]
[audiobook]

So apparently I am fussy as all get out about audiobook readers. This one drove me crazy by having a Serial Killer Voice, so that all the serial killers, and there are several in this book, sounded like Henchman #2 in a '50s gangster movie. Also, the way he said "traumatic brain injury"--every time but once--like it was the first time he'd ever said it and it needed extra emphasis because it was so exotic ...

Like I said. Fussy.

The book itself suffers from not quite knowing what it wants to be. Is it the inspirational story of a man who overcomes a terrible accident to find his purpose in life? Is it an exploration of the (empty) inner lives of people with Antisocial Personality Disorder? (Earley calls them, always and only, "serial killers," which I think is both a reification--all people who commit serial murder are the same thing--and a distancing strategy--so you can draw a line between US (human beings) and THEM (serial killers) and only Tony straddles the line between the two.) Is it a book about how a young man with a TBI started writing to incarcerated serial killers and ended up solving cold cases based on the information they gave him in their letters?

That's the book I wanted, and it is, sadly, the least present in the actual book I got. I'm not terribly interested in Tony Ciaglia's TBI or his heroic struggles to overcome the damage it did to his frontal lobes, although I fully acknowledge that the accident was horrific and his struggles quite genuinely heroic. That's just not the genre of nonfiction I was looking for. And the empty inner lives of serial killers are just exactly that. Empty. Yes, they're monstrous and abhorrent, but they're also all the same. Each of them has one story and he tells that story over and over again. Every murder he tells Tony about is the same murder.

This makes perfect sense, given how people who commit serial sexual murder do seem to get stuck in one story. That's what creates their signature, the things that they can't edit out of their own behavior. The repetition and the ritualization also make sense of why people who commit serial sexual murder frequently never bother to find out their victims' names, can't remember how many people they've killed, etc. Because the victim is really only a prop in the story this person is telling himself. (Or herself, to be fair, although most of the people who commit this kind of serial murder do seem to be men--which is not to say women don't commit serial murder. They just don't usually commit this kind.) These people need secrets (as Ian Brady says in The Gates of Janus, as Ted Bundy tried to tell Bob Keppel without telling him), and I caught that moment over and over, the thing that they cannot tell, cannot talk about. And they both create and keep their secrets with dead girls. (Not all serial killers are male heterosexuals. But Dahmer and Gacy, to name the two most infamous male homosexual serial killers, were both self-destructively obsessed with keeping their victims with them, in their homes. Not with this sort of dark, inverted Treasure Island story about burying your secrets in the wild, so that no one but you will ever know where they are. No matter how many victims a Ridgway or a Hansen may reveal to the police, there's always going to be another one, a secret one, that he keeps to himself, because it's the secret that provides the magnet he holds himself together around.

But my point is that the interminable quotations of letters from Arthur Shawcross, Joe Metheny, and David Gore--even while they induce pity for the victims, disgust at and contempt for the murderers, and mingled horror and revulsion at these women's fates, both before and after death--become intensely tedious. If nothing else The Serial Killer Whisperer is a powerful antidote to any tendency you might feel to romanticize serial killers (*cough*Hannibal*cough*) because there's nothing in these men to romanticize. They are hollow men. When Tony realizes, about 2/3 of the way through the book, that it's not the "serial killers" doing him a favor by writing to him, it's him doing them a favor--possibly the biggest favor anyone has ever done them in their entire, wretched, self-absorbed lives--he is absolutely right.

SPOILER: In this book, Tony Ciaglia does not actually solve any cold cases.

He provides information to investigators which may lead to the solution of cold cases, but Shawcross died before he confessed any unsolved murders (and the book completely ignores the one extremely specific description Shawcross gave of where he'd left one victim's skull), Metheny (who died this August) refused to give precise and accurate information without being paid, Gore pussyfooted coyly around the location of his stash of Polaroids and scalps and started another flirtation about discussing his cold cases in the last pages of the book (and if it's true that his letters to Tony sped up his execution, then the justice of poetry has been served) and the information Tony gets from Robert Hansen's cellmate about the location of two previously unknown victims gets swallowed up into the official investigation and we never learn what happened. (Those two victims are still unconfirmed according to wikipedia, so I'm guessing that ultimately nothing came of Tony's information.) So, for me, because the solving of cold cases is the part of true crime I most love, this book was a taunting bait-and-switch. I wanted cold cases. What I got was the inspiring story of a man who overcame a TBI to find his purpose in life and the exposure of the drearily empty inner lives of people who commit serial sexual murder. (If you're thinking these two things don't mesh very well together, you are 100% correct. Which makes the book even more frustrating.)

Finally, in his epilogue, Earley says that he himself was present when Tony and his father went to Maryland to visit Joe Metheny and to Florida to visit David Gore. These are important pieces of the book and I find it both unforgivably creepy and also dishonest of Earley to edit himself out. Because if he was there (and Earley himself appears nowhere in the narrative, so I have no idea how he fits into it), that means the plan to write a book about Tony came quite early in his process of trying to solve cold cases based on the perpetrators' own information. And that makes that whole "Tony Finds His Purpose" arc somewhat less than refreshingly candid. I don't know how much of the book is therefore being faked with one eye on the writer's scribbling pencil . . . I can't tell, because the story Earley told is not the true story. And in a book, and a genre, that is so obsessed with lying and truth-telling, that seems like a betrayal of his own enterprise.

[Brittany (hauntedbycandlelight) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tony’s life changes when he experiences a traumatic brain injury as a result of a jet ski accident. Most of the damage is to his prefrontal cortex. The more severe damage is localized to the parts that deal in emotional regulation, and behaviour. His life would never be the same.

While he’s trying to navigate his healing journey and what his purpose is for coming back from a near death experience, he decides to write letters to serial killers who have been incarcerated. He relates to their feelings of being alienated from society. And what happens next is mind blowing.

It is absolutely shocking how much these killers divulge to Tony. He fosters trust, and friendship with these killers and in turn starts devoting his time to trying to solve cold cases.

This book is heavy. The content is unsettling. And more than once I was concerned for Tony’s well-being. You get glimpses of Tony’s instability and his daily struggles. I felt deeply for him.

The letters are vile and disturbing. Some are remorseless. They paint themselves as gods, or ladies men. When in reality, they are revolting scum that don’t deserve to breathe. And that is the hardest part of this book.

I wanted to give this five stars, but when I reached the end I was so disappointed that it just stops. That’s the only downfall. I wanted more information about Tony and if he helped solved the last cold case that he was working on with police.

4.5 ⭐️

[Wanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am sorry I read this awful book. It contains a plethora of morally bankrupt narrative composed by some of the most monstrous killers on death row. Unlike others, I did not consider it pornographic, so much as boring. These are empty people who think and act in horrible ways. They do not need an audience for their rants and their reliving of their vicious deeds. I was not particularly shocked as others have been because this book contains no more shocking material than the average Ann Rule book. It's just that the murders themselves describe their deeds in their own empty, affectless way. As far as Tony and his family -- oh please. I cannot believe that this family encouraged this guy to correspond with AND TO VISIT these monsters. They kept much from the police and they played at "Criminal Minds" which is kind of perverse. The most disgusting aspect was that Tony shared details of his sex life in his correspondence with these killers. And we are supposed to think he is an upstanding guy who helped the cops?? I think not. Don't bother with this one.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a person with a fair interest in serial killers, I was intrigued by this book, written about Tony Ciaglia, who suffered a severe head trauma as a teenager. His communication skills were very strongly impaired and he was unable to control his anger at all.

In his thirties, Tony saw the commonly quoted fact that most serial killers that have been caught and profiled suffered head injuries as children, although not as serious as the one he had. Tony began corresponding with many serial killers in prison in hopes of gaining some insight into himself.

I didn't think that would happen, but I did enjoy seeing the growth that Tony accomplishes by his correspondence and eventual meeting with some of the killers. Over the course of the book, his communication skills improve greatly, he learns to control his temper to some degree, he learns to interpret the behavior and letters of the killers with help from his family, and he learns empathy toward the victims.

For those of a similarly morbid mind, the serial killers featured are Arthur Shawcross, the Genesee River Killer ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_S... ); Joe Metheny, the Cannibal Killer ( http://www.murderpedia.org/male.M/m/m... ); Tony Gore ( http://www.serialkillercalendar.com/D...) and Robert C. Hansen ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H... ). The book does present correspondence that tells the killers' side of the story, including gory details. Most of the killers seem to be the kind who get the thrill from the kill itself and from mutilation and necrophilia afterwards.

A pretty good read.

[Cecily Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is every reason why I love reading about serial killers. To try to get into their minds and understand what makes them tick. Would be lying if I didn't say I was a little jealous of Tony and his correspondence. However, I don't think I would ultimately be able to handle it and be able to sleep at night.
Really interesting story and really messed up!
Great Read

[Andrea Hickman Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but rather disappointing in that his quest to find remains and evidence of other victims seems not to have had any positive results.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very intense and graphic book but it had such a good meaning.

[Jenni DaVinCat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't even know where to go with this review. This book was morbidly fascinating. If ever you were looking to see what a serial killer thinks about himself when he/she is not being interviewed by the cops or the media, then this is the book to go to. This gives you a full look into the minds of some relatively well known names, and what motivated them to do what they did. How it made them feel, how things progressed, how they all essentially blame women in some way, shape or form.

It's fucked up. There is really no other way to put it.

If you love true crime, you will love this book.

It easily could have been 5 stars, but I found the third person narrative storytelling to be childish. Maybe it was supposed to be that way to mirror the child-like behaviors of both Tony and the serial killers. But then again, maybe not. Either way, the writing didn't flow as well as it could have. It was stunted and read like a children's book (though most certainly NOT in content!).

I really wanted to like Tony more, as well. He overcame so many health issues in order to be where he is at this point, as the book states a number of times. They seem to want to force that down our throats so that we maybe ignore that Tony has the most amazing and patient family who took time away from life for...basically ever in order to accommodate Tony and his newfound needs. They were also lucky enough to have the money to support ALL of that. I understand that he cannot control certain aspects of his personality anymore, and that's fine. I may not be able to empathize, but I can sympathize. Unfortunately, as the book continued, my sympathies began to wear thin. I know, I probably sound terrible being critical of someone who has gone through such a traumatic experience, but I also realize that it could totally be the way the author shaped Tony to be. None of my issues with Tony stem from his injury or inability to control himself afterwards.

Towards the end there is an epilogue in which Tony made a comment that one of the killers "lived as a coward" and "died like one too"(many of the people he wrote to were on death row). While I don't disagree with the statement, it makes me think Tony is totally two-faced. He has spent years writing to these people and acts as if some of them are his best friends. He tells them that they are. I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't go around talking shit like that about my friends. Tony was the one who made the choice to be friends with them, despite knowing their crimes.

Yeah, Yeah, I know...they're serial killers. They're terrible people and I'm not taking their side nor agreeing with a single one of their crimes. They're disgusting and awful. That epilogue was just like a complete reversal of what the entire book spent doing.

Side note: Did anybody else find Tony's relationship with his girlfriend to be creepy? He stalked her until she gave in. She would literally hide at work, and he would STILL wait for her. At the time, she was 19 and he was in his 30's(as far as I understand it, the ages could be mistaken). He also gave serial killers explicit details about their sex life. Umm.....What?

[Ishmael Seaward · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting but disappointing in many ways. I was hoping for some more insight along the lines of "The Science of Evil", but not so far. I'm about 2/3's of the way through the book.

A young man (Tony) has a horrific accident, suffering traumatic brain injury (TBI). The damage manifests itself as periodic fits of uncontrollable rage, defensiveness, memory issues, and social miscues, all of which alienate him from his former friends and society at large. His parents and brother stick by him, and with their help, and the help of psychiatrists and a psychologists, begins to come to grips with how to manage his new persona.

In the course of his recovery, he decides to befriend serial killers (SK) via a letter writing campaign. The ostensible reason is to see if he can establish a connection with each SK because they and Tony have something in common: uncontrollable rage and feelings of alienation. And based on that connection, Tony will elicit better understanding of why they did what they did, and also obtain more detailed confessions. He does, in fact, establish relationships with about 24 such killers. One of them is Shawcross, with whom he has an extensive correspondence and actually visits. Shawcross does provide very detailed descriptions of what he did (Warning: not for the squeamish.), but very little of the why and the wherefore, at the time of the killings. They do provide some information about their childhoods and how damaging some of them were, but how those events actually drove them to commit such horrific crimes is not apparent from their confessions. Some described what they were feeling, "uncontrollable urge" according to David Gore, others were less clear, some just blocked it out.

At the point where Shawcroft has died, Tony and his family are discussing the confessions provided by Shawcroft. Tony finally realizes that Shawcroft's confessions are the alternate reality that Shawcroft created in his mind, and those alternate realities are not new to the investigators or to the psycologists who interviewed and studied these people. So it seems that Tony has been manipulated into publishing the alternate realities of these SKs.

Update & conclusion: Tony spends a fair amount of time corresponding with David Gore, but in my opinion, doesn't seem to gain much, other than a map that purports to show where Gore hid his trophies. Which were hair clippings. Gore never explains why the hair clippings, or why even trophies, much less why he committed such crimes.

By the end of the book, when Tony is trying to create a relationship with Hanson, Bryan Tompkins enters the script. Based on Bryan's information, there is a realistic hope that Tony may have helped uncover the location of some of Hanson's victims, and that more victims of other SKs may be located. It is also apparent that Tony is getting more comfortable with his new persona. I also think that Bryan Tompkins would have made for a more interesting subject. He is definitely more introspective and more open about sharing his thoughts and feelings. But his appearance is all too short.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: Various reasons really. First of all I have an interest in serial killers. Secondly, I was intrigued by Tony Ciaglia's brain injury and what led him to write to serial killers and finally I enjoy books that contains letters.

This book is not for the squeamish. It contains brutal letters from serial killers describing their crimes in graphic detail. Without having read the book, one will first wonder what purpose this serves. Is it gratuitous and voyeuristic or does it serve some higher purpose? It is completely possible to read the book and skip the letters that describe murders, not all the letters do. What the letters do though, all of them, is let one inside the mind of a serial killer in a way that the public has never seen before. When serial killers posture for interviews or psychologists they are performing for an audience and act and behave in certain ways that these narcissistic people need to do so. But with Tony Ciaglia, he was/is able to get to the real person inside these monsters, most of them are still monsters on the inside, but Tony got their defenses down, treated them non-judgementally as people and they responded in kind, treating Tony as a "best friend".

The first part of the book deals with Tony's teenage accident which caused Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) from which he was never expected to recover. Recover he did though and we are taken through the journey of his recovery and the effect this had on his family and the after effects that defined the "new" Tony. A more child-like person, but with sudden violent rages. With much psychological work and the right medications, Tony is leading a relatively normal life today. I found this part of the book fascinating. Something in the "new" Tony starts his obsession with writing to serial killers, befriending them and getting them to talk openly about things that had never come out to officials before. After Tony's accident he had a near death experience where he met God and became a very religious Catholic. His family was Catholic but not exactly practicing. He believed that God had sent him back for a purpose and this was his purpose, to help find information on cold cases and bring closure for families by using his gift with these men. The end of the book contains a personal message from Tony where he speaks of his calling.

A riveting book to read. The graphic letters are hard to read, but they and the other more mundane or waxing philosophical letters from the serial killers are quite insightful into the harrowing sickness of their minds. I enjoyed reading the book, was mostly taken with Tony himself. He has a child-like naivete about him, yet he didn't lose any of his intelligence in the accident, even though it is harder for him to express himself intellectually. A very interesting book on two accounts. For the insight into the psychological make-up of the mind of a serial killer and the psychological insight into the mind of a TBI victim and survivor. Recommended for those interested in psychology and those with the stomach to read the graphic details.

[D'Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was, by far, the most graphic and explicit book about serial killers I have ever read. And I have read many. At the beginning of the book the author quotes author Jack Olsen: "I start every book with the idea that I want to explain how this seven or eight pounds of protoplasm went from his mommy's arms to become a serial rapist or serial killer. I think a crime book that doesn't do this is pure pornography." It is, in many ways, a warming: shit's about to get real. But honestly, I'm not sure that Earley accomplishes this task. I read this book because it's about a kid who gets a traumatic brain injury who becomes obsessed with serial killers. The title of the book hints at big secrets being revealed, like cold cases solved and stuff. That's a small part of this story. The "secrets" by and large seem to be extremely graphic descriptions of rapes and murders in the killers' own words. It felt a little like the time Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone's vault on live TV and there was nothing in it. Mostly I found myself shaking my head asking, "Why do this kid's parents condone this pen pal with murderers thing?" And this is coming from a woman who gets murder books from her dad for Christmas. The part of the book spent on the kid's brain injury was the strongest part of the book.

[Jennifer Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Serial Killer Whisperer
Pete Earley
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Trigger Warning: SA
At the time I’m writing this and all I can say is that I am currently not even 1/2 way through this book, and I am absolutely disgusted…. If you have a week stomach this book is NOT for you!!! I am a person if I start a book that I have to finish it but this might be my first ever DNF…. I’ll keep you updated…..okay okay I finished and if you have a weak stomach DO NOT READ!!!!! I can not stress that enough!


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[Avery Hauff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my usual type of book but I loved this one! I don’t normally read nonfiction, but I’m always intrigued by true crime. This book was super fascinating because there are actual excepts from litters exchanged with actual serial killers. Sometimes I would forget this is all a true story because of the unbelievable things. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes crime stories.

[Alana Bloom · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, this review doesn't apply to the narrator of the audiobook. They get a solid 4 stars, knocking one off for using the same accent for every killer Tony talks to.

The book is largely told in two parts: Tony's accident then struggle to reset and find his new normal after a TBI, and then his obsession with writing serial killers to learn their stories. I enjoyed the first part the most if I'm being honest. I was frustrated by the constant pace changes and hopping timeline, it made the story disorganized and truly irritated me.

I consume a fair amount of true crime stories, from books to shows to podcasts, so the brutality generally doesn't bother me; provided it has a purpose. I'm not convinced communicating with the serial killers like an awestruck teen counts as being a "whisperer." Tony's awe of his "friends" was unsettling at best. In the end, the "conversations" with serial killers really only served as a platform for these killers to perform and manipulate further. No effort was made to "unlock" the information that was shared. In fact, often Tony took what they wrote at face value which is awfully naive.

In the end, I'm glad I read the first half but wish the story didn't go off into the weeds of questionable to put it mildly.

[Tlingit · Rating 3 out of 5]

☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠ POSSIBLE SPOILERS ☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠

I'd already written this review until my browser crapped out. GRRRRR. Anyway, to sum it up: Good story, good composition, basic writing, dumb title. I'd seen a movie called "Dear Mr. Gacy" this Spring. It's a true story about a young guy who wrote to some serial killers: Dahmer, Manson, Ramirez, and Gacy. And he didn't just write to them he got involved with them. The people here who have issue with Tony's parents and their involvement would do good to see this movie (I haven't read the book so until I do I can't say I recommend it). It's a contrast to Tony and his family and their style and involvement.
I wouldn't call Tony's TBI a lucky occurrence. I would call the fact that his family is supportive a lucky occurrence and juxtaposed with some of the serial killers lives it lends a good contrast to the story and the reality between the recovering TBI person and the incarcerated defective convict. I found in some of the former reviews people judgmental and disgusted, not only with the serial killers but with the main character. That just made me laugh because c'mon the lurid title to this book can't be ignored and in my opinion is more offensive than the descriptions. You knew what you were getting into when you got this book. If you didn't like the descriptions why force yourself to read?
There was action in the book as well as the letters. I too wished there were more cold cases solved at the end but maybe this story is not over. There were so many things that could have been included but for time and story continuity weren't. The fact that the serial killers and (at pivotal period in his life) Tony felt alienated from society and reacted to it was a point that is presented in many serial killer stories but told better here with them writing to him.
I think the book deserved more than just 3 stars but this rating system is limited. It's worth a read. It took me a night and a day. I wished there was more.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was suggested to me by a random woman at the library. I normally do not read this type of book however it was good. It is about a boy who is involved in an accident that leaves him with brain damage. It is about that whole process of him ( and his family ) going thourgh the issues that come with his type of damage. One of the things that happen is that the kids at school alienated the once popular child. It is hard for him and with the type of brain injury already suffers from extreme depression and anger. He decided to start writing serial killers and they wrote back to his surprise. The book also has letters in them from several people that are in jail for life and on deaths row. They strike up a friendship and let their guard down to Anthony and write all the horrible details of their crimes. You see killers state of minds as well.This book is graphic and I have to be honest disturbing to me. I started the book and once I did it was like driving past an accident scene were I did not want to look but I could not stop myself. This book is not for the faint at heart. I feel so bad for the victims and their families that there were times that I thought this is horrible for me to read this however I learned something from these crazy men. What I learned it was so easy for them to get their pray as they called it because people are so trusting. I will NEVER get into a car with people that I do not know. Several women found that they had car trouble and when offered a ride to what ever place and got into a car with two men and after that they had not a chance they died because of that decision. They not only died but were tortured because they were ver trusting good people. Most of the crimes happened when people did not have cell phones. I did take lessons of how to protect myself and It made me think and that is not a bad thing.I am just trully sorry that these families lost thier loved ones.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW… if you like true crime books, this one is a MUST!!!

This book is well written by Pete Earley and the Audio book was narrated by Alan Sklar, one of the best narrators around.

BUT BE WARNED - this is not just a true crime book and IT IS NOT for the squeamish. This Book is not what you would first expect, as it is so much more. As a reader you are drawn into the minds of these monsters, murderers and rapist like no other book has. This book is filled with actual brutal letters from serial killers describing their crimes in graphic detail & detailed conversations with the serial killers themselves.
It is a true story about a young man Tony Ciaglia, who as a teenage was in a horrible accident which resulted in a Traumatic Brain Injury. It takes you through the compelling, unusual, and strange biography of Tony’s Recovery and the effect this had on his family and the after effects that defined the "new" Tony.

Tony emerged from the coma having to learn how to walk and talk again, his thoughts and emotions were erratic and violent and he now had to take pills to try and control these new dark emotions. Shunned by his friends, an outcast to his peers Tony attempts to understand this darkness and make sense of his life now and he started writing to serial killers. These serial killers stated writing back and the traumatic bran injury and the dark emotions allowed Tony to talk to these dangerous psychopaths on their level and they became BFF’s in a sense. These monsters soon were revealing to him heinous details about their crimes, and eventually even crimes they’d never been convicted of. Tony eventually used this gift to aid in solving a murder, which leads to Tony launching his own searches for forgotten victims with clues provided by the killers themselves.

What I took away from this book is a deep respect for the courage shown by Tony's family. They did not judge him; they made it easy for him and made this a part of their daily lives.

[Caitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book to people who take a interest to serial killers and cold cases. The author did a fabulous job gathering factual information and quotes from actual interviews to include in his book. Definitely a fantastic book!

[Aubrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book - not only as a criminology student, and lover of true crime. Also having an honours degree in psychology, I found the aftermath of the brain injury a fascinating journey. Lack of emotion control, changes in behaviour patterns, and so on are common in certain forms of brain injuries. They're also known to be displayed in the profiles of serial killers. Sharing these aspects, it was easy for Tony to be able to empathize with many serial killers now in the prison system.

While struggling through his own demons, he embarks on a mission to help these people, as well as solve cases that are left collecting dust - known as cold cases. It's an ambitious journey that could not be accomplished were it not for Tony's determination, and the love and support from his family and friends.

Reading about the cases is fascinating in its own right, but reading words that are written by these killers is a thrill all on its own. Once you get past the gore and the inhumane, delving into the thought patterns of the various killers brings to life a view that not many people see. Most readers of true crime get a glimpse of court records, news recordings, comments from law enforcement, and if you're really lucky, a witness or family member interview. It is rare that readers get words straight from the individual being discussed. This is what Peter Earley did, with the help of Tony Ciaglia.

It's a fascinating read for anyone interested in true crime, or psychology. It's a rare glimpse into the world of serial killers - straight from their own recollections.

[Bill reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tony Civaglia suffered brain trauma as a teen and had violent impulses. He decided to write to serial killers and received quite a few responses. First up in the book, Joe Roy Metheny admitted to an unknown murder of a truck stop hooker in detail. After further killings, he cut up the bodies and sold them as sandwiches at his bbq stand.
He killed a twelve year-old girl when he was only a boy of fifteen. Such bad manners.
Another killer who offed hookers is Arthur Shawcross and his exchanges with Tony are quite entertaining. Upstate NY were his hunting grounds, not far from me. Tony also visited Shawcross in prison and asked why did he eat his victims private parts.
The Killing Cousins(not recommended) led me to this book. David Alan Gore and his cousin picked up hitchhikers in Florida and killed them after brutal rapes. He wrote of an uncontrollable urge which would strike him and his lack of any kind of remorse.
Robert Hansen would not respond to Tony's letters but a cellmate did and had information on other murders committed by the hunter of humans in Alaska.
The letters provide further insight into the minds of serial killers and I highly recommend this page turner.

[Janice · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the story (or one aspect of the story) of Anthony Ciaglia, a dynamic young man who against all odds courageously fights to reclaim his mind, body and spirit following a traumatic brain injury at the age of fifteen. After years in rehab, frustrated with an altered personality, impaired judgement, boughts with rage, boredom, depression and shunning by his friends, Tony struggles to find meaning for his new life. With the support of his family and doctors, he pursues a hobby: writing to convicted serial killers. At this point, Ciaglia's story is hijacked and the lewd, lascivious, pornographic bravado and manipulation of his prison pen pals fills the pages. I appreciated the tutorial on traumatic brain injury. I did not appreciate the exhaustive ream of grandiosity from the depraved.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Great book! Such an interesting approach. True, inspiring success story. Wonderful example of: “When life gives you lemons . . . make lemonade.” Contemporary, well-written and not padded—gets right to the point. Good pictures, good title, good cover, a real page-turner. Emotional tearjerker, at times. Hugs for you, Tony.

I was not scandalized by the material because I have also interacted closely with inmates, worked in hospitals and attended autopsies, etc.; (Criminal Justice degrees).