Serial Killers and Mass Murderers: Profiles of the World's Most Barbaric Criminals

by Nigel Cawthorne

SHOCKING TRUE STORIES OF THE WORLD'S MOST BARBARIC CRIMINALS
Revealing portraits of the most notorious killers of our time:
Jeffrey Dahmer
The Zodiac Killer
Dr. Harold Shipman
Son of Sam
The Columbine Killers
Charles Manson
The Night Stalker
The Yorkshire Ripper
Ted Bundy
Charles Starkweather
The Boston Strangler
Serial Killers & Mass Murderers takes you into the minds of the criminals who committed the world's most notorious and horrifying crimes. Each of the sadistic murderers profiled here was once known simply as someone's neighbor, co-worker or child. What turned them into killers? In one chilling chapter after another, this book profiles a terrifying succession of homicidal maniacs and asks the question, "What makes them tick?"
"The refrigerator contained meat, including a human heart, in plastic bags. There were three human heads in the freezer. Two more skulls were found in a pot on the stove. Another pot contained male genital organs and severed heads, and there were the remains of three male torsos in the trash."

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Mystery, History

256 pages, ebook

First published January 25, 2007

About the author

Nigel Cawthorne is an Anglo-American writer of fiction and non-fiction, and an editor. He has written more than 80 books on a wide range of subjects and has contributed to The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph Daily Mail and The New York Times. He has appeared on television and BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Many of Nigel Cawthorne's books are compilations of popular history, without footnotes, references or bibliographies. His own web site refers to a description of his home as a "book-writing factory" and says, "More than half my books were commissioned by publishers and packagers for a flat fee or for a for a reduced royalty".

One of his most notable works was Taking Back My Name, an autobiography of Ike Turner, with whom he spent a number of weeks working with him on, taking up residence in Turner's house. The book caused much controversy, resulting in court cases for three years following its release.

Cawthorne currently lives in Bloomsbury, London with his girlfriend and son, Colin (born 1982).

Reviews

[SabiAnnika · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a wild combination of a badly researched wikipedia article and a YA crime story. In many of the cases the author chose to only give a short overview leaving out rather important information. Other cases were extremely prolonged. The structure chosen made sense in shootings taking place on one day such as the columbine shooting but overall I didn't really enjoy the way the author gave us the information.

Apart from that, the book is clearly out-dated concerning some cases which didn't in fact change my rating. I chose a book from 2006 so it is kinda my fault.
But still I found it very interesting reading up the events that occured after the release of this book.

Let's start of with Julian Knight, a young australian shooter. After his conviction he started numerous legal challenges costing Australia more than 250.000AUD. He should have been up for parole in 2014 but a last minute law was passed to make sure he stays in jail. In it, they set only a few possibilities in which he can be released from prison.

Concerning the Zodiac Murder there had been quite a recent discovery. The second letter which was unmentioned in the book was solved by 3 men only 2 weeks ago. It didnt reveal much new information but is still a huge success. I am very curious to find out which informations the other two letters may contain.

The Manson family still is a highly interesting subject. Even though Charles Manson and Susan Atkins died in the meantime, the other members are still behind bars. Only Grogan got a release which was appearently already in discussion when this book was written.

Ian Brady, the man behind the Moors murders followed his accomplice Myra Hindley and died in 2015. David Smith had a problem with maintaining his life after the process against Brady and Hindley. He got in trouble with the police quite often e.g. when he stabbed a man during a fight.

Peter Sutcliffe, better known as the Yorkshire Ripper, died in November 2020 of the Corona-Virus because he rejected treatment.

In 2018, Dennis Nilson died of natural causes.

The Night Stalker Richard Ramirez died in 2013 of natural causes. More interesting about this case is that in 2009 they could match the DNA found on a 10 year old victim to Richard Ramirez.

[Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!} · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gives a decent summary of each killer, but is very sensationalized.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you need an introduction to a verity of killers from around the world then is book works. To me it didn’t give a lot of new information about the cases I knew about. A few killers were new to me (I do write about serial killers). It was a smooth read and not overly graphic but there was no question what some of these people did to their victims. If you have an interest in serial murderers, this is a good jumping off point and then a reader can look up books written about the individual killer. Much better and more detailed than my serial killer encyclopedia it darkens the mind on how someone can do what these people did.

[Kaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is rather chilling. I enjoyed the profile style that Cawthorne used in telling each chilling tale. I was a little disappointed that a few very notorious serial killers were not included and a few important details about others were left out, but overall the factuality and intrigue was there to keep the reader going. It is a bit terrifying if you are as paranoid as me and will leave you suspecting everyone around you, but that is only a small drawback to this incredibly interesting and educational book about the profiles and crimes committed by some very scary people.

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's nothing in this book you haven't read before if you're at all familiar with the cases presented in it. The author just more or less quickly summarizes each case. Definitely skip this one if you're familiar with the cases within. If not, then it will provide some halfway decent, but NOWHERE NEAR thorough, information.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author's introduction is very poor, and lacking in critical thinking skills. His recollection of the facts is much better. This is one of those books that you feel compelled to read but at the same time it disgusts you due to how depraved people can be.

[Victoria Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever wondered about how some of the most notorious serial killers got away with murder? Have you ever wondered about their true motive? 'Serial Killers and Mass Murderers: Profiles of the World's Most Barbaric Criminals' by Nigel Cawthorne will answer many of those questions. This horror biography is filled with grotesque details about many infamous murders, making you squirm in your seat just reading it.
This book gives a chapter dedicated to the specific serial killer each. For example, the chapter will sum up the case, each victims encounter, and how the person murdered their victims. The chapter will also describe the specific serial killers early life as a child, and what caused them to tick and turn so evil later in life. Later in the chapter, it'll describe how the police finally caught the killer, but not all in this book were identified and are still walking among us...
In my honest opinion, I loved this book and I give it a 4 out of 5 stars. Cawthorne does a great job summing up each serial killers personal life and their deadly murdering spree, the perfect balance between their human and evil spirit. The images Cawthorne uses to describe each murder is brilliant and so vivid; I felt like I was at the murders when they happened.
So overall, I totally recommend this book if you want to learn about serial killers and the dark, cruel side of every human mind.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In short, it's a pretty good true crime book if you're looking for one that has a good variety of subjects.

First the positives: I enjoyed the way this book was written; it was mostly factual and concise. Like I said earlier, it has a good variety of subjects, covering both solved and unsolved, as well as serial and spree killers. It has some famous heavy hitters like Dahmer and Bundy, and some lesser known (to me at least) like Brady and Hindley. Each chapter also starts with a page that has a brief summary of each one including the number of victims, main method, years active, etc.

While I enjoyed the book quite a bit, there are a few downsides, my biggest issue being the lack of consistency in the length of chapters. For example, Charles Manson and Jeffrey Dahmer got 9 and 10 pages respectively, while Charles Starkweather got 31 pages. There are more in depth books out there specifically about Dahmer and Manson obviously, but I felt like these chapters definitely could have been expanded upon to include a little more detail. As it stands some major moments in these chapters were only a paragraph or two long.

Nonetheless, I'd still definitely recommend this book if you're looking to hear some fairly decent accounts of a variety of killers. There's other books out there if you find yourself wanting to know more about a specific case, and this book gives you a decent idea of each topic.

[Erin Weaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever wondered what goes on in the mind of a serial killer? Or what caused a mass murderer to snap? Serial Killers & Mass Murderers: Profiles of the World’s Most Barbaric Criminals by Nigel Cawthorne is a compilation of true stories about some of the most terrifying killers in history. In this book, Cawthorne dives deep into each killer’s mind in an attempt to discover a method to their madness, while at the same time giving chilling accounts of each of their murders. Every chapter keeps the reader on edge, but hungry for more. Details that are kept in the dark about popular serial killers, such as The Zodiac Killer and The Boston Strangler, are brought to light. However, it is not only the well known killers that capture the reader. The less popular killers bring a sense of suspense to readers who don’t know the whole story. This book caught my eye because I find serial killers to be very intriguing. It blew my mind how barbaric some people can be! I recommend this book to readers who are looking for a thrilling story, but also enjoy learning about the past. This book shouldn’t be read at night by someone who lives alone, because these haunting stories are sure to cause nightmares.

[Justin Henry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Serial Killers & Mass Murderers provides an insight to the question of whether murderers are inhumane beasts or whether they are regular people that have just been pushed to the limit. The book never answers this question, but urges you to make your own answer to the question instead. The author does this by telling numerous documentaries on past murderers including their childhood, home life, and their journey through the murders that the have committed. The end of each of the stories is pretty predictable, since the question that lingers in your head when reading the book is how long they can go without getting caught and not if someone is going to die or not.

I like the idea behind the book, but it is pretty twisted that someone would want to write about this in my opinion. The author did a good job with keeping it fairly suspenseful, despite the ending being predictable. It was an easy book to follow along with since it was so organized, but it was hard to read some of the ways that the murderers would kill their victim. I would not recommend this book, unless you like hearing about people's problems. Stay away from this book if you are easily disturbed by graphic descriptions.

[Haley Nowicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Serial killers and mass murders by Nigel Carthorne. He has helped write over 150 books, under many genres including: Military, History, Biography, Sex, Art, Crime, Political, Guides, Mystery, and Comedy. He self claims himself as the most prolific writer of the UK, despite he goes under 4 different names. This book was published in Great Britain, in 2006.
The book gives a profile on the barbaric murders. Going into detail of each individuals childhood and the events that lead to each crime and what made them to be. Making you realize these people were someones neighbor, coworker, and even child. The book is very straightforward and goes not cut out any guesome actions, sparing no details to tell the true story.
The author has a unique perspective about the book questioning in the introduction about how all people make blurts and say things they do not mean like “Im gonna kill you”. Explaining that everyone inside wonders if they actually could live up to there word. Thus he uses the book to take a look inside the peoples minds that committed horrendous crimes and to see if there like you and me or are they inhuman beings beyond compassion or understanding. Warning the reader to be on alert because evil maybe lurking inside or around any corner.
It was very entertaining to learn about 17 different killers. I was surprised to read about murders I have never heard of despite there horrible reputation. The only names that I seemed to know beforehand were Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and Charles Manson, even when there crimes are no compare to others. Such as Peter Sutcliffe aka the yorkshire ripper who killed his victims with blows to the head with hammers or David Berkowitz aka the son of sam who claimed a dog talked him into his killings.
The book was like a compilation of short story tellings about each individual. It introduced each character with their nickname, versatility, nationality, way of death, reign of terror, motive to give insight on the person as you read. Along with a picture to put to the face before learning there story. The book also included direct quotes said by the killer in each chapter.
I would recommend this book to people with a tough stomach to process all the mind numbing stories told.. The author takes special note and tells the signs of each murder as the passage progresses to the event itself. Every chapter I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next and if the killer would be caught.

[Michael Filippini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Mr. Cawthorne did a slightly above amateur job procuring the research to write this book. It is a good read if you want to start diving into true crime. I do feel he should have made this into two separate volumes, one being criminals in the U.S and then one being in the Five Eyes countries as that is what this book covered. He should have begun this book with distinguishing the difference between serial killers and mass murders. a S.K kills multiple people over a period of time a M.M kills a quantity of five people in a single setting. Columbine killers, Charles Whitman those were M.M's. Ted Bundy, Gacy and Dahmer were S.K's.

It is a little dated but not irrelevant. The common traits that follow all these individuals are a social disconnect at a young age, damage to the frontal lobe and weak amygdala. One thing that I feel Nigel forgot in his book was to mention that Ted Bundy was quite possibly the product of incest which under develops human beings. I would try to purchase this book used. I also feel that attacking the second amendment during his coverage on the Charles Whitman episode which he dives into extensively was unnecessary.

I giving him 4 stars for the effort and because it did manage to hold my attention until the Dr. Harold Shipman case I skipped it for the final chapter which of course was the columbine case. As a security guard the Columbine incident is a base model for most active shooters due to mental illness. Good for a starter guide not for extensive research.

[Mialovesbooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

If i could give this zero stars I would- This was such a vague and horribly written book to explain a VERY short summary for some of the world’s most notorious and famous serial killers. There wasn’t one chapter that I found myself to be engaged in, because of how horribly it was written, for the cases that i’ve previously watched documentaries on, there was nothing in these chapters of the killers that I didn’t already know, it was extremely surface level and not at all empathetic to the victims and how they were described, the author didn’t bother to find the names of a-lot of them either even though they ARE documented??

This book was just structured very messily and not consistently, especially the chapters that jumped in right into their killing spree with no background information at all, which made for a very confusing and not engaging piece of writing, definitely will not be reading any more books in this format for the true crime genre.

[Fran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to rate. I read this book because I remember seeing my older sister read it when I was about 5 and she was a teenager (found it tucked away in an old bookshelf in my family home). Poor thing, no wonder she has little faith in humanity.

I found one inconsistency in the times written in one of the cases. I'm sure there were other inconsistencies and inaccuracies that I didn't catch, which is unfortunate because I think the sacred details of the last moments of people's lives are worthy of respect and truth. Of course, the subject is horrifying enough that I couldn't put it down, so it's got that going for it. I feel like I was living in a fantasy world before this where "people are good so I have nothing to worry about" and "no one will hurt me". For the most part, yes. But there are true monsters in this world.

Anyway, I gobbled this book up.

[Lacy H Buckhault · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I love the True Crime genre, this book just ain’t it for me. There are some grammatical and spelling errors throughout the book, which aren’t that bad for me. However, the stories just were all over the place. On some of the stories, the author went into depth details about the same thing over and over OR about something that didn’t really matter. Yet didn’t go into details on other stories - such as Ted Bundy for instance.

If you’re a beginner of True Crime, you could totally start here. However, I would advise that you also do your own research and pick up other books in regards to the stories that interest you.

I’m not a big fan of this book, but I enjoyed it a little.

[Tara-Dawn Wark · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
I honestly thought I would fly through this book. Each chapter was based on a different notorious serial killer and how they came about and how they killed. I actually found I was bored. The good thing about this book was I was easily able to set down after each chapter then pick up and read when I could. Some chapters were interesting but then the next or the “history” would be a bore to me.

Killers included: Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Son of Sam, The Boston Strangler.

“Murder is a hobby and a supreme pleasure.”

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really into true crime, but this was tough to read. I say that in a positive way because it was quite well done. It was in very in depth, so much so that I was able to visualize what was happening. A few of the killers are people I had ever heard of, which surprised me. Over all, I think it's an interesting read and really puts you in the moment that all the killings are taking place, which is scary and horrifying. Job well done!

[Nereida · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing is weird, almost rushed. In one chapter he goes on about the 2nd amendment, which whatever your beliefs about it are is irrelevant in the book. In another chapter the writing feels like a novel and less informational. He also uses certain words to refer to people that are incorrect and considered offensive and/or slurs.

[Amelia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an overall good starting point for anyone who is interested in learning about true crime cases. I personally enjoyed when Nigel Cawthorne dedicated his writing more towards the victims of the crimes committed, though this wasn't the case for most of the chapters. I personally found the book contained too much detail on unimportant facts and continued to repeat itself on multiple occasions. At times there was too much unnecessary detail, but then almost no detail for specific cases, such as in the Jeffrey Dahmer case. But that is only my opinion!

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely devoured this book! The book gave great facts and timelines on both notorious killers and some lesser known (at least to me). I wish it gave a little more insight on the motives or psyche of the killers its covers. But if you’re looking for just straight facts and timelines then this is perfect for you!

[Abby F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives decent descriptions of the most well known killers and what they’ve done. Has some in depth stories going along with some of them. Pretty interesting if you’re looking to get an idea of what these people have done.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good book to introduce yourself to the world of true crime, but I personally did not learn much new information about anyone featured in the book. Not to mention, the narrative parts seem to be sensationalized. I understand some people enjoy that, but I personally do not prefer it.

[Gus :D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book! Once I arrived in the Ted Bundy section my sould left my body. I understood how horrible he was before reading but now I have a deeper understand how truly horrible he was. The Book was extremely well written and very Informative.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a true crime person, this was a very detailed book about people i’d never even heard of. This one was a bit of a hard read with the amount of detail that goes into each crime. but overall very good read.

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

good

[Andy Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cool!

[chlo ? · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess anybody writes books these days huh

[Edie Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profiles of the most notorious killers during our time. Some I had heard about and others not. It is unbelievable that there are people out there that can do these things. Very scary.

[Frankee · Rating 2 out of 5]

3 stars

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what the title promises. A macabre read though!