The World's Greatest Serial Killers

by Nigel Cawthorne

Serial killers are so defined when they have murdered at least 4 people over a period of time. The gruesome acts carried out by them are usually sexually motivated, and they will do anything to stretch the boundaries of morality.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1999

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

[Johara Almogbel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's the thing. Serial killers both equally fascinate and disgust me. I can't stop reading their stories, but at the same time I really don't want to read about them in the first place. It's like watching a horror movie with your hands firmly over your eyes the whole time.

That being said, this book left a bad taste in my mouth. (no horrible pun intended) I don't know why I got more creeped out by it then the hours I've spent on Wikipedia or Tru TV. I think it might be the way the author positively glorified the serial killers mentioned, it could be the cold detachment the descriptions of the victims were given, or, most probably, it could be the romanticization of the whole thing. All I could think of while reading this is pleaseAllahdontletthishappentomeorsomeoneIloveplease, and how it is we give these murderers just the right attention they're looking for. The victims are reduced to numbers, while the murderers are given glowing accounts, and I don't think it's fair.

But I digress.

I think I'll be enjoying The World's Greatest Mysteries more, we'll see.

[bookaholic_kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book suits the Halloween theme. It is a gruesome and disgusting read but we can't deny that these cases happened in real life.

You have to have a strong stomach to handle this if you want to read it.

[Kaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

never imagined these kinds of people exists/ever existed! clearly, they are the devil's incarnate ); i thought nobody could ever beat jack the ripper out of the game but clearly i was wrong.. sighhh this book makes me doubt the very idea i always cling to: that every human being is innately good..

[Donna Ledesma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horrifying.
and disgusting, along with The World's Greatest Cults.

this book is my father's, had it at home years ago, and I didn't read it all. man, why did i even read it at all. i guess i should have just been contented with the knowledge that several people are ultra-violent. 'cause getting as far as reading a vivid narration and depiction of the crimes...oh man, that face on the cover alone sort of makes me feel squeamish.

I can only get so far reading morbid stories. amazes me how man is capable of doing such things; I am curious of their psychological conditioning.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horrifying. That's the main word the comes into my mind when I think about this book.
I do like true crime shows and documentaries but I have no guts to follow so many disgusting stories with so many details, at least they are short so we can quickly finish it.

Unbelievable how mean a person can be. That's all.

[Bryan]

Most interesting story of all creepy story

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, however, outdated.

[anemoska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty scary by these well-known serial killers.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a three star review from me almost solely for the fascinating subject matter. The text itself is often poorly composed and there are many grammatical errors which should have been addressed during proofreading. I have made a study of serial killers for many years and am well read on several cases: worryingly, I spotted mistakes and inaccuracies in the sections on Bundy, Ramirez, the Moors Murders and the Wests, which makes me wonder just how correct the information is in the other chapters. These are obviously real crimes with real victims and there's really no excuse for sloppiness if you're setting out to report the stories.
A good introduction to the topic but not to be taken as verbatim.

[Eimad · Rating 3 out of 5]

clearly chill my blood while i keep reading this.but the story at last quarter of this book starting to decrease its rate of cruelness.still i rate Jack The Ripper the.albeit he only killed 5 or 6 peoples he never get caught.though u can argue there are other serial killers that never get caught too,but still Jack The Ripper is like the father of serial killers.one can argue that he actually the forming image of serial killer.s.still,i hate this book.not because it's bad but i kind of felt what the victims felt.

[Rachel 💚 · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was really interesting, ive always been slightly morbid BUT i am going to be studying criminology in a few weeks so i had the perfect excuse to read this! parts of it were really sick, i couldnt put it down!

my favs were the moors murders, ted bundy and jeffrey dahmer!

this is a really great, thrilling read!

[Josephine Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting compilation. Disgusting and morbid stories are indeed included. Though I would have preferred a more extensive list featuring individuals from other countries, perhaps they're even "greater" than the ones featured here.

[Rebeckah11 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do like the 'World's Greatest' series for dip in reads

[Faizal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite of every rumors sayin that killers are bad person, some of them lies a very tragic childhood life.

such a worth read piece!!

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a very good book. Very interesting

[Kirsty Hoggons · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly don't know how many times I have read this book. I just know that I absolutely love it!

[Lubna · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is way too much evil in the world .

[Abrar AlFouzan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very disturbing. I really had no idea how terrible the world is!

[Marina Xheka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super Book

[Ghaly · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was okay, the writer bored me a bit with his style of narrating, and at some points I lost track with who was who and who did what. I resorted to Wikipedia for a better reading, honestly.

[Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing yet amazing.

[fatima · Rating 3 out of 5]

started off great but soon got pretty boring after the realization that all the killers included in this book followed a similar or the exact same pattern, almost all of which were white males.