At the Hands of a Stranger

by Lee Butcher

I didn't kill them for any satisfaction. It was distasteful. It was dreadful. Of course, I was able to do it because of my general rage against society.

Meredith Emerson was a recent college graduate who disappeared while taking her beloved dog, Ella, for a hike on Georgia's Blood Mountain on New Year's Day, 2008. Cheryl Dunlap was a nurse whose body was found in Florida's Apalachicola National Forest after she failed to show up to teach her regular Sunday School class in December 2007. Vibrant, beautiful, caring women, loved by their friends and families, with everything to live for. . .until they fell into the trap of Gary Michael Hilton, a former Green Beret paratrooper and expert outdoorsman with a twisted lust for violence. What they suffered at his hands was unspeakable. Even after two convictions, the question remains--how many innocent victims were prey to his evil designs?

Includes killer's shocking confession and 16 pages of dramatic photos.

Case seen on 48 Hours

"Chilling true crime by a master storyteller." --Don Lasseter

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good as far as true crime goes... however, the writing was a bit cheesy in parts, and some of the narrative of Hilton's dialogue with police was a bit long-winded.

[Tonya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm only giving this one 2 stars, it could have easily been 3 or more but I never felt like I was reading much other than court transcripts or police notes.

Gary Hilton is evil, there's no doubt about it. His victims were never brought 'to life' for me, poorly chosen but apt since true crime books tend to want the readers to empathize with the victims.

Lee Butcher never made anyone in the book seem anything but one dimensional and that is an injustice to Hilton's victims.

All in all a poorly written account of Gary Hilton's arrest and trial & I have a feeling the court transcripts may have actually been more interesting than this book.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was overall a good read about a very interesting, unusual set of crimes. The killer is weirder than weird and what he put his victims through was inexcusable. The book has a slapped-together feel at times -- it needed serious editing, for instance in the chapters on the hunt for the killer, when the same piece of information got reported again and again in the same words until it got kind of exasperating. That was explained at the back when the author said someone else had to take over in the middle due to health issues -- apparently a few balls got dropped. Despite that I can recommend this one.

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a true crime story. It is so scary that their are crazies out there that think nothing of human life. You will get more insight into the sick mind of a psychopath than you will ever want to know. OK, I'm going back to fiction after this one.

[Syndilou · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the Hands of a Stranger = it was alright, at times was a bit boring. I could have pulled the court transcript and got the same idea of what had happened to the victims.

[Stacey Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very scary read. Soo many chances for people to have caught him before each kill. Wow.

[Evelyn Westbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Book!

[Dale M. Sidener · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our criminals are more criminal

I read this book in one day. The authors were able to define the true nature of this predator and I could feel how the victims must have felt. I was so hopeful that law enforcement would find Meredith in time and felt the sadness and anger that those wonderful individuals experienced-i know it's not the same but it's difficult to find the right words. I learned a lot from these written words, know our surroundings, know that predators are out there, if you see something, say something; help each other out as best we can.

[Misty Grim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gary Michael Hilton, a former Greeen Beret paratrooper and expert outdoorsman had a twisted lust for murder and violence.

New Year's Day 2008, on Georgia's Blood Mountain a female hiker went missing. Also on December 2007 in Florida's Apalachicola National Forest a Sunday school teacher went missing.
These ladies suffered at Gary Michael Hilton's hands.

The question remains - how many more were victims to his evil ???

[Robert Andres · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all the book is 376 pages not 320. I really didn't need to read Hilton's "intense monologues" which I was never sure were real or imagined by the author. And the transcript of the police interview is long winded and says nothing. I don't know why that had to be included. It's clear from the transcript that Hilton was a complete moron.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

An average written true crime. Not that well told.

[Caralyn Rubli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad

[Abby Pechin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good one!

Shocking. Disturbing. A good read. I enjoyed it. Very upsetting details and photos. Sad. Glad he got life in prison. Crazy.

[Ruth Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was hard to read for the most part. Very drawn out at times. I understand that it’s a fact have book but for me it was just hard to stay focused on it.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I debated between rating this a 2 or 3 and finally opted for 3 because the writing is generally good and has a good sequence of events. However, as others noted, there is too much of conversations of the defendant -- especially about nothing -- that would have been better if summarized. The reader would have gotten the gist of the dialogue without being bored to tears. And I don't recall ever reading what happened to Ella the dog. I had to search online for the answer. On second thought, I'm changing the rating to a 2.

[Teresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not care for this author's style of writing at all. It was like all he did was regurgitate the trial transcripts. There was no history at all on the victims or the criminal besides your most basic "he had a bad childhood". VERY disappointing. Sadly, it would take a lot for me to give this author a second chance :(

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like this book could've been so much better than it was... I had a hard time getting through it. Gary Hilton was an extremely sick and disturbed man, there's no doubt about that but I honestly couldn't tell you a timeline of the story. It was so mixed up and I was really confused about the past and present of the storyline.

[Tina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Going to give it a try, not to high on the star rating... we'll see. Didn't last long... moving on.

[April Bentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book