Serial Murderers and Their Victims

by Eric W. Hickey

This text provides an in-depth, scholarly, and broad-based examination of serial murderers and their victims. The coverage is supported by extensive data and research, and it profiles some of the most prominent murderers of our time. Author Eric Hickey examines the lives of over 400 serial murderers, analyzing the cultural, historical, and religious factors that influence our myths and stereotypes of these individuals. He then describes the biological, psychological, and sociological reasons for serial murder, offering his own Trauma-Control model for explaining serial murder behavior.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Psychology, Crime, School, Textbooks, Sociology

528 pages, Paperback

Published February 4, 2015

Reviews

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad for required reading for one of my classes. This book has definitely more of a textbook feel however it has so much information and case studies that are super interesting. If you are fascinated by serial killers give this book a shot!

[J.D. Stroube · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a requirement for one of my classes, but I found that it was quite interesting. While it can be disturbing to learn about the actions SK's take, the knowledge I gained was useful from an educational stance.
I never appreciated how many typologies exist among serial murderers until I read this book. It also shocked me by putting to rest some of the myths surrounding serial killers!
For instance: Apparently the belief that there are very few female serial killers is inaccurate! The real truth is that female's are the "quiet killers", which means that their forms of killing are so subtle that they go unnoticed. Many female serial killers will pray on their family members, the elderly, or those whose deaths do not raise questions!

[Sophia Melinda]

🪓🪓🪓

[Manda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not in a criminology or psychology field so I really can’t give my opinion on how well written or valuable this was. Overall it seemed pretty unbiased.

As a reader interested in learning more about self defense and ways to protect ourselves from “bad” people, this was very informational. This book essentially classifies serial murderers into different categories and explains their distinctions. It tells you all the warning signs of a troubled person who may develop violent behaviors. Overall the case studies were absolutely brutal and hard to read, but they all back up the claims made by the author.

As a reader required to read this for a criminology class, it was honestly a pretty hard read. Besides it being so intense, it is also very long. The author just HAD to type the case studies in a smaller font than the rest, making some of the cases more than 3 pages each of nightmare fuel 😭

I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in learning more about psychology, including human behavior, violent behaviors, the long term effects of childhood trauma, etc. The information here might help you learn who to avoid in life.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this was a book for school, I thoroughly enjoyed the examination of serial murders and their victims.

[Robley Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the only textbook I have ever read cover to cover. So intriguing!

[Talie Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

The least professional writing I’ve ever been assigned in a college course. The profiles, in particular, are extremely subjectively written while portraying themself as objective. Hickey engages in a wide manner of sensationalism, in particular regarding queerness, in a way that truly feels as though his theoretical understanding of violence is entirely based on silence of the lambs. There is little attention payed to the structural factors that lead to violence in particular communities and individuals, and his negligence to contextualize violence in minority communities is extremely irresponsible

I may be biased as I come to this work from a transformative justice perspective, which he clearly was not- however, that is a bias I can acknowledge but which he doesn’t even seem to be aware of. Bias aside, he lacks a fundamental understanding of methodological limitations and issues regarding social statistics and analysis- particularly regarding dated evidence.

He also seems to place a lot of faith in the justice system’s ability to correctly identify, arrest, and portray an accurate narrative of case studies. At the same time, there is an implicit criticism of the justice system when people in the case studies have been released, for the sheer fact of their release, rather than being critical of their failure to rehabilitate. However, he pretty obviously does not believe in rehabilitation or the rights of the accused (much less the guilty). This is likely influenced by his wife literally being in the FBI, lmao.

TLDR: I would recommend finding a book that’s more nuanced in it’s ideas regarding what we socially consider “murder.” At bare minimum, find a reading that seeks to truly understand what leads people to murder rather than one that repeatedly sums it up to “savagery” and a fundamental difference in humanity

[Anika · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read on the profiling of serial murderers written by and, presumably for, criminologists. I am a complete outsider to the criminology field and read this book purely out of sadistic interest for serial killers (don’t even lie, if you’re reading this you also have an unhealthy fascination with murderers), but to me this text felt outdated and a little too pedantic. I was hoping for more of a psychological insight into the mind of criminals, and the role of violent crime in society - the book provides more of a statistical analysis of perpetrators and victims (also interesting, but this information could have been condensed; there is quite a lot of redundancy throughout the book).
There are also moments in the book that seemed misleading or fear-mongery (e.g., in regards to Ed Kemper’s parole hearings, the book states that “[Kemper] is now eligible for parole and believes he is no longer a threat to society”, which seems in conflict with statements Kemper and his lawyer have made (Kemper has previously stated that he is “happy going about his life in prison” and has waived parole hearings before, with the expectation that he will never be released).

[Rachel Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might have been the first book I actually ever read in full 😂 I had a college class "Murder in America" (years ago) and this was our textbook. For our final, we chose a serial killer and applied the characteristics listed in the book to our subject. After the class a couple years later, I was watching a true crime documentary and a man named Eric Hickey was a commentator. I said no way I think that was the author of my text book and sure enough it was. I emailed him to tell him how much I got from his book. He responded and was very appreciative and encouraged me to keep studying CJ if I wanted to get a masters degree as he was still a professor. I didn't- (cause student loans- am I right?) but my current profession does deal with some criminal justice aspects. Long story short- truly think the book is great and I might have to dig it up to read again.

[Anna Knicely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very comprehensive and interesting enough, but still definitely a textbook written by an old white guy lol. It has a massive amount of information, but I often found myself going, "Please, I'm begging you, what's the point??" and there never was one. It was simply presented information. Which could have been really good, and was fairly unbiased, but the way it was presented made me really want to know more about what some of the results meant, and I was never given an explanation. So ultimately I was left feeling disappointed. Plus some of the info seemed quite outdated by this point. Anyway, it was an okay read for a class I guess.

[J Siukiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The information in this book is laid out and goes in an order that allows for easy comprehension. The additional hundred pages or so are well worth the extra reading in my opinion. This book is definitely a little disturbing but I think very important as it confronts many misconceptions a lot of people tend to have regarding serial killers.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although a required reading, this was a great book examining the serial killers lives as well as going inside the killers minds. This book also touched on disorders that are commonly associated with serial killers and the why to their actions.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very in-depth study of serial murder, mass murder, and related topics.

[Nic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good, but a little grisly (probably to be expected).

[Han · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for school, it was very informative.

[Linda Branham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 2002 - but the material is still relevant and well written

[L.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a textbook, this was very readable. Interesting subject and written in a way that was more focused on sharing information and less about the author trying to convince everyone they're a genius.

[selin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good content but a lot of unnecessary/unhelpful story telling, would’ve been easier to follow if shortened and kept relevant

[Ashlon Pineiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost feel bad for alot of these people. You take the sickest, most depraved sexual criminal you can find, and trust me, there's a back story to why he is the way he is. That's what this book is mostly about. How these guys (and girls) get to be the way they are. Classifications of psychopath. Case studies here and there for examples are obviously the juiciest part. Otherwise, it's very clinical and for educational purposes only. But still very enjoyable.

[Dom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Assigned as a textbook for a serial killers university course. While the segments with stories of serial killers were fascinating, as this subject is, the writing and organization left me wanting. Very, very poorly organized, especially as a textbook. Also the book is sadly lacking in diverse language. Would not recommend.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hickey had a habit of repeating a lot of the same information.

[new york, no shoes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, this is a textbook, but it's pretty interesting as textbooks go in the most morbidly fascinating way. I would've enjoyed it a lot more if I didn't have barrel through it for my class.

[Kassidy Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. I had to read it for a class but found it to be interesting It as one text book i read every chapter and read ahead of class.

[Kin Sayed · Rating 4 out of 5]

i dont wanna go out alone....hahaha

[Christina]

still reading it its ok not the best but it is a text book afterall

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used this for my research paper. Great source!