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Payback: How the Worst Killers in History Paid for Their Crimes, Vol 1
From cold-blooded calculation to fiery vengeance—discover how history's most notorious killers finally faced their fate!
Step into the chilling world of some of history's most infamous killers and discover how their reigns of terror came to a brutal, often fitting end. Payback chronicles the lives, crimes, and ultimate fates of notorious figures like Harold Shipman, the most prolific serial killer in British history, whose meticulous plans for suicide were as calculated as his murders. From Bluebeard, the remorseless widow-killer, racing toward his guillotine, to Bonnie and Clyde meeting their demise in a hail of bullets, this collection dives deep into the justice—or vengeance—that ended their crimes.
Using historical accounts, trial transcripts, and psychological insights, Payback explores the depravity of these individuals, the lives they destroyed, and the punishments that await them. Readers will encounter chilling moments of calm calculation, like Percival William Budd's emotionless murder of a taxi driver for a car, and horrifying spectacles of retribution, from botched executions to violent prison deaths.
This volume explores the psychology of killers, from early warning signs to the urges that drove them to kill. With gripping detail, Payback offers a haunting glimpse into the minds of killers and asks whether justice was truly served.
You decide: Did these killers get what they deserved?
Step into the chilling world of some of history's most infamous killers and discover how their reigns of terror came to a brutal, often fitting end. Payback chronicles the lives, crimes, and ultimate fates of notorious figures like Harold Shipman, the most prolific serial killer in British history, whose meticulous plans for suicide were as calculated as his murders. From Bluebeard, the remorseless widow-killer, racing toward his guillotine, to Bonnie and Clyde meeting their demise in a hail of bullets, this collection dives deep into the justice—or vengeance—that ended their crimes.
Using historical accounts, trial transcripts, and psychological insights, Payback explores the depravity of these individuals, the lives they destroyed, and the punishments that await them. Readers will encounter chilling moments of calm calculation, like Percival William Budd's emotionless murder of a taxi driver for a car, and horrifying spectacles of retribution, from botched executions to violent prison deaths.
This volume explores the psychology of killers, from early warning signs to the urges that drove them to kill. With gripping detail, Payback offers a haunting glimpse into the minds of killers and asks whether justice was truly served.
You decide: Did these killers get what they deserved?
249 pages, Paperback
Published April 30, 2025
3 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan J. Moore
26 books22 followersJonathan Moore was born in 1964 and attended University where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree, with majors in History and English. In a career involving twenty years as a history teacher as well as running several successful businesses, Jonathan has been a voracious reader of all periods of History. In pursuit of his studies Jonathan has travelled extensively and enjoys war gaming and military re-enacting. He also enjoys True Crime and has written several books on the subject.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 3, 2025
Morbid curiosity drew me to this one, which details history’s worst killers and how they paid for their crimes.
This is the type of book you need to read alongside a lighter palate cleanser. Payback doesn’t hold back. Each chapter is dedicated to a different method of sentence – with a heavy focus on executions. There are guillotines, hangings, firing squads, electric chairs, violent shootouts and more. The horrific crimes of these killers are explored in gruesome detail too.
“It was noted that he always had an abundance of meat to sell at the local market, even at the height of the hyperinflation, and he always had a steady supply of second hand clothes.”
It’s impossible not to have a physical reaction when reading this. The author dives headfirst into the dark side of humanity, dragging the reader in too, holding them under and asking if justice was truly served in each case. Drawing on trial transcripts, autopsy reports, and other sources, the book also includes pictures – ensuring these monsters will linger in your mind and haunt your dreams.
At first, I found myself sharing anecdotes and facts with anyone in the vicinity – a great sign for any book! Did you know that it’s important to use natural sea sponges on the heads of those in the electric chair? They conduct electricity more effectively. I also had no idea Madame Tussaud used severed heads as moulds for her wax work dummies, or that Sir David Attenborough once found a skull in his backyard!
I didn’t expect to laugh in a book riddled with so much death – it was hard not to with moments like William Palmer ascending the ladder to the gallows and asking, “Are you sure this damn thing’s safe?”
Despite some laughs, the heavy subject matter often left me withdrawn – consecutive entries on Ted Bundy and Albert Fish tend to have that effect. It contains quite the roll call – featuring the likes of Aileen Wuornos, Jeffrey Dahmer, Timothy McVeigh, Armin Meiwes, Harold Shipman, Adolf Eichmann and Bonnie and Clyde.
“Despite being responsible for at least 14 deaths, the gang became folk heroes to the American public who were suffering privation at the height of the Great Depression.”
Unfortunately, poor editing let this book down. If I received one year for each error or mistake, I would be serving multiple life sentences. Punctuation, missing and incorrect words, wrong dates, place names – it seemingly had as many errors as it did murders and executions.
The macabre procession abruptly ended without much conclusion – despite featuring an introduction. In some ways, this made the collection feel almost unfinished, though there’s a second volume on the way.
I know this will be among the most memorable reads I have this year. It has already generated discussion. Recommend to true crime buffs (and those with strong stomachs).
Many thanks to Big Sky Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is the type of book you need to read alongside a lighter palate cleanser. Payback doesn’t hold back. Each chapter is dedicated to a different method of sentence – with a heavy focus on executions. There are guillotines, hangings, firing squads, electric chairs, violent shootouts and more. The horrific crimes of these killers are explored in gruesome detail too.
“It was noted that he always had an abundance of meat to sell at the local market, even at the height of the hyperinflation, and he always had a steady supply of second hand clothes.”
It’s impossible not to have a physical reaction when reading this. The author dives headfirst into the dark side of humanity, dragging the reader in too, holding them under and asking if justice was truly served in each case. Drawing on trial transcripts, autopsy reports, and other sources, the book also includes pictures – ensuring these monsters will linger in your mind and haunt your dreams.
At first, I found myself sharing anecdotes and facts with anyone in the vicinity – a great sign for any book! Did you know that it’s important to use natural sea sponges on the heads of those in the electric chair? They conduct electricity more effectively. I also had no idea Madame Tussaud used severed heads as moulds for her wax work dummies, or that Sir David Attenborough once found a skull in his backyard!
I didn’t expect to laugh in a book riddled with so much death – it was hard not to with moments like William Palmer ascending the ladder to the gallows and asking, “Are you sure this damn thing’s safe?”
Despite some laughs, the heavy subject matter often left me withdrawn – consecutive entries on Ted Bundy and Albert Fish tend to have that effect. It contains quite the roll call – featuring the likes of Aileen Wuornos, Jeffrey Dahmer, Timothy McVeigh, Armin Meiwes, Harold Shipman, Adolf Eichmann and Bonnie and Clyde.
“Despite being responsible for at least 14 deaths, the gang became folk heroes to the American public who were suffering privation at the height of the Great Depression.”
Unfortunately, poor editing let this book down. If I received one year for each error or mistake, I would be serving multiple life sentences. Punctuation, missing and incorrect words, wrong dates, place names – it seemingly had as many errors as it did murders and executions.
The macabre procession abruptly ended without much conclusion – despite featuring an introduction. In some ways, this made the collection feel almost unfinished, though there’s a second volume on the way.
I know this will be among the most memorable reads I have this year. It has already generated discussion. Recommend to true crime buffs (and those with strong stomachs).
Many thanks to Big Sky Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
June 26, 2025
Jonathan J. Moore doesn’t just write about killers he dissects them. Payback is not your typical true crime anthology; it’s an unflinching, vivid walk through history’s darkest hallways, lit only by the flickering flame of justice.
From the first chapter, I was struck by how well-researched and brutally honest this book is. Moore doesn't glorify the killers he presents their stories with a disturbing clarity that feels clinical at times, but never detached. Harold Shipman’s terrifying calm, Bluebeard’s horrific trail of widows, Bonnie and Clyde’s romanticized myth unraveling in a storm of bullets it all feels disturbingly real. Every story gave me pause.
What stood out most was the balance between narrative and insight. Moore draws on trial transcripts, historical records, and psychological profiles, but doesn’t overwhelm with jargon. Instead, he paints the people behind the crimes: cold, broken, twisted, and sometimes chillingly ordinary. He makes you think not just about what they did, but why they did it, and whether what came to them was justice. or just a mirror of the violence they wrought.
There are no heroes here just consequences. I found the section on Percival William Budd especially haunting. The coldness of his act, contrasted with the almost mundane reason behind it, stayed with me for days.
If I have any critique, it’s that the sheer darkness can be overwhelming. You’ll want to take this book in pieces it’s emotionally heavy, and intentionally so. Moore clearly wants readers to feel the weight of these lives lost and the sometimes imperfect systems of punishment that followed.
Payback isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s an important and engrossing read. It forces a difficult question: Did they get what they deserved? And more unsettling still can any punishment truly match such horror?
Highly recommended for true crime readers who want substance, not spectacle.
From the first chapter, I was struck by how well-researched and brutally honest this book is. Moore doesn't glorify the killers he presents their stories with a disturbing clarity that feels clinical at times, but never detached. Harold Shipman’s terrifying calm, Bluebeard’s horrific trail of widows, Bonnie and Clyde’s romanticized myth unraveling in a storm of bullets it all feels disturbingly real. Every story gave me pause.
What stood out most was the balance between narrative and insight. Moore draws on trial transcripts, historical records, and psychological profiles, but doesn’t overwhelm with jargon. Instead, he paints the people behind the crimes: cold, broken, twisted, and sometimes chillingly ordinary. He makes you think not just about what they did, but why they did it, and whether what came to them was justice. or just a mirror of the violence they wrought.
There are no heroes here just consequences. I found the section on Percival William Budd especially haunting. The coldness of his act, contrasted with the almost mundane reason behind it, stayed with me for days.
If I have any critique, it’s that the sheer darkness can be overwhelming. You’ll want to take this book in pieces it’s emotionally heavy, and intentionally so. Moore clearly wants readers to feel the weight of these lives lost and the sometimes imperfect systems of punishment that followed.
Payback isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s an important and engrossing read. It forces a difficult question: Did they get what they deserved? And more unsettling still can any punishment truly match such horror?
Highly recommended for true crime readers who want substance, not spectacle.
May 17, 2025
True Crime enthusiasts will find this engaging book gives not only an insight into the minds of some of the most debauched and evil criminals of the last two centuries, but it also provides a detailed, but interesting and informative description of how they met their demise.
The author has selected some of the foulest killers, who he considers some of the worst criminals to date; many of these are household names for true crime readers; Ted Bundy, Bonnie and Clyde, and Carl Williams. While others, particularly those from the nineteenth century are not as well-known but just as depraved.
While not only graphically relating the horrific crimes, which each of the criminals had committed, the author has also provided an analysis of the actual method of execution and the perpetrator’s last day of life. He has mainly divided the method of their “execution” into four sections; by hanging, guillotine, the chair and the needle. By exploring each method in detail, the author has provided some fascinating factual information about each one.
This no holds barred look at ‘how the worst killers in history paid for their crimes’ is not for the faint hearted or squeamish reader. The author leaves little to the imagination with his graphic, grisly descriptions of some of the worst acts of violence, which were enacted upon their innocent victims.
Readers will come away with an unsettling feeling of how cruel some humans can be when inflicting pain on others in the most agonizing way.
There appears to be a Payback 2 in the pipeline.
Reviewed by Nan van Dissel for Bluewolf Reviews and Big Sky Publishing
The author has selected some of the foulest killers, who he considers some of the worst criminals to date; many of these are household names for true crime readers; Ted Bundy, Bonnie and Clyde, and Carl Williams. While others, particularly those from the nineteenth century are not as well-known but just as depraved.
While not only graphically relating the horrific crimes, which each of the criminals had committed, the author has also provided an analysis of the actual method of execution and the perpetrator’s last day of life. He has mainly divided the method of their “execution” into four sections; by hanging, guillotine, the chair and the needle. By exploring each method in detail, the author has provided some fascinating factual information about each one.
This no holds barred look at ‘how the worst killers in history paid for their crimes’ is not for the faint hearted or squeamish reader. The author leaves little to the imagination with his graphic, grisly descriptions of some of the worst acts of violence, which were enacted upon their innocent victims.
Readers will come away with an unsettling feeling of how cruel some humans can be when inflicting pain on others in the most agonizing way.
There appears to be a Payback 2 in the pipeline.
Reviewed by Nan van Dissel for Bluewolf Reviews and Big Sky Publishing
October 19, 2025
Interesting premise but it sounded at times as if the writer was enjoying the macabre a little too much.
The first editing error amused me, the 24th frustrated me and by the 50th, I was simply rolling my eyes. I don’t understand how so many spelling, grammatical and punctuation mistakes could slip through an editor!
The first editing error amused me, the 24th frustrated me and by the 50th, I was simply rolling my eyes. I don’t understand how so many spelling, grammatical and punctuation mistakes could slip through an editor!
August 14, 2025
Interesting and gruesome - some historical cases and current cases - tragedies
May 22, 2025
Really interesting subject matter but oh my Lord, this man needs an editor in the worst way! So many clumsy sentences and typos and just plain errors! "Faculty" is present where "facility" was obviously intended; Gary Gilmore was reported as dying at the Ohio State Penitentiary when it was really Utah (the place is correctly identified elsewhere in his entry): Bonnie and Clyde are referred to at one point as Bonnie and Clive. And Jose Vega's place of origin and imprisonment aren't even provided, they were evidently just forgotten about.
I really hate having to give a book a low rating on these sorts of very basic, easily preventable grounds, but what can I say?
I really hate having to give a book a low rating on these sorts of very basic, easily preventable grounds, but what can I say?
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews