Killer Fiction

by Gerard John Schaefer, Sondra London

En 1972, Gerard John Schaefer, un policier de Fort Lauderdale, au nord de Miami, est arrêté pour deux meurtres et deux enlèvements. Ses collègues le soupçonnent d’avoir commis plus d’une trentaine d’assassinats de jeunes fugueuses dans la région. Leur indice : un carnet de bord tenu par ce terrifiant serial killer, et trouvé lors d’une perquisition. Compilant des nouvelles aux titres aussi explicites que « Des mouches dans ses yeux », « Une blonde sur un pieu » ou « Appât pour Alligators », ce Journal d’un tueur est un document unique dans l’histoire de la criminologie. Cette plongée vertigineuse dans l’esprit torturé d’un homme qui décrit avec des détails nauséabonds la façon dont il torturait ses victimes et violait leur cadavre est ici rassemblée pour la première fois dans son intégralité.

Genres: True Crime, Crime, Nonfiction, Horror

291 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Michael X · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good luck finding this book. Killer Fiction is about deputy sheriff-turned-serial killer G.J. Schaefer. Inside are copious writings and drawings compiled by Sondra London while Schaefer was in prison. Long out-of-print, this book reads like the most extreme and sordid trash crime novel you've ever read...except that it's all true.

[David Tamarin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the real thing. The writings in this book helped lead to the author’s conviction for murder. Schaefer was a police officer and serial killer. He was a brutal and prolific sexual sadist who tortured raped and murdered many young innocent women. This book describes his fantasies, fetishes, and crimes. He is proud of his depraved acts and brags about the horrible things he has done. Misogynistic, disgusting, vile and ultimately depressing. This was extremely difficult to read. However it is an important book as it reveals the deviant criminal mind. For people interested in abnormal psychology and people interested in the mindsets of sadistic killers this book is invaluable. The writer is a psychopath with no regrets and the result is the most disturbing book ever written. Read with caution.

[Bill reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Whores were agents of evil, and as a good Catholic young man I had no difficulty with what one might consider philosophical gray areas. There was good and evil; a well-defined line ran between the two. Whores were evil." Gerald Schaefer was a daily communicant during his high school years, and at one point in his lengthy diatribes against "whores," he placed the blame for his idiosyncrasies on the Church of Rome.
The introductions are by the true crime writer Colin Wilson and Schaefer's first girlfriend Sondra London. She lost her virginity to the future serial killer and her interviews are interspersed with the supposed "fictional" writings of torture, death and depravity by Gerald. His college courses in creative writing were put to good use, as the man had a way with words.
The killer alternates between statements of complete innocence and those of being the greatest serial killer of them all, including his jail mate, Ted Bundy, who he calls an amateur. The fun loving pair compared notes on abduction and murder while wards of the state of Florida.
The best chapters are those describing death in "Old Sparky." One man caught fire and it took ten minutes for the dude to cook. Wads of cotton are jammed up the rectum in order to prevent evacuation of the bowels. It was my first encounter with the phrase, "electric enema."
Killer Fiction is not for the faint of heart but it is one hell of a good read.

[lenormf · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written, this book is just a description of the serial killer's fantasies. Usually the stories start off ok, until Schaefer gets caught in his reviving the murders (most stories depict things he's actually made his victims go through) and from that point the whole storyline and the steadiness of the writing goes out the window to make room for torture and gore.

[Bethany]

I NEED to get my hands on this book!
If someone has a copy and is feeling kind, feel free to message me ;) haha

[Lisa-Jaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

The ramblings of this psychopath wore a little thin.

[Craig Podmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictably misogynistic. Graphic. Insidiously misanthropic. Pulpy and grim, fiction (or not, you decide, I go for the latter as for the sheer amount of gloating and megalomania that Schaefer emits is quite astonishing). This is work by an author that gets turned on by his own work/fantasies or real accounts of vulgar and nasty acts of murder. Before reading this, leave your morals at the door. There are a few parts of the book that gave a good insight into the psyche of psychopaths/sociopathy, reading this material gives you a flavour of what a murderous mind is like. It isn’t great and at times, his prose is askew and somewhat mediocre. Check it out if you’re into true crime and whether you’re intrigued about work written by serial killers etc. This is exploitative trash at its best but what else do you expect written by a sleazy ass murderer?

[Tammy Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gerard Schaefer was one sick individual that turned into a killer cop. Whether you believe this is fiction or non-fiction, I'll leave that one up to you. I decided to read this to learn more about him and boy did I! Doing a deep dive into this monster on the internet and in his writings, was truly disturbing.

[👑]

Going to give this book one star no matter what, as it is a literal serial killer writing a romanticized version of his murders. Because of that, I’ll accessing the book in a way that doesn’t benefit the publisher. Frankly, this shouldn’t have been published at all, but I’ve been known to let my morbid curiosity get the better of me.

[N Sexton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal life-changing read by far and hands down the most dehumanizing book I've ever laid my eyes on. Life changing, ideas will be advanced and pursued that many serial killers never even dreamed up. This book could very well change your life.

[Alex Niedzwiedzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Livre abject qui dépeind la folie d un tueur en série
A lire avec un sac à vomi dans la main

[Karen Peters · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its OK, not as horrific as its led to believe. Found it boring and slow in some parts and focused a lot on his letters to SL than actual stories of his killings.

[Jenna Baldwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a DNF for me
I love trie crime
I'm fascinated but this was too much for me
The stories he wrote were just not my thing as much as I love horror

[Anna Baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can be purchased on Kindle to read, found it interesting, not as bad as I heard and can be boring at times also has a bit of him rambling in areas I had to reread.

[Dana Brewer]

Wtf did I just read..

[Dylan (bearded.bibliomaniac) · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 / 5

I'm deliberately rounding down so that this book doesn't fall into someone's hands that isn't actively seeking it out to begin with.

I should preface this by saying that my rating does not encompass this entire book. My rating is ONLY for the forewords done by Colin Wilson and Sondra London, respectively. I will not be rating the tales of brutality and sadism written by Schaefer, as I (and many others) interpret those as confessions to at least a handful of his actual killings. I read them, they were obviously distasteful, curiosity and the cat, etc. etc. etc.

Again, this review is only for the first ~150 pages, before any writings by Schaefer begin, and the various inserts by London sprinkled throughout.

Firstly, to put it as nicely as I can, Colin Wilson is a creep. His foreword was frankly pointless and seemed pandering, and it only succeeded in making himself look bad (he's nowhere NEAR as bad as Schaefer, obviously, because the only underage girl Wilson has been with seduced him. Sarcasm.) 'Nuff said.

To find any sort of silver lining in this thing: Sondra London does include some interesting notes about Schaefer's time in a Florida prison, most notably when he was buddy buddy with a handful of nightmares like Ted Bundy. It was certainly a perspective I had yet to see, and I found their casual musings of methods and fantasies to be disturbing yet morbidly fascinating.

And yet. Sondra London is like one of those true crime "fans" that we all sort of side eye at work, who gush about murders as if they're the newest episode of an HBO show. I'm no stranger to deep diving into cases myself on a frequent basis (I mean... I'm reading this book) but it's the way they get excited to be around these people, they revel in the brutality and tragedy of it all. Y'all are weird.

I see this reflected heavily in her writings throughout this book, how she on one hand had NO idea that Schaefer would turn into this monster (she dated him in high school), but then she suddenly connects the dots all these years later after he's convicted of these crimes and becomes infamous across the nation. 20/20 hindsight and all that. Except she literally says that while they were dating, Schaefer would ramble about wanting to kill his female neighbor, and how dare she be scantily clad while she sunbathes in her own yard. Didn't see any red flags, Ms. London? M'kay.

And the part that actually made me scoff: London drew the line at the racist remarks by Schaefer, and made sure we knew that. It wasn't the homophobia, it wasn't the sexism, it wasn't the god complex. It wasn't the BRUTAL MURDERS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS. The NECROPHILIA. No, it was the racism. What made her cut off her meetings with Schaefer after a few years of hugging on him and spending time with him in prison, it was his racist remarks that she simply couldn't stomach. Clap on the back for you, Sondra, you absolute paragon of social justice.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in 97 when it came out. It is to blame for my true crime obsession today. I struggled to find it back then, so Im not surprised that so few people have read it. If you can find it, love true crime and arent easily disturbed than grab it.