The Toolbox Killers: A Deadly Rape, Torture & Murder Duo

by Jack Rosewood, Rebecca Lo

Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, the Toolbox Killers, brought a level of terror that changed the way people carried out their daily lives. It was a time of innocence in California, where young girls could walk the streets or hitchhike along the freeways without a care or concern for their own safety, day or night. But that innocence and trust were to be shattered as five girls made the fatal mistake of accepting a ride from Bittaker and Norris.

What started as a chance meeting in prison of these terrible men resulted in a murder spree that was planned right down to the finest details. They knew the type of victims they wanted, how they were going to abduct them, and what they were going to do to them. And they did everything they could to make their depraved fantasies come true.

This true crime book includes chapters that explore the psychological make-up of these killers, and factors that may have influenced their twisted minds. How could these men inflict such horrific pain and suffering on their victims, and get away with it until five victims are left dead and scattered in a desolate canyon? What would have happened if Bittaker and Norris had never met?

These famous serial killers were organized and sexually sadistic, and were responsible for some of the most horrendous true murders involving unimaginable torture in history. This is one of those true crime stories that will make you question humanity, and look twice at those who live among us.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

211 pages, Paperback

Published November 18, 2017

About the author

I live in one of the most beautiful places in Florida, Jupiter, with my wife, two kids and our golden retriever, Vincent. I've been a full time author for the last 15 years and I wouldn't trade it against anything in the world!

My father was a journalist and wrote about some of the worst crimes you could ever imagine, and that's where my big interest from serial killers and other horrible crimes comes from. Just to hear my father talk about the evil acts of Ted Bundy as we were out fishing as a kid are some of my best memories.

Reviews

[Bonnie Kernene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roy Norris and Lawrence Bittaker were two of the worst of the worst in history. Their nickname, The Tookbox Killers, really says it all. They enjoyed inflicting torture and pain on their innocent victims. For such murders, that were so heinous that they are hard to describe, Jack Rosewood is able to take the events and write about them as factually as possible. It does not make for pleasant reading, but he states the facts. He has does done outstanding research on these two, exploring both the crimes committed and the relationship between the two. The book is very well-written and interesting, even if the subject matter is less than pleasant. He made it easier to read. I would recommend this book, especially if you are into true crime and serial killers

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris are two of the most horrific pair of killers. Had they not met in prison on other crimes, it is likely neither would have achieved the level of sadism they did. The book is well researched and engrossing. I was surprised to find that Bittaker actually would sell hair or other things from famous inmates in prison with him adding another level of creepiness to his whole existence.

The book also contained multiple free books (on Belle Gunness, Wisconsin Killers, Edmund Kemper and others). So it was even more of a good investment.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read an earlier review that reading this book was like reading a high school paper, and that was correct. However, I've seen better high school papers...

I picked up this book for information on the Toolbox Killers. Reading it felt like just the foam on top of my drink, there was no substance beyond that. It is simply statements of fact, but I am left with more questions than I got answers. There was also an incredible amount of unrelated, unnecessary information.

I will further my quest for information on the Toolbox Killers as this fell short.

[Sarah-Grace (Azrael865) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly well written. Very easy to follow and I liked how the background on both killers were gone into. There is parts of the book that feel uneccessary when it cuts away to unrelated criminal statistics, almost like a serial killer encyclopedia instead of staying focused on the title killers.

[AC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of a series by Jack Rosewood -- formulaic.

But these are a couple of real sick puppies, these two... disgusting.

[DancingMarshmallow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall: 2 stars.

I’m honestly only giving this a halfway decent rating because it’s the only published book I could find on the Toolbox Killers, and it’s fine, I guess. The writing is passable, but not great. The book is more like a really long wikipedia article, since it covers the crimes at a high level and barely touches the trial, spending more time on other related topics like San Quentin Prison in pop culture, various classifications of serial killers, other similar serial killers, the FBI and John Douglas, and serial killer statistics. There’s a connecting thought among these chapters, but it does feel a bit like following a link trail in Wikipedia as you bounce along randomly. It’s honestly a bit of a disorganized mess.

I’d only really recommend this to diehard true crime fans like me who want to read a “real” book about a particular case and not just the Wikipedia article, but honestly....you might as well just Google it and save yourself some time.

[TheseHauntedPages · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the main issues I had with this book was the style in which it was written, as a lot of reviews have stated it’s reminiscent of a school essay.

There were some interesting elements to the book such as a brief history of the San Antonio Jail and other murderous duos but ultimately it felt like “The Toolbox Killers” were an afterthought.

A transcript of an audio recording was featured in the book which was uncomfortable to read due to the shocking nature of the crimes.


If you wanted to know more about The Toolbox Killers then I would give this book a miss as it wasn’t fully focused on that topic.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, but the bare-bones style seems better suited to shorter entries found in anthologies (a specialty of this author), not full-length treatments. Having said that, the narrative portion of this book ends on page 73, after which we are treated to 143 pages of appendices.

[Molly Riordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Waste of time. The first 30% is the story: background of both men, the crimes, and the trial/conviction. The rest is drawn out. A list of killer duos. A list of serial killers who had victims in California. Serial killers that served in the military. Many overlaps in these lists and unnecessary. A chapter about all the times San Quentin is mentioned in movies and pop culture. I hated it.

[Kelli Elijah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Waste of time.

[Justkeepreading85 · Rating 1 out of 5]

So the actual story takes place within the first 20% the rest is just filler. Nothing you couldn’t find on their wiki page. Wouldn’t recommend

[Píaras Cíonnaoíth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for the faint-hearted… this is a gripping, horrendous and disturbing read.

This is yet another biopic read that was hard to put down. It’s an insightful and graphically detailed account of some of the most horrific serial killers. In fact, while reading yet another of Jack Rosewoods books (with Rebecca Lo), I just had to keep turning the pages yet again. Not necessarily because it’s all that enjoyable in any way, shape or form, to delve a little too deeply into the malefic minds of such murderous men, but because I honestly believe that most people are fascinated in one way or another by serial killers. Perhaps it’s the human morbid fascination with death. I’m not exactly sure. However, maybe it just astounds the average person as to how depraved another individual can be.

This time Jack and Rebecca delve into the murderous minds and crimes of Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, otherwise known as the Toolbox Killers. Bittaker and Norris became known as the Tool Box Killers due to the fact many of the instruments they used to torture and murder their victims were items normally stored inside an ordinary household toolbox. Together they committed the kidnap, rape, torture, and murder of five teenage girls over a period of five months in Southern California in 1979. They brought about a level of fear and dread that changed the way people would carry out their daily lives forever.

A snippet from the book description reveals, “It was a time of innocence in California, where young girls could walk the streets or hitchhike along the freeways without a care or concern for their own safety, day or night. But that innocence and trust were to be shattered as five girls made the fatal mistake of accepting a ride from Bittaker and Norris.

What started as a chance meeting in prison of these terrible men resulted in a murder spree that was planned right down to the finest details. They knew the type of victims they wanted, how they were going to abduct them, and what they were going to do to them. And they did everything they could to make their depraved fantasies come true…”

Now, if that’s not enough to whet your appetite, I don’t know what will. But if you want to find out what happened you’ll just have to turn the pages for yourself to find out! But I will say it’s well worth the read. Even if you are a seasoned campaigner of true crime, The Toolbox Killers: A Deadly Rape, Torture & Murder Duo will surely raise more than a few hairs on the back of your neck. It was a good read and the authors gave a perspective to these horrific crimes that was both fascinating and disturbing. This was one of the better true crime books that I have read recently.

I would highly recommend this read to all fans of the true crime genre. I’m also a big fan of Jack Rosewood so it’s another 5 Stars from me. Well done again!

[Robin Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up as a child in the 1950’s I can remember my mother keeping our front door wide open as well as the windows, our neighbor at the end of the hallway in the apartment building did the same thing; it was summertime and it sure helped to keep our apartments relatively cool with the breeze flowed from one apartment through the other apartment.

While we had one clothesline running from our living room to the fire escape on the other side of the building, we also used one of the clothesline on the roof. It was there the roof I saw women in their bathing suits laying on their plastic-webbing chaise lounge chairs, their transistor radios playing, alone without a care in the world for hours; without a single individual bothering them.

Everyone could hitch a ride without worrying if it would be safe, albeit we’d been warned not to. And the same had been true no matter where you’d been living in the United States. However, in California, this trust got shattered when Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris appeared on the scene and had brought with them their sadistic form of terrorism.

Circumstances had brought these individuals together in prison, and wound up creating a diabolical partnership, a partnership which planned all their murders down to the smallest detail to fulfill their degenerate dreams and have them become a reality.

Once again, the author, Jack Rosewood, has made sure to include and explore the psychological make-up of these killers, and factors that may have influenced their twisted minds. These two infamous serial murderers as you probably have surmised had been quite methodical and depraved sexually in carrying out five of the most appalling murders which involved an unbelievable level of torture anyone could remember.

This book once again proves you can never tell who is living around you and what they’re planning to do. For not having failed his readers and fans in writing another expose of a True Crime Murder, I’ve given Mr. Rosewood and this endeavor 5 STARS.

[Julie Haigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gruesome twosome.

Here is another great quick read, perfect for True Crime fans. This book focuses on two killers who actually met while they were in prison. Rather than choose to learn from serving their time, they took a completely different path and embarked on a killing spree together.

The book contains info about the killers' early lives; factors which could have led up to them turning to crime. Unbelievably, Bittaker's birth parents decided they didn't want children. Too late though, he had already been born. The child was put in an orphanage after birth.

After getting out of prison, Bittaker got a job, a well paid job as a machinist. Neighbours thought him pleasant and helpful. Norris was released a while later and he too had a job. He worked as an electrician. It wasn't as if they didn't have jobs, they had good money coming in. They could have made something with their lives.

Soon, page after page, you're faced with things so terrible, so horrible. They used such horrific and disgusting means. It's just awful-yet you're riveted to read on. So many cringey moments.
Details a transcript of an interview with one of the killers. Also includes a few short summaries of other killing pairs eg. Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, Fred and Rosemary West.

The book reads quickly and then, when the killers are caught we have more chapters with lots of facts and figures. There is a lot of debate in the final chapters-and comparisons with other killers. I had seen a lot of these killer timelines earlier in his encyclopedia of Serial Killers and must admit I skipped quite a bit of this.

Another quick and engrossing read and about cases and killers I hadn't heard about before.

[Lisa Millett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Killer Book

I was provided this book for free for an honest review. Once again Jack Rosewood has written an excellent true crime book about two sadistic rapists and murderers. Known as the toolbox killers because they carried all of their murder tools of torture inside of a toolbox in their van, Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris team up to kidnap, rape and murder several young girls. They manage to get away with several murders before they finally make a mistake that costs them their freedom. This is a well written document of the psychology behind why people kill. Mr. Rosewood gets into incredible detail about the crimes and how they occurred. He also details the trials and the incarceration of these two men. This is an awesome true crime book that I highly recommend to any and all true crime aficionados.

[Kristyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book contains a fairly detailed account of the crimes of Bittaker and Norris, but it could have been way shorter. There are many instances of repetition where something is written in one paragraph and told again in the exact same way in the next paragraph. There is a ton of filler which comprises of other serial killers and their crimes, a list of serial killers in California, etc. If you want to know about the crimes of Bittaker and Norris, you can find the exact information from this book on the internet and it's probably much more well-written. If the authors had just focused on Bittaker and Norris, maybe there wouldn't have been enough for a whole book, I don't know. There was also next to nothing about the victims and their short lives in this book. I probably wouldn't recommend this one.

[Bettye McKee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Featured story plus many bonuses

This is another book with like a gazillion pages because there are several books included in this volume. So if you're a true crime fan, you'll have hours and hours of good reading.

I read about the cases I was not familiar with (and a few of the more familiar ones) and gained more knowledge about serial killers. Some people find it odd that I don't recognize pictures of the younger generation of actors and singers but I can name a great many serial killers from their photos. Fie, friends, it's a talent.

I would only note here that Sian Blake's son was named Amon, not Anon.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. It's a good read. Quick read. Kinda written like a guide more than a narrative. Plus has a lot of general serial killer info. I'm wishing I would've noticed it was part of a crime series, I probably would've found a different book on the subject. Apparently one of the killers wrote a book about it all called The Last Ride. May try to find that and try it out. This book does a decent job of covering everything, just seems it could be told better and with more substance on the actual Toolbox killers. But if you like true crime and want a quick good book to read I'd say this will do.

[sammi_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5- Some of the background information was interesting, as were connections at the end between these killers and various traits they had or aspects of the killings and other killers in history.

However, the book repeated itself quite a bit. A couple of times I had to check to make sure I had actually turned the page. Summaries were also extraordinarily basic. Other information, like which movies and video games had referenced a jail, seemed just thrown in and not at all relevant.

I knew a lot about these two already, so nothing was too new, but it did have a lot of their basic information collected. Not for people who read a lot on these subjects and are hoping for new insights.

[Cheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

What I liked about this writing is that the author goes into to detail about the different types of serial killers and how they differ plus what types of situations and/or childhood traumas may be present and contribute to their making. The writing itself was a bit lacking. The author has a lot of knowledge about serial killers, however, I believe he was an investigator first, author second. It’s obvious that he’s a trained investigator but not a trained writer. Which I’m not trying to be a snob about. Just a simplistic style which is fine enough to tell the story.

[Ashlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of these reviews hit the nail on the head regarding 20% of the book being about the actual duo & their crimes & the remaining is just filler. The style of writing is exactly how I’d write my notes when studying at university so it won’t be appealing to many.

There is so much unnecessary info added & I found a shocking error where during the “timeline” chapter of Norris, his age changes from 31 years in July 1979 to 39 years in September 1979. Must have been a tough 2 months for the guy to age 8 years in 2 months.

Clearly nobody bothered to proofread this book but if I’m honest, I’d give it a hard pass & read the Wikipedia page instead.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and frightening!

This was a fascinating book as I had not heard of the “Toolbox Killers” before. Their crimes were horrific and I shudder to image what their young victims (teenagers) must have gone through prior to their deaths. I thought that the author did a very good job of detailing the crimes and of discussing the backgrounds of not only these two men, but of other serial killers around the world who share similarities. It will bring home the recognition that we cannot truly be safe and that not all killers are easily identifiable.

[Karen Bullock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diabolical

4 stars for this engrossing read that will leave the reader infuriated by the lack of proper authorities having not taken proper action when both Bittaker & Norris received their diagnoses.
Extremely dark & twisted individuals who should not have crossed paths.
Interesting how they both turned on each other in the end & the prison interviews show that both men still thought they hadn't really done anything wrong.
Enjoyed the thorough & in depth information on personality disorders @ the end.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Toolbox Killers
A Deadly Rape, Torture & Murder Duo: The Serial Killer Books, Book 3
By: Rebecca Lo, Jack Rosewood


Another fine accounting of Serial or Spree Killers. This is a dark tale of the deaths of young girls at the hands of monsters. We also get bonous material. I had heard of this duo, Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris. It was chilling to hear more.


The narration was well done by Kevin Kollins, who is a master of this genre.



I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[Albert Still · Rating 4 out of 5]

These two guys are sick.... I have to admit, I have not been very fond of many books like this in the past, but this one was different, It was very informative for me, as I did not really know much about these murders before this. ( I actually went and researched some more on my own after finishing, cause why not, ha). If you are looking for somewhere to start learning more about these murders, I would definitely recommend this book as a starting point to ease into it. FYI, it does go deep in the detail of the rape they did to those women, so steer away if that upsets you.

[claire jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Terrifying Duo

Another in depth profile on two vile ( I won't call them men) pieces of pond scum..This book not only goes into detail of their crimes, but also offshoots into other topics pertinent to the pair, such as famous killing partnerships.
I found that some of this book made for very unpleasant reading , and I admit to crying at the transcript of one of their murders.
Fascinating but uncomfortable reading

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly described case with backgrounds and timelines for each killer. It also includes various contrasting comparisons to other serial and mass murder cases.

Kevin Kollins expertly narrates this audiobook. I'm especially impressed with his reading of the transcript of one of the victims.

NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review."

The author did warn me this book is grim, and grim it is. But I like grim. This true story is horrifying. The only reason I didn't give this a higher rating is because I felt like there wasn't enough info for an entire book and sometimes the information wasn't very relevant. Also, I would suggest reading it instead of listening to the audible version.

[Meadow Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't even imagine the pain that the victims family had to endure. To not even get dull closure. This book wasn't too bad, it covered the two men, but also covered other people who had no involvement in the crimes of the "Toolbox Killers." I have enjoyed the other books that I have read from this author, but this one seemed to kind of drag on and offer information that didn't quite relate to the case.

[Christina Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was trying hard to enjoy. When it comes to serial killers, I want to read about them. I was having a great read until it kept cutting off the main subject to jump onto another subject, then back to the same subject and change of subject. It kept going back and forth and my interest stopped. I mean, I understand giving meanings to their psychological information and compare them to other serial killers but that could've waited at the end. I just stopped reading and gave up.