Totally Terrifying True Crime Trivia: Outrageous Facts About Murders, Maniacs, and Mayhem

by Brian Boone

For the true fans of true If you think nothing can shock you, think again.

With heart-pounding real-life stories of serial killers, sadistic torturers, flesh-eating cannibals, and creepy evil-doers of all kinds, Totally Terrifying True Crime Trivia gives you the gory details your curiosity craves. Meet the most demented figures of all time, like Richard Chase, the necrophile who delighted in drinking his victim’s blood; Gilles Garnier, the self-proclaimed werewolf who hunted children; and Ed Gein, who used his victims’ bodies like craft supplies. You’ll be double-checking your deadbolt every night after stepping into the twisted minds of killers

- Pedro Rodrigues Filho, a.k.a. the Brazilian Dexter, who considered himself a vigilante for justice and took the lives of over 100 drug dealers, murderers, and rapists.
- Mother-daughter cult leaders May Blackburn and Ruth Rizzio, who went from sacrificing animals to baking thirty-year-old Florence Turner to death in a sacrificial oven.
- Professor Khaw Him Sun, who offed his wife and daughter in 2015 with the most unlikely of murder a poison yoga ball.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

Published July 4, 2023

About the author

Brian Boone has contributed material to Funny or Die, The Onion, Bunny Ears, Vulture, ClickHole, RiffTrax, CBC Comedy, The New Yorker, MAD, Weekly Humorist, Looper, Someecards, How Stuff Works, and many high profile podcasts. He's the author of many children's joke books, the music trivia title I Love Rock n' Roll (Except When I Hate It) and is a longtime contributor and editor for the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series. He lives in San Verguenza, California, with his family.

Reviews

[Emily Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good read! Most of the cases here I had never heard of. And some of the ones that I had heard of, it gave new information that I never knew. Definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys true crime.

[Julz!! · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars! This book has so many true stories, I found them all interesting, and even found myself looking up more information about some people! I liked how the chapters were split up by different crimes.

[Jeffrey Hyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally Terrifying True Crime Trivia promises chills, but what it actually delivers is a fairly tame collection of crime-related factoids. While the concept is fun and the book is easy to dip in and out of, very little of it lives up to the word terrifying in the title. Most of the trivia feels surface-level—more “did you know?” than genuinely disturbing or thought-provoking.

True crime readers who are already familiar with major cases won’t find much new here, and even casual readers may find the presentation a bit flat. The facts are interesting in a general sense, but they rarely linger or provoke that uneasy feeling true crime does best.

That said, it’s not a bad book—just a misleading one. It works as light, quick trivia for passing time, but anyone expecting deep dives, psychological insight, or truly chilling material will likely come away underwhelmed. A decent filler read, but far from terrifying.

[Shayla Raquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was shocked at how many of these I did NOT know. Yes, if you're deep into true crime, you'll see a lot of ones you already know, but there was plenty of stuff that left my mouth hanging open. I took lots of pics of certain facts so I could learn more about them later. For example, I had no clue about the car thief who found himself on death row. Like, what!?

[Mary Smith (Boal) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book!

This isn’t a traditional trivia book. It doesn’t ask you a question and want an answer. It’s more of a fact book.

This was fun to read! I didn’t know quite a few of these crimes. Published in 2023, it included crimes from 2022.

If you like true crime, pick this book up!

[Brandi Wiltse · Rating 1 out of 5]

Inaccurate information is present, thereby tainting the entirety of the book.

[Megan Kosakowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent snippets of crime cases. The deduction is because I wanted cited sources #englishteacher