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Serial Killers: Butchers and Cannibals
Mass murder is awful enough. But some serial killers not only embark on slaying to slake their perverted pleasures but enjoy the mutilation of their victims’ bodies – and sometimes also revert to cannibalism.
The simple act of slaying would sicken most people. Yet that is not sufficient a thrill for those who find the excitement begins once their victims are dead. Cutting up corpses is, of course, one way of disposing of the evidence. But here we examine the butchers who dismember for pleasure.
They are monsters like Andrei Chikatilo, the so-called ‘Rostov Ripper’, who tortured, murdered, chopped up and sometimes cannibalized as many as 50 victims. Or they can be quiet unassuming perverts like Dennis Nilsen, whose London house of horrors so overflowed with body parts that they blocked the drains.
There is nothing new about this, the sickest side of homicide, of course. The most famous serial killer of all was Jack the Ripper – and butchering maniacs have been slashing their bloody path through history ever since.
The simple act of slaying would sicken most people. Yet that is not sufficient a thrill for those who find the excitement begins once their victims are dead. Cutting up corpses is, of course, one way of disposing of the evidence. But here we examine the butchers who dismember for pleasure.
They are monsters like Andrei Chikatilo, the so-called ‘Rostov Ripper’, who tortured, murdered, chopped up and sometimes cannibalized as many as 50 victims. Or they can be quiet unassuming perverts like Dennis Nilsen, whose London house of horrors so overflowed with body parts that they blocked the drains.
There is nothing new about this, the sickest side of homicide, of course. The most famous serial killer of all was Jack the Ripper – and butchering maniacs have been slashing their bloody path through history ever since.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published July 30, 2010
9 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Nigel Blundell
92 books20 followersNigel Blundell is a journalist who has worked in Australia, the United States and Britain. He spent 25 years in Fleet Street before becoming an author and contributor to national newspapers. He has written more than 40 books, including best-sellers on crime and royalty. He co-wrote the Top Ten exposé Fall of the House of Windsor, which first revealed the so-called ‘Squidgygate’ tape and the infidelity of both Princess Diana and Prince Charles. His other factual subjects have included military history, celebrity scandals, and ghosts and the paranormal.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 17, 2020
Even though I am a fan of true crime and have read quite a bit in the genre, this book included stories that I had never heard of. It was very well researched and filled with facts....perhaps a few too many, it tipped into a bit too gory. A well written, quick read it is definitely not for the faint of heart.
March 18, 2020
Even though I am a fan of true crime and have read quite a bit in the genre, this book included stories that I had never heard of. It was very well researched and filled with facts....perhaps a few too many, it tipped into a bit too gory. A well written, quick read it is definitely not for the faint of heart.
March 18, 2020
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Nigel Blundell for an ARC of this title in return for an honest review.
When I was in my teens and twenties, I had a fascination with serial killers. I wanted to know how their minds worked. Why they were able to commit such heinous acts without remorse.
This book was very informative. I did have to put the book down multiple times. Violence personified, put me on overload if I did not take a breather.
I no longer have that fascination with serial killers, but I am still very much fascinated with the human mind. All in all, I like the book, informative and straight to the point.
What I did not like were the repetitive sentences that showed up midway through the book and continued to the end. Made it difficult to read. Frustrating. Typos I can handle. Multiple sentences repeated over and over again, no.
Still, if any have interest in this genre, and you can handle some editing/downloading issues. Give it a shot. You will not be disappointed in the content.
When I was in my teens and twenties, I had a fascination with serial killers. I wanted to know how their minds worked. Why they were able to commit such heinous acts without remorse.
This book was very informative. I did have to put the book down multiple times. Violence personified, put me on overload if I did not take a breather.
I no longer have that fascination with serial killers, but I am still very much fascinated with the human mind. All in all, I like the book, informative and straight to the point.
What I did not like were the repetitive sentences that showed up midway through the book and continued to the end. Made it difficult to read. Frustrating. Typos I can handle. Multiple sentences repeated over and over again, no.
Still, if any have interest in this genre, and you can handle some editing/downloading issues. Give it a shot. You will not be disappointed in the content.
October 21, 2019
Those with an interest in true crime - and indeed, those who have watched the TV series Mindhunters - will have heard of at least some of the serial killers featured in this book. Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein, Andrei Chikatilo, Dennis Nilsen, Richard Ramirez, Jack the Ripper and Elizabeth Bàthory are names of which most are aware. There are plenty of others here I hadn’t heard of, though, including Fritz Haarman, Gilles de Rais, Joachim Kroll, Adolfo Costanzo and Anatoly Onoprienko. While by no means an exhaustive list of serial killers, nor confined to only the most prolific, what the murderers in this collection have in common is their bloodlust. They all took sick, depraved pleasure in butchery, many of them descending to cannibalism.
If you plan to read this, make sure you have a strong stomach and don’t read while trying to eat. While the accounts don’t dwell pruriently on the gory details, neither do they shy away from revealing the nauseating truth of these appalling crimes. I read quite a bit of true crime and consider myself pretty inured to it, but due to the fairly condensed nature of these accounts, there’s an awful lot packed into this book. With 28 killers’ crimes described, the victims number not in the hundreds, but the thousands, and the crimes are among the most revolting ever recorded. It’s a confronting read, to say the least.
While some of the killers - Jack the Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer etc. - are the subject of much more exhaustive examinations elsewhere, the short chapters devoted to each here do provide quite a good introduction while giving the reader the tools to do further reading on specific cases should they be interested. A simple Wikipedia search will lead the reader to a bibliography… except in the case of Lucian Staniak, whose inclusion in this book did make me side-eye the author’s research somewhat, because Lucian Staniak, aka the Red Spider, is as fictional as Sweeney Todd or Hannibal Lecter. It’s thought Staniak was invented by true crime writer Colin Wilson, because researchers who wanted to write a biopic were unable to find any evidence that he actually existed, a problem easily uncovered with a simple Google search. Without addressing this issue, his inclusion in this work is deeply problematic and unfortunately calls the legitimacy of the entire collection into question. It is usual, in true crime books, to include an appendix of reference sources for further reading, something I would strongly recommend the author consider adding. Just looking for these references would likely have exposed the problem of Staniak and caused a reconsideration of his inclusion.
In addition to this, I’m somewhat bemused by the cover image, since I recognise one of the three faces featured as Fred West - who while he’s certainly a serial killer, isn’t one of those mentioned in the book? It seems like a strange and misleading image to choose.
While I did enjoy this and would consider it an introduction to many serial killers both infamous and obscure, as well as a good addition to any true-crime library, the inclusion of Lucian Staniak and the absence of a reference bibliography does make me question the legitimacy of the author’s research methods. For this reason, I’m unable to give it a maximum five-star rating.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.
If you plan to read this, make sure you have a strong stomach and don’t read while trying to eat. While the accounts don’t dwell pruriently on the gory details, neither do they shy away from revealing the nauseating truth of these appalling crimes. I read quite a bit of true crime and consider myself pretty inured to it, but due to the fairly condensed nature of these accounts, there’s an awful lot packed into this book. With 28 killers’ crimes described, the victims number not in the hundreds, but the thousands, and the crimes are among the most revolting ever recorded. It’s a confronting read, to say the least.
While some of the killers - Jack the Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer etc. - are the subject of much more exhaustive examinations elsewhere, the short chapters devoted to each here do provide quite a good introduction while giving the reader the tools to do further reading on specific cases should they be interested. A simple Wikipedia search will lead the reader to a bibliography… except in the case of Lucian Staniak, whose inclusion in this book did make me side-eye the author’s research somewhat, because Lucian Staniak, aka the Red Spider, is as fictional as Sweeney Todd or Hannibal Lecter. It’s thought Staniak was invented by true crime writer Colin Wilson, because researchers who wanted to write a biopic were unable to find any evidence that he actually existed, a problem easily uncovered with a simple Google search. Without addressing this issue, his inclusion in this work is deeply problematic and unfortunately calls the legitimacy of the entire collection into question. It is usual, in true crime books, to include an appendix of reference sources for further reading, something I would strongly recommend the author consider adding. Just looking for these references would likely have exposed the problem of Staniak and caused a reconsideration of his inclusion.
In addition to this, I’m somewhat bemused by the cover image, since I recognise one of the three faces featured as Fred West - who while he’s certainly a serial killer, isn’t one of those mentioned in the book? It seems like a strange and misleading image to choose.
While I did enjoy this and would consider it an introduction to many serial killers both infamous and obscure, as well as a good addition to any true-crime library, the inclusion of Lucian Staniak and the absence of a reference bibliography does make me question the legitimacy of the author’s research methods. For this reason, I’m unable to give it a maximum five-star rating.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.
February 25, 2020
Review to come
May 16, 2020
Review for 'Serial Killers: Butchers and Cannibals ' by Nigel Blundell
Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Pen & Sword True Crime.
This is the first book that I have read by this author. I would definitely read more of his work.
This book looks into some of the most famous serial killers such as Jack the Ripper, Albert Fish, Edward Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer as well as those not as well heard of, 28 in all.
I was surprised that I've never heard of some of these serial killers and found it interesting that Jack the ripper is so infamous although he "only" murdered 5 people, yet I had never heard of Berdella who was extremely violent in his murders or Chikatilo who murdered 53 people and I'm only 15% of the way in (I write reviews as I read).
This book gives just the right amount of information on the killers past to show how their murderous instincts may have developed but not too much to bore the reader as some books do.
About half way through the book several sentences were repeated which made me really struggle reading it, especially when reading about Anatoly Onoprienko and Richard Ramirez. Unfortunately as this made me struggle to read these parts the book lost a rating for me.
Excellent addition of the photos at the end although they would have been better placed next to the chapters they related to while each story was fresh in the mind. I found the photos and descriptions to not match. For example, the same photo was named as 2 different people.
I find it disturbing that even when these serial Killers admitted to killing, for example, 20 people they may only get charged with the murder of 5!!
Overall a well written book, very descriptive and I can tell quite a lot of research went into it. The descriptions were excellent and also very gory as you would expect.
I would recommend this book to fans of horror and true crime.
176 pages
£8.32 to purchase on kindle. I think this is quite an expensive price for a kindle version of this book.
Rated 4/5 (I enjoyed it) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon.Com and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
Feel free to add me on Goodreads for more reviews
#SerialKillersButchersAndCannibals #NigelBlundell #Pen&Sword #NetGalley #BookReview
Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Pen & Sword True Crime.
This is the first book that I have read by this author. I would definitely read more of his work.
This book looks into some of the most famous serial killers such as Jack the Ripper, Albert Fish, Edward Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer as well as those not as well heard of, 28 in all.
I was surprised that I've never heard of some of these serial killers and found it interesting that Jack the ripper is so infamous although he "only" murdered 5 people, yet I had never heard of Berdella who was extremely violent in his murders or Chikatilo who murdered 53 people and I'm only 15% of the way in (I write reviews as I read).
This book gives just the right amount of information on the killers past to show how their murderous instincts may have developed but not too much to bore the reader as some books do.
About half way through the book several sentences were repeated which made me really struggle reading it, especially when reading about Anatoly Onoprienko and Richard Ramirez. Unfortunately as this made me struggle to read these parts the book lost a rating for me.
Excellent addition of the photos at the end although they would have been better placed next to the chapters they related to while each story was fresh in the mind. I found the photos and descriptions to not match. For example, the same photo was named as 2 different people.
I find it disturbing that even when these serial Killers admitted to killing, for example, 20 people they may only get charged with the murder of 5!!
Overall a well written book, very descriptive and I can tell quite a lot of research went into it. The descriptions were excellent and also very gory as you would expect.
I would recommend this book to fans of horror and true crime.
176 pages
£8.32 to purchase on kindle. I think this is quite an expensive price for a kindle version of this book.
Rated 4/5 (I enjoyed it) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon.Com and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
Feel free to add me on Goodreads for more reviews
#SerialKillersButchersAndCannibals #NigelBlundell #Pen&Sword #NetGalley #BookReview
February 2, 2020
https://donnasbookblog.wordpress.com/...
I am a massive fan of true crime books so I was delighted to be able to pick up a copy of Serial Killers: Butchers & Cannibals, I had read about most of the Serial Killers features in the book but there were a few that were new to me and I loved finding out more about them, it was also a great opportunity to catch up with old “favourites” if that could ever be the right word for a bunch of “monsters”!
I will admit that Serial Killers fascinate me and I love being able to catch a glimpse inside their minds to see what makes them tick, what drove them to commit the crimes they did and whether they were born with it, suffered an early trauma or just turned downright evil.
I loved the layout for this book, the chapter length was great – plenty of detail and just long enough to speak an interest to enable you to read further around some of those mentioned. I have read other books by this author and he has a great writing style, it is easy to read (even though some of the crimes this lot committed aren’t easy to read about) and it has a great natural flow to it and you can easily dip in and out of the book.
It is 5 stars from me for this one – very highly recommended – I thought that it was a great read!!
I am a massive fan of true crime books so I was delighted to be able to pick up a copy of Serial Killers: Butchers & Cannibals, I had read about most of the Serial Killers features in the book but there were a few that were new to me and I loved finding out more about them, it was also a great opportunity to catch up with old “favourites” if that could ever be the right word for a bunch of “monsters”!
I will admit that Serial Killers fascinate me and I love being able to catch a glimpse inside their minds to see what makes them tick, what drove them to commit the crimes they did and whether they were born with it, suffered an early trauma or just turned downright evil.
I loved the layout for this book, the chapter length was great – plenty of detail and just long enough to speak an interest to enable you to read further around some of those mentioned. I have read other books by this author and he has a great writing style, it is easy to read (even though some of the crimes this lot committed aren’t easy to read about) and it has a great natural flow to it and you can easily dip in and out of the book.
It is 5 stars from me for this one – very highly recommended – I thought that it was a great read!!
March 4, 2020
Definitely not a book for squeamish types. Some of the descriptions are very graphic so beware. If you're interested in true crime novels you'll find Serial Killers: Butchers and Cannibals a solid informative read.
July 6, 2020
A series of short biographies of some of the most heinous killers in history. Obviously not a masterpiece of literature, but an excellent source of information for those who write books on the subject.
June 14, 2020
Not for the Squeamish!
Many of the killers discussed were familiar to me, but the prurient details of depravity, vileness, and bizarre behavior are pushed in your your face by author Nigel Blundell. This book about heinous serial killers who were Butchers & Cannibals, reveals the gruesome and horrendous details often left out of other accounts of the crimes of these killers.
These men & women were remorseless, cold, callous - trying to inflict damage, cruelty, and torture on their victims. At times it was hard to read. They often wanted to obliterate their victims whom they definitely did not view in an empathetic manner. Partially because they lack the ability to sympathize with their victims, have objectified them, and their deeds become a manner of playing out deviant fantasies created in sick perverted minds.
Many of the killers discussed were familiar to me, but the prurient details of depravity, vileness, and bizarre behavior are pushed in your your face by author Nigel Blundell. This book about heinous serial killers who were Butchers & Cannibals, reveals the gruesome and horrendous details often left out of other accounts of the crimes of these killers.
These men & women were remorseless, cold, callous - trying to inflict damage, cruelty, and torture on their victims. At times it was hard to read. They often wanted to obliterate their victims whom they definitely did not view in an empathetic manner. Partially because they lack the ability to sympathize with their victims, have objectified them, and their deeds become a manner of playing out deviant fantasies created in sick perverted minds.
May 18, 2020
A gory tale of Murder and Mayhem! Perfectly crafted for the lover of true crime and serial killers!
This in-depth book covers serial killers who are well known and some that you may not be familiar with. The entire book is a gore-fest, filled with facts, the details of the crimes, and what made these serial killers tick. This book was beyond amazing and completely went above and beyond the expectations that I had for it.
I have never read anything by Nigel Blundell, but this won't be the last! I enjoyed his writing style, the blunt honesty and the information that was provided. This book will be a hit!
This in-depth book covers serial killers who are well known and some that you may not be familiar with. The entire book is a gore-fest, filled with facts, the details of the crimes, and what made these serial killers tick. This book was beyond amazing and completely went above and beyond the expectations that I had for it.
I have never read anything by Nigel Blundell, but this won't be the last! I enjoyed his writing style, the blunt honesty and the information that was provided. This book will be a hit!
August 20, 2021
Good book of crimes committed against other human beings. This book is well written, but not for the faint of heart or squeamish people. I went and read more books from this author. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving this book in this manner had no bearing on this review.
October 7, 2022
Very interesting and graphic
March 28, 2020
This book gives a history of serial killers who are also cannibals throughout history. Most of them have been either abused, abandoned by their biological parents, or experienced death early on in life and became obsessed with it. A lot of them were men who discovered they were gay, so a lot of these were perverted pedeophiles, who got aroused watching their victims die. Quite a few others picked up prostitites because they did not otherwise have good luck with women.
I was particularly disturbed with the ones who would break into people's homes and take their kids, some as young as 5 years old, which happens to be the age of my daughter. Quite a few of them had a burial ground located inside their house or close to it. I can only imagine what a grisly site these police officer's discovered realizing these killers were cooking their victims and eating them when they went to investigate the crime scene. One of them admitted they liked "young flesh" the best, after the police discovered a little girl's hand cooking on the kitchen stove. It's enough to give you goosebumps.
Being a fan of true crime novels, I liked the fact this book covered several and not just one well known case. This was quite an intriguing read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in this genre.
I was particularly disturbed with the ones who would break into people's homes and take their kids, some as young as 5 years old, which happens to be the age of my daughter. Quite a few of them had a burial ground located inside their house or close to it. I can only imagine what a grisly site these police officer's discovered realizing these killers were cooking their victims and eating them when they went to investigate the crime scene. One of them admitted they liked "young flesh" the best, after the police discovered a little girl's hand cooking on the kitchen stove. It's enough to give you goosebumps.
Being a fan of true crime novels, I liked the fact this book covered several and not just one well known case. This was quite an intriguing read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in this genre.
February 27, 2020
‘Because the price of meat in the shops is so expensive’ he replied. By the way of explanation, he told the detectives that he only consumed the flesh of those victims who were young and tender.’
Well what a gruesome book that was! Each chapter was a different story some who are well know and that I have read about before and a whole heap that I was not aware of.
The book is easy to read and follow along with although at times the book is extremely gory - after all it is about the most notorious serial killers who dismembered and took pleasure in eating their victims.
I found it so interesting that majority of the man and women in the stories had served time in the army, continued to kill people due to police mistakes in trying to investigate and capture them and that a lot of them died in prison of heart conditions. So many commonalities between the cases.
Overall, the book was an interesting read and if you are interested in serial killers this one is for you.
Well what a gruesome book that was! Each chapter was a different story some who are well know and that I have read about before and a whole heap that I was not aware of.
The book is easy to read and follow along with although at times the book is extremely gory - after all it is about the most notorious serial killers who dismembered and took pleasure in eating their victims.
I found it so interesting that majority of the man and women in the stories had served time in the army, continued to kill people due to police mistakes in trying to investigate and capture them and that a lot of them died in prison of heart conditions. So many commonalities between the cases.
Overall, the book was an interesting read and if you are interested in serial killers this one is for you.
February 23, 2020
This book is a great read for any true crime fan. The author did a great job of including those killers that most of us have heard about, but also included several that I hadn't heard of. I found the writing to be engaging, as I finished this in a day. I did find some errors in this book after doing some online research. I feel as if the author and publisher should have spent more time fact-checking. Overall, it was an interesting read, though. Due to the errors and oversight of the publisher to fact-check this book, I am giving it 4 stars.
May 7, 2014
What a great book but as always my complaint with true crime e books is that there are no pictures!
I had never heard of some of the murders in this book. For example I found the Bender family case to be very interesting especially since they vanished after committing horrific crimes. They remain to this day one of the wild west era's mysteries!
I had never heard of some of the murders in this book. For example I found the Bender family case to be very interesting especially since they vanished after committing horrific crimes. They remain to this day one of the wild west era's mysteries!
February 27, 2020
I remember reading this book Serial Killers: Butchers and Cannibals when I was younger and when I saw Nigel Blundell has re-released I thought I would like to read it again as it was great read for any true crime fan. I enjoyed reading it again.
Big thank you to Pen & Sword and Netgalley for the ARC , in exchange for an honest opinion.
Big thank you to Pen & Sword and Netgalley for the ARC , in exchange for an honest opinion.
April 11, 2020
Thank you Netgally and the author for the gifted copy. All thoughts are completely my own.
This book was extremely well researched. Also very descriptive. If you don't want to read about gore this is not the book for you. It's very detailed, I really appreciate all the research that went into this.
4 ****
This book was extremely well researched. Also very descriptive. If you don't want to read about gore this is not the book for you. It's very detailed, I really appreciate all the research that went into this.
4 ****
July 3, 2013
as an introduction to serial crime it was ok. a little rushed but its an inexpensive and disturbing look into the history of serial killers.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews