Deadlier Than the Male: Stories of Female Serial Killers by Terry MannersMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Time taken to read - 2.5 days
Pages - 372
Publisher - Trafalgar Square Publishing
Source - Friend from RISI
Blurb from Goodreads
The phenomenon of the female serial killer has been increasingly capturing the public's attention. This book examines the motivation of, among others, the revengeful Aileen Wournos, the materialistic Dorothea Puente, the sexually abused Terri Rachals, the psychologically disturbed nurse Beverley Allitt and the obsessive lover Karla Teale. An even more complex creature than her male counterpart, the female serial killer rarely taunts the police nor revels in her sinister "superiority", making her capture more difficult. This book tells the stories of these women, from early childhood to their obsession to kill. From the court case to the psychiatrist's reports, it explores the caverns of the female serial killer's mind.
My Review
A brief look at some of the worlds females serial killers, Mary Ann Cotton, Nannie Doss, Christine Falling, Velma Barfield, Terri Rachals, Dorothea Puente, Beverly Allitt, Aileen Wuornos, Karla Homolka. We briefly examine the different type of killers, The Comfort Serial killer, The Visionary, The Power Seekers, The Disciple and the Hedonistic serial killer. Each killer gets approximately 40 odd pages so I would say this is a good book to start for a brief beginning if you are interested in this kind of subject.
I had heard of a few of them but not all and even the ones I had heard of there were some details that were new to me. It can make for a tough read, whilst it doesn't go into as much detail as some books there is still enough to be brutal. The author has taken a wee bit of artistic creativity with the dialogue however he does say at the beginning where he has gotten his information and what he has done with it.
A good starter book, decent sized chapters, easily enough to read in respects to how it has been written rather than subject content. There is murder, abuse, depravity, child murder and endangerment which is hard to read, sexual deviancy and as I said hard to read the darker side of humanity but in regards to some books in this genre it isn't as heavy. 3.5/5 for me this time, this is my first time reading this author, I will look and see what else he has written.
This sounds so interesting. With that it may, in the end be a bit too disturbing. I think that female serial killers are perceived to be so rare, that when they do pop up, they fascinate people.
ReplyDeleteI used to read so many of these books once upon a time that it scared Mr T.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to hear that this selection offered something new, I must admit to being more clued up on male serial killers than female.
Hi Lainy, I enjoy True Crime Books as well. In fact one of my favorites is the Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule. I saw Charlize Theron's powerful performance as Aileen Wounos years ago in the film Monster. What I got from it and I don't know if it applies to other serial killers is that Wounos was a deeply disturbed woman with a horrible life and if she had had a place to go, a way to get her off the streets the killings may have been prevented. She was a danger to herself and others and here in US we don't have structures in place to help the mentally ill or people who are at the end of their rope.
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