My Life Among the Serial Killers
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Overview
Over the course of twenty-five years, Dr. Helen Morrison has profiled more than eighty serial killers around the world. What she learned about them will shatter every assumption you've ever had about the most notorious criminals known to man. Judging by appearances, Dr. Helen Morrison has an ordinary life in the suburbs of a major city. She has a physician husband, two children, and a thriving psychiatric clinic. But her life is much more than that. She is one of the country's leading experts on serial killers, and has spent as many as four hundred hours alone in a room with depraved murderers, digging deep into killers' psyches in ways no profiler before ever has.
In My Life Among the Serial Killers, Dr. Morrison relates how she profiled the Mad Biter, Richard Otto Macek, who chewed on his victims' body parts, stalked Dr. Morrison, then believed she was his wife. She did the last interview with Ed Gein, who was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. John Wayne Gacy, the clown-obsessed killer of young men, sent her crazed Christmas cards and gave her his paintings as presents. Then there was Atlanta child killer Wayne Williams; rapist turned murderer Bobby Joe Long; England's Fred and Rosemary West, who killed girls and women in their "House of Horrors"; and Brazil's deadliest killer of children, Marcelo Costa de Andrade.
Dr. Morrison has received hundreds of letters from killers, read their diaries and journals, evaluated crime scenes, testified at their trials, and studied photos of the gruesome carnage. She has interviewed the families of the victims -- and the spouses and parents of the killers -- to gain a deeper understanding of the killer's environment and the public persona he adopts. She has also studied serial killers throughout history and shows how this is not a recent phenomenon with psychological autopsies of the fifteenth-century French war hero Gilles de Rais, the sixteenth-century Hungarian Countess Bathory, H. H. Holmes of the late ninteenth century, and Albert Fish of the Roaring Twenties.
Through it all, Dr. Morrison has been on a mission to discover the reasons why serial killers are compelled to murder, how they choose their victims, and what we can do to prevent their crimes in the future. Her provocative conclusions will stun you.
In My Life Among the Serial Killers, Dr. Morrison relates how she profiled the Mad Biter, Richard Otto Macek, who chewed on his victims' body parts, stalked Dr. Morrison, then believed she was his wife. She did the last interview with Ed Gein, who was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. John Wayne Gacy, the clown-obsessed killer of young men, sent her crazed Christmas cards and gave her his paintings as presents. Then there was Atlanta child killer Wayne Williams; rapist turned murderer Bobby Joe Long; England's Fred and Rosemary West, who killed girls and women in their "House of Horrors"; and Brazil's deadliest killer of children, Marcelo Costa de Andrade.
Dr. Morrison has received hundreds of letters from killers, read their diaries and journals, evaluated crime scenes, testified at their trials, and studied photos of the gruesome carnage. She has interviewed the families of the victims -- and the spouses and parents of the killers -- to gain a deeper understanding of the killer's environment and the public persona he adopts. She has also studied serial killers throughout history and shows how this is not a recent phenomenon with psychological autopsies of the fifteenth-century French war hero Gilles de Rais, the sixteenth-century Hungarian Countess Bathory, H. H. Holmes of the late ninteenth century, and Albert Fish of the Roaring Twenties.
Through it all, Dr. Morrison has been on a mission to discover the reasons why serial killers are compelled to murder, how they choose their victims, and what we can do to prevent their crimes in the future. Her provocative conclusions will stun you.
Reviews (26)
my life among the serial killers
Written by Charlie Dixon on November 26th, 2007
- Book Rating: 3/5
Very interesting and enjoyable. Although I would have liked more depth on some of the interviewed, too brief on some and too long on some others. I think anyone would enjoy this read, its not gory, scary or offensive-- which may disapoint some readers.
My Life Among Serial Killers
Written by Melinda Johnson from Mesquite, TX on February 4th, 2007
- Book Rating: 2/5
I've only sent 2 books back without finishing them and this was one. The author should never had made the decision to be the reader. I forced myself to listen to 3 CDs hoping it would get better, but it did not. There were parts that were good, like when she was interviewing the killers, but when she would get into the analysis portions, it was boring beyond words. That together with the monotony in her voice just irritated me.
Good book
Written by Jane on January 22nd, 2007
- Book Rating: 4/5
This book was interesting to listen to. I enjoyed her discussion of the different serial killers she had interviewed over the years. If you are interested in case profiles of serial killers, this is a good book for you. Morrison talks about the histories of these killers as well as her own personal thoughts and theories as to why they kill. I have a background in Sociology so the terminology was fine for me. Overall, if you are interested in the inner workings of serial killers and don't mind gorey details, this book is for you!
Compelling but disappointed with the ending
Written by Anonymous on November 9th, 2006
- Book Rating: 4/5
This book was very interesting and compelling. I was drawn in to keep listening, however, I disagree completely and whole-heartedly with her final analysis of serial killers origins and predispositions. Therefore, though I found the stories fascinating, the author lost some credibility with me at the end of the book because it seemed to me that she is just so desperate to attach a meaning to her lifetime of research that she is forcing a "round" conclusion into a "square" peg, just to try to justify (to herself) her life's workings. I am no therapist, though I do analyze people for a living, and I too am a professional. I believe everyone does have a right to their opinions though and my opinion is just that, "MY" opinion and I choose to disagree with the conclusions of this author.
My Life Among the Serial Killers
Written by A to Z on October 30th, 2006
- Book Rating: 1/5
I couldn't get past the first CD. The author does the reading and I just couldn't make it past her presentation and the ego component. I wish it would have had a different reader and I would hung in there longer.
My Life Among Serial Killers
Written by Monica from Turlock, CA on September 18th, 2006
- Book Rating: 1/5
Sent it back before finishing it. Too many disturbing details and no justice for the families. I think there are no just sentences for these murderers and no excuse for them to murder.
My life among the serial killers
Written by Anonymous on July 6th, 2006
- Book Rating: 3/5
The author does a good job describing her life. But, her life's work is to find out what makes serial killers tick, and she doesn't show that she has accomplished much of anything towards that goal.
My Life Among the Serial Killers
Written by Mel on June 20th, 2006
- Book Rating: 3/5
Only interesting in parts - maybe because the narrator was so monotoned.
My Life Among the Serial Killers
Written by Gary Kuhlken from Stockton, CA on April 15th, 2006
- Book Rating: 1/5
Okay, I admit it: I made a major mistake. Despite the reviews, I ordered this book. I now know way too much about serial killers and court procedures. Yeah, I wanted to know a little more about these things, but I didn't want to be beaten senseless with unending details that only an attorney would find remotely interesting (apologies to attorneys reading this). Order this snoozer only if you're hungry for hours of boring detail!
If you have trouble sleeping or a root canal
Written by Anonymous from Corona, CA on March 7th, 2006
- Book Rating: 1/5
If you can't sleep or don't want to have a root canal then this book is for you. After the first 2 CDs I was ready to have a root canal instead of finishing the CDs. There is not much in the cases but more or less how she felt interviewing them or how she is treated because she is a female. Please pick another book. SPOILER **************** She believes that Serial Killers are serial killers from the moment they are born or small children. She even goes so far as to say it is in our DNA to be serial killers. If they could only find what is in the DNA that makes people be a serial killer then they could stop it the killing forever.