Although R. Markham seems to overplay his role in the forensic process (and why wouldn't he- after all the book is about his profiling and expert testimony), this one is a thriller if for no other reason than it is a nonfictional account of some of the goriest and most horrific crimes committed in the US in this century. If you have a taste for the macabre, here's your chance to learn about famous chaps like Manson, and lessor known bloaks, like the Vampire of Sacramento, and Norris and Bittaker.

This book could be classed as either depending on the reader. This book does not concentrate on just the one aspect of the crime but rather gives a rounded outlook. I found it to be unbiased and complete. It also explains the circumstances behind the crime and the affects of it in the aftermath. It gives an indepth view into the pyche of the killers and it is not full of psychoanalytical words and is easy to read. I'd reccommend it to all.

Yes , he goes into the details of actual crimes to great extent. He also explains how the Calif. justice system worked at the time of the crime and how it has evolved in dealing with these type of crimes/people. Which was an eye opener for me. His view, and I agree, being that the system is failing to protect us by overly protecting the defendants instead, by playing politics and loosing sight of the gross/obvious facts in arguing the minute details of the law.

I for one thought the parents of Richard Chase the "Vampire of Sacramento" should of been charged as aiding/abetting and equally punished. They knew what their son was doing from a very early age and never got him help, never informed anyone. Instead they took him out of hospitals the state put him in and weaned him off his medication. I see them as more guilty than their son.