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Title details for Confession of a Serial Killer by Katherine Ramsland - Available

Confession of a Serial Killer

The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer

by Katherine Ramsland
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In 1974, Dennis Lynn Rader stalked and murdered a family of four in Wichita, Kansas. Since adolescence, he had read about serial killers and imagined becoming one. Soon after killing the family, he murdered a young woman and then another, until he had ten victims. He named himself "B.T.K." (bind, torture, kill) and wrote notes that terrorized the city. He remained on the loose for thirty years. No one who knew him guessed his dark secret. He nearly got away with his crimes, but in 2004, he began to play risky games with the police. He made a mistake. When he was arrested, Rader's family, friends, and coworkers were shocked to discover that B.T.K. had been among them, going to work, raising his children, and acting normal. This case stands out both for the brutal treatment of victims and for the ordinary public face that Rader, a church council president, had shown to the outside world. Through jailhouse visits, telephone calls, and written correspondence, Katherine Ramsland worked with Rader himself to analyze the layers of his psyche. Using his drawings, letters, interviews, and Rader's unique codes, she presents in meticulous detail the childhood roots and development of one man's motivation to stalk, torture, and kill. She reveals aspects of the dark motivations of this most famous of living serial killers that have never before been revealed. In this book Katherine Ramsland presents an intelligent, original, and rare glimpse into the making of a serial killer and the potential darkness that lives next door.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 30, 2016

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781611689730

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781611689730
      • File size: 10702 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      November 1, 2016

      "I'm a good person who did some bad things." So says Dennis Rader, aka the BTK (bind, torture, kill) serial killer, who murdered ten people over a period of 17 years in the area surrounding Wichita, KS. It took over 30 years to catch him, as he played a game of cat-and-mouse with the police, while those in his community were none the wiser of his secret life. What stands out in this book from others about serial killers is the series of interviews Ramsland (forensic psychology & criminal justice, DeSales Univ; The Mind of a Psychopath) conducted with Rader via phone, letters, and even in-prison visits, in an effort to understand the motivation and thinking that goes on in the mind of a violent murderer. Rader describes his fascination with murder as a youth, and how he went on to devise intricate plots, plans, and drawings done up in his own secret code. VERDICT For readers interested in the workings of the mind, psychology, true crime, and criminal justice, this is a unique work, in which the author is a conduit to the thinking process, rather than the descriptor of events.--Krista Bush, Shelton, CT

      Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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