Why We Love Serial Killers

In Why We Love Serial Killers, Drew University criminology professor Scott Bonn, PhD, simultaneously examines the public’s and media’s fascination with the monsters among us and the ways in which that attention impacts them. He writes about serial killers’ behaviors and the research—from the FBI’s original work to more recent models—that informs the law enforcement professionals charged with profiling, catching, and studying them. A real bonus: Dr. Bonn’s correspondence with Dennis Rader (BTK or “Bind, Torture, Kill”) for its insight into the mind of an especially chilling murderous psychopath. As such, it is a stark reminder that, irrespective of any deceptively benign appearances to the contrary, “they” are never like “us.” —Sue Russell, award-winning journalist and author of Lethal Intent, a biography of Aileen Wuornos

Sociologia