I have begun to notice a disturbing trend in my media habits of late...serial killers are on my mind. And I thought, why should I have to suffer through this dark mire alone? So I'll bring you down the rabbit hole with me!
My Friend Dahmer by Derf
Derf was just a goofy artist in high school and lived a typical teenage life: hanging out with friends, messing around in the yearbook office after school, etc. Years later, working for a Milwaukee newspaper as a cartoonist, Derf was shocked to hear that a high school classmate (and sometimes friend) Jeffrey Dahlmer had become an infamous serial killer. Derf explores Dahlmer's life before he killed, what it was like to have him as a classmate and a friend. An interesting look into the life of an iconic serial killer.
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
A friend recommended this book to me about a year or eighteen months ago. Jon Ronson (you may also know him as the author of The Men Who Stare At Goats) delves into the dark world of psychopaths. He originally becomes interested in the test that has become an industry standard to identify psychopaths and like any normal Psych 101 student begins to see psychopathic traits in everyone. Particularly interesting is the line we draw (a fuzzy one) between the people with psychopathic traits that become serial killers and those that become the CEO's of Fortune 500 companies. If you ever want to freak out that you or your loved ones are psychopaths...this is the book for you! Then I Became Obsessed with Serial Killers: Unfortunately the current media is very helpfully feeding my addiction on serial killers. Here are the most interesting books I have read on the topic recently.
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
A fictional perspective on a very scary topic, I Hunt Killers features the son of the worlds most infamous serial killer. Jazz has spent the last four years trying to forget everything his father taught him, because for the murderous Billy Dent, every day was a take-your-kid-to-work day. Unexpectedly, a body is found in a field outside of Jazz's sleepy hometown. Jazz is convinced it is the work of serial killer copycatting his father's crimes. He vows to use the lessons his father taught him to catch the killer while trying to deal with the psychological trauma his father inflicted before being sent to prison. This book is an interesting look at psychopaths as Jazz recalls the lessons his father taught him, and tries to dive into the psyche of a serial killer without becoming one himself. The second book in the series, Game, comes out in April.