Ratings4
Average rating3.3
Told by four reporters from the Wichita eagle newspaper, this is the story of apparently upstanding citizen Dennis Rader who in reality was the serial killer known as BTK (for bind, torture, kill) who terrorized Wichita, Kansas, for thirty-one years.
Reviews with the most likes.
Very straight forward writing, feeling a little formulaic and slightly amateur at times. I think it suffered from “too many cooks” with four authors. Overall I was intrigued by the detail about the relationship between the media and the police, and how the events were placed in whatever the current crime environment was in Kansas. I think it painted a fairly complete picture and provided an interesting perspective. I feel more focus could have been placed on bringing the victims to life, but I think the lack of that is simply due to the writing being very “this happened then this happened.” I really liked the detail that went into how they communicated with BTK via press conferences and how they planned his arrest. I believe this was the strongest part of the book. It really picked up and created a feeling of tension, stress, triumph, and relief leading up to, during, and after the arrest.
Growing up in Wichita during the 1970's-80's BTK this book brings back memories. My brother and I had actually visited the murder locations as we are true crime fans. This book gives a lot of details and I actually learned a few things from the interviews with BTK. I only gave a 3 because it really was just a rehash of other books.