My Friend Dahmer

This is not a complex book, but this is a fairly simple story, in the end: Jeffry Dahmer was once a messed up kid with a crappy family life. The central tenet of this story is that, with a little help from any of the adults around him, what Dahmer became may never have come to pass.

I suspect an even deeper, complex sort of story could be told by Backderf–perhaps he will do some fiction that delves into these depths in more layered ways? I don't think Dahmer's story needed that layering, but it would be interesting to better understand how some kids who live troubled childhoods end up being serial killers, while some “just” end up harming themselves for the rest of their lives, for instance.

The art is great. The story is straightforward. It's an oddly fun read.