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All other major events, including other crimes, are included in this book. I love true crime and I love history. Earle Nelson aka Earle Ferral aka a number of other aliases embarked on a 16 month spree of murder and perversity that tragically ended the lives of almost two dozen women and a couple of children. I will continue to find Schechter's other books and devour them as well.Highly recommend.
Further research is made easy by having so many other interesting crimes and people discussed in the book. I think his books would be well suited in a college level history class. The length was perfect. The details were exact and numerous.
And yet Earle proved the skeptics wrong. I found the book extremely well organized and written. Both my interests were more than satisfied by Harold Schechter's Bestial. The context in which Earle and his victims existed is filled beautifully to better understand the time.
The rest of the book illuminates the time of these crimes: the 1920s. The horrific nature of the crimes, death by strangulation (usually by bare hands) followed by post-mortem rape, seemed impossible to have been the work of a human. Each crime is described in respectful, yet detailed (not graphic) language to draw the reader in and capture their attention.
A fascinating story. Scary, tense. Wow. As I turned each page I hated to have it end and yet with every page turned I was hoping the "gorilla man" would be caught and the dreadful saga of murder halted. Recommended. What a page turner this is. I read this on my lunch breaks at work and it was really hard to stop and go back to work.
Would have ordered it new if I knew it was going to look very used. When I got it there was a huge sticker on the front which was disappointing. Book looked interesting. Ordered it used but would have prefered to order it new.
On a cross-continental spree that is documented to have taken the lives of 22 landladies and other women, it makes for an interesting chapter in the history of true crime.Schechter is comendable in his attention to detail in telling the story. Taking entire chapters to explore facets of the time period or give superficial facts regarding other murders of the era, massively sidetracks the pace of the story.
A graphic crime scene picture included in the book is certain to thrill fans of the genre. The profile that is painted of the "Gorilla Man" seems clear for a man that has been deceased for more than 80 years and is largely forgotten in American history because of his arrest and execution in Canada.Those that are fans of Schechter's other books are likely to enjoy the detail of the Nelson's modus operandi.
Harold Schechter has produced several highly acclaimed works of true crime including "Depraved" and "Deviant". Yet at times I found his digressions frustrating.
Still, I can not help but think the book would have been better with certain chapter full of digressions on the editting room floor. In "Bestial", Schechter takes on the lesser known Earle Leonard Nelson.
While telling the story, the author must be credited for stepping back and allowing the reader to wonder guilty or guilty and insane.
And young film-makers please take note: "Saw" and "Hostel" are sheer piffle compared to the hideous life of Earl Leonard Nelson. It's not only a well researched piece of journalism, but a bonified shock treatment that lingers long after you've finished it. Highly recommended for crime buffs. This incredible, but true story is so well written that one really wishes Hitchcock were alive to capture it's alluring power on film. Truth really is stranger than fiction. I've read two others by the talented Mr. And I really think that's what makes this book a great and unforgettable journey. Schecter, both hard to put down, but this one is so deviously fascinating and consistantly well documented.
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