THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SERIAL KILLERS: Volume Two E-L by Susan Hall

THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SERIAL KILLERS: Volume Two E-L Reviews

• 
  Linda Strong

  If you have an obsession / interest in serial killers / true crime this is the series for you. It's a 4-book series featuring the known serial killers through the end of 2017.
  
  According to the FBI, they estimate there are at least 50 serial killers operating in the United States at any given time. Among the 350 or so killers in this volume, you'll find The Golden State Killer Joseph DeAngelo, The Interstate Killer, The Happy Face Killer.. monsters every one.
  
  My only "con" is that the Table of Contents only shows each letter of the alphabet in order. I would rather have a list of killers by name or nickname, even by date. I didn't like having to scroll through every letter to find, perhaps, a killer I had never heard of. Hard to find something when you don't know what to look for.
  
  The World Encyclopedia of Serial Killers is the most comprehensive set of its kind in the history of true crime publishing. Written and compiled by Susan Hall, the four-volume set has more than 1600 entries of male and female serial killers from around the world.
  
  Many thanks to the author / Wildblue Press for the digital copy of this 2nd book in this series. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
• 
  SKP

  Interesting, but somewhat flawed
  
  I am reading through the 4 volume set on Kindle. While it is very interesting on the whole, I am frustrated with the way it is organized. Many of the serial killers are listed by their nicknames rather than real names. Apparently, there is some cross-referencing in the Index, but not in the body of the book itself. One example of the problem with this is that John Wayne Gacy is listed under the nickname The Killer Clown. I think a lot more people know him by his real name than by his nickname. Putting the information under his real name would have meant it was in the same volume anyway. Most people do not actually tend to read an Encyclopedia from cover to cover--they will look up the names or subjects they are interested in, so would be very surprised not to find Gacy under Gacy. Also, only a handful of people have a photo included. I think a lot more photos could have been included—or else don’t include them at all. I gave it 4 stars because it is very comprehensive, and there are some interesting articles included. I caught at least one mistake (although it was in the first volume), where a killer who died only a few years ago was listed as having been executed when I know for a fact he had died from an illness—it did make me wonder if there are other such factual errors for some of the people I was not familiar with. Good, but could be better. Perhaps there will be revised versions one day that will fix some of these issues.
• 
  Amy Shannon

  An interesting read
  
  Hall pens an interesting title in THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SERIAL KILLERS: Volume Two E-L. It's about solved serial killers, and some go back several hundred years ago. This is the first book of this author's that I've read, and I know I have to go back and read Volume One A-D. The book gives information that is intriguing and yet disturbing. The research was definitely thorough, and this reader learned about serial killers that are necessarily well-know. "Defined by the FBI as a person who murders 3 or more people over a period of time with a hiatus of weeks or months between murders..." If you are interested in learning about male and female serial killers for whatever reason, research or just plain obsession with the subject, this book needs to be read. I look forward to reading more by this author. This book is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews.
• 
  Kathleen Riggs

  The World Encyclopaedia of Serial Killers volume E-L
  Many thanks Wildblue Press for the digital copy of this 2nd book in this series.
  I was surprised to find A lot of killers I have never heard of and I have read true crime books for many years. It is a remarkably interesting book and easy to read. My only criticism I had was that I would have loved the author to have written who each serial killers name was at the beginning of the book as just using E-L did not help me find them easily when discussing with friends after I had read the book and wished to review the facts.
  To the author Good book but a thought for your next book names as well please.
  
• 
  Diane Wigginton

  Not what I thought it would be but still interesting. To be honest, I didn't read the entire book to the end