The Serial Killer Files Paperback – 18 May 2017

Well written detailed short read. So would like to read more from the author. Can't wait to read volume 3

Serial killers are an appalling, but fascinating subject, and many of us have a morbid curiosity about these rare people and their evil deeds. There are many books available about this topic, and I have no doubt that there will be many more in the future. Whilst Paul Simpson's 'The Serial Killer Flies' offers nothing new, it's a well-researched and varied anthology.Here, Simpson writes, in detail, about 30 different serial killers, arranged alphabetically by country, and then chronological. He has chosen cases which are unusual and unique in some way, and these include most of the truly infamous like Jack the Ripper, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, Peter Sutcliffe, Ted Bundy, Jefferey Dahmer, and Aileen Wuornos, all of whom have inspired many books, television documentaries, and even in some cases, several dramas and movies. There are also plenty of names who, unless you're an avid reader of such things, you probably won't be so familiar with, in my case it was the murderers who lived in places like Australia, Colombia and Ecuador, and such.'The Serial Killers Files' is written in an easy style, and appears to be very factual. The author draws heavily from newspaper cuttings, trail evidence, interviews with perpetrators or survivors, because, as Paul Simpson states in his introduction, this was to prevent ''the increasing blurred truth to be found in far too many collections'' being published again, which is something I applaud.I can't say that this was ''enjoyable'' read, because given the nature of the book, I don't see how anyone could feel that way whilst turning the pages, but it was a ''interesting'' insight and journey into the dark world of the serial killers. With so many sub-standard, overly sensationalist and inaccurate true crime books out there, you could do a whole lot worse in selecting 'The Serial Killer Files' as you're first or only reading material regarding these awful creatures who caused so much chaos. A fine reference book!

The book states, as does the previous reviewer, that this is a well researched book, using primary sources - regrettably the author does not know what a primary source is as he lumps them together with secondary sources (and poorly researched unoriginal ones at that). The number of primary sources used is small, in any case and the books chosen are limited. So I am sorry to say that this is yet another book of a series of chapters about serial killers; short, unoriginal and factually slipshod, where other people's errors are repeated. There's lots of this kind of work about and the selection of killers is a conventional one of well known murderers. the best that can be said is that if you like fact based horror stories, this could well be for you - the stories are suitably horrible. If you want accounts nearer the truth, look elsewhere.

Informative pics were good easy writing style like the fact that these are some of the more obscure cases that were never huge in the news

It's an interesting read. It takes you into the life of more than one serial killer and how they think. The one thing you need to be aware of, is that it is short. Not novel size.

There were a lot of grammatical errors, lack of capitalization and extra letters.Perhaps a new proof reader would be helpful.

*It was very interesting and it held my attention, I did not realize there many serial killer out there.

The photos shocked me - they were unexpected and did not add to the story. I found them offensive and had to cover them up to be able to read the words on the page. I thought is was going to be more about catching the suspect, not gory details of the crime and the poor victim. Not a book for me I'm afraid.