Hannibal Lecter? Pah! Meet a real cannibal... Jeffrey Dhamer, The world. The world, this is Jeffrey Dahmer.
Imagine a hot summer's night in July, 1991. You are a policeman and you've just walked in to a Mr. Dahmer's apartment. The occupant is a young man, dishevelled, not unpleasant looking and he's calm about things. So calm that he's not bothered to tidy up properly. There are mind-numbing photographs, a severed head in the fridge, two more in the deep freeze, a skeleton and two more skulls in a filing cabinet, and plastic boxes and drums containing other parts of a number of human remains.
Jeffrey Dahmer had grown up in an emotionally unstable environment. His parents marriage had been rocky from the start, and when they divorced some years later, neither of them wanted custody of him. It wasn't that they didn't care as such, but Jeffrey was 18, they had other children to consider. Had they known of the sick fantasy world he was already living in, they would never have left him alone.
This was a man fascinated with necrophilia. Even at this young age, his urges were brimming up to the point of taking action, which he did after picking up a young guy who was jogging. He murdered him. This was his first chance to be with a dead boy, his fascination causing him to masturbate over the corpse, after having stroked the young guy's chest. Excited beyond belief about his prize, the body was hidden in the crawlspace underneath the house. He returned the following night to dissect, explore and dismember it. His trophies were kept in rubbish bags in the crawlspace, and his victim's clothes, id and belongings were burnt in a barrel out the back. After some time he decided to dispose of the bags and put them into the car at night to dump them.
Not for the first time, the police would interrupt his plans. Pulling him over at 3am in the morning, they enquired as to what he was doing and what the awful smell was. He said he was dumping the household rubbish. They asked why at this time of night? He replied that his parents were going through a divorce, he was having a hard time sleeping and was doing this to take his mind of things. The police accepted this, and let him go...
Now I've just explained the first murder of Jeffrey Dahmer's because it sets the tone for the rest of his victims, and it shows that the police could have caught him at the start, just like when they could have caught him half way through his final tally. That last time is particularly tragic in that the police would not believe what the victim was telling them and physically handed him back to Jeffrey Dahmer. Doubly tragic for the victim's family is that he was the second member of their family to be killed by Dahmer.
Brian Masters does an excellent job in unravelling the horror that was Jeffrey Dahmer. He explains in detail the circumstances that led this particular serial killer to evolve, and in doing so, helps you understand the workings of Dahmer's remorseless mind. And that in itself is no mean feat.
The details of the murders are graphically told, and considering what he had to work with that is unavoidable, but he does retain the dignity of the victims, and respects the families who are left behind to cope with their devastating loss. This helps you to keep reading stuff that is so perverse, you would normally have to put the book down and walk away.
Jeffrey Dahmer has achieved something which is almost impossible. He's one of the MOST evil serial killers, in a business where just the act itself is considered evil. Thankfully, he is also dead. He was murdered in prison by a fellow inmate a few years back.
Some justice.
More details
Would you read it again?
Absolutely
Evaluate this review
How helpful would this review be to someone making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
