Customer Reviews

Bad Boy: The True Story of Kenneth Allen McDuff, the Most Notorious Serial Killer in Texas History

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Having read one of Lavergne's other books (Sniper in the Tower), I was anxious to read some of his other work. Lavergne treats true crime with a factual and straight forward approach to storytelling. As with his previous book, I was impressed with this one.

Kenneth Allen McDuff should not be a known killer. After being convicted of murder in 1966, McDuff should have been locked away from public view forever. Yet despite being place in death row, a flaw in the parole system allowed him to walk out of prison in 1989. This allowed a man with a mean disposition an opportunity to kill again. And he did kill at least three other women. With his new lease on freedom, he did not just kill his victims. He brutally tortured them. The story is made more complex by a dominating mother, a drug and alcohol addiction, inept accomplices, as well as an insatiable appetite for rough sex.

McDuff's murders should have ended in 1966. This makes the demise of his victims that much more unnecessary. Laverge proves to be a top notch true crime writer again in "Bad Boy". I am anxious to read his other work.

"Bad Boy" is a compelling case against the idea anyone who commits a violent crime should ever be given a second chance. There are probably people who would be an excellent example of someone given a second chance turning their life around and becoming a positive member of society: Kenneth Allen McDuff was not that person. Every time he was given an opportunity (& it's amazing how many he got) he committed more heinous crimes. Lavergne convincingly suggests McDuff is one of the primary political reasons Texas got really tough on criminals & greatly expanded its prison system. Strengths of the book, which is well above-average true crime but no "In Cold Blood" or "The Executioner's Song," include the portrayal of McDuff's parents, that it documents sources & includes an index, & some well-chosen quotes from other sources, especially one about sociopathy: "Antisocial personality disorder is the current name for what in the past has been known as sociopathy, psychopathy, moral insanity, or in pre-psychiatric days, evil." Why do publishers continue to undermine the genre with tabloid tactics like, "With 8 pages of harrowing photographs" when, in fact, there isn't a photo in the book that could be described as even mildly disturbing? Other than that quibble, this is solid true crime with an above-average research effort behind it.

Disturbing. I'd watched a documentary about the "broomstick killer" and was curious about what made him tick. The book reveals what was behind the creep's actions. And that was really nothing, just a vicious, vacant man devoid of any pity or feelings. Written in a factual, chilling manner. Me thinks I learned a bit too much about this mad man.

Every bit as good as Sniper in the Tower, Gary Lavergne gives us another read we can't put down. The story's not pretty but the research is excellent. (...) I was thrilled to see it out in MM. All true crime readers should get this one.

Writer Gary M. Lavergne introduces his readers to Kenneth Allen McDuff, a Texas rough-neck who commit a horrendous triple murder/rape of three teenagers in 1966 and received the Death Penalty for his actions. Unfortunately, the State of Texas, by 1989, felt that it was better to relieve the overburdened correctional facilities than to keep a triple murdered behind bars. McDuff walked out a free man in 1989.

But as we all well know, a leopard doesn't change his spots; and neither did McDuff. It took little time before he began killing again; this time he managed to commit five brutal murders before being stopped. He became a rarity by receiving a second death sentence after walking away scot-free from his first.

This book offers detailed insight into a failed justice system, the mind of a vicious killer, and the pain and suffering of those left behind.

This amazing and horrific story could only be TRUE.
No fiction writer could possibly convince their publisher of the logic of the storyline that a convicted murderer would be released again and again into the population to run rampant on drugs, go unsupervised and undetected on parole, and commit the atrocities described in this book. This story is a valuable study in the nature/nurture contribution to the serial killer personality.

You couldn't make up somebody like Kenneth Allen McDuff. He was as frightening to his friends who become unwilling accomplices as he was to his victims. In fact, I vividly remember this book because it's one of the first true crime books that I was taken aback by. It's a Texas story with a criminal who literally came from hell. McDuff came to symbolize what was wrong with the penal system. He was supposed to have been executed for the triple homicides of three young kids in Texas in the 1960s. He killed the two boys and tortured the young girl before killing her too with a broomstick and that is where he earned the nickname as the broomstick killer. Worse, his sentence was commuted to life but he managed to become paroled despite his obvious background and the gruesome crimes that got him at state penn. He would become notorious and famous again by victimizing young women before killing them. This time, McDuff wasn't going to get away with it. Lavergne writes a very detailed and compelling story about McDuff who helped alter the Texas Death Row system unlike anybody else.

Very detailed and well written book about this sick individual.

This book reviews the history of Kenneth Allen McDuff... the only serial killer in Texas history, perhaps the entire world, to be sentenced to death, paroled, and then sentenced to death a second time. There can be no doubt that this book is impeccably researched and well written. The author certainly did his homework. While the story itself is inherently interesting, I do have some reservations about recommending this to the masses of True Crime fans.

1. After being paroled from Death Row, McDuff manages to associate himself with numerous nefarious characters and many law enforcement officials from various cities and agencies. Given that McDuff had no real friends and prefered to surround himself with others to whom he felt superior and whom he could manipulate, the many criminal acquaintances and law enforcement officers mentioned becomes rather confusing near the middle of the book. A glossary of persons for quick reference would have been helpful and would have lessened the confusion.

2. Given that the book covers a span of time nearing 30 years, a timeline of some sort would also have been useful to the reader. (Oddly, one of the final chapters reveals that during the trial, the prosecuting attorneys actually made a timeline for jurors. It is unfortunate that readers were not afforded the same privilege.)

3. The ending of the book is rather anticlimactic. True, the reader knows from the get go that McDuff is eventually executed. However, a final chapter about the criminal mind behind McDuff's murderous activities might have given the book a more "finished" appearance and feeling.

The final line of the book reads: "To the very end, he (McDuff) considered himself misunderstood, oppressed, and the victim." I believe this last sentence could have the been the first sentence to a final, closing chapter exploring those elements that may have contributed to McDuff's sociopathy and vicious personality. McDuff was not one to speak to authorities or mental health professionals about his upbringing and, even if he had, most of it probably would have been lacking in insight or filled with half-truths and lies. That being said, given that the author does include comments and insight from many who knew McDuff, intelligent conjecture about the criminal McDuff became would have been possible. Instead, the book simply ends in tepid disappointment.

Was intrested in this particular man because of his connection to our town of Alvarado, Texas. I remember very well the horor we felt when one of our fellow students was needlessly and cruelly murdered by Kenneth McDuff. We all realized at that time that there was a darker side of life from what we had known in our small quite town. This book is a chilling account of this man distorted mind.