Bestial: The Savage Trail of a True American Monster [Paperback]

Harold Schechter (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0671732196 | ISBN-13: 978-0671732196 | Publication Date: October 1, 1998

Harold Schechter takes a dark journey into the mind of Earle Leonard Nelson -- one of history's fiercest madmen, whose degeneracy erupted in the winter of 1926 and resulted in a sixteen-month frenzy of savage rape, barbaric murder, and unimaginable defilement.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Earle Leonard Nelson may well have been America's first serial killer. In the winter of 1926, he began a string of murders that spanned the U.S. and Canada, horrifying and confounding both the public and the police. Bestial tells the story of Nelson's life--from his bizarre childhood to his ignoble end--sparing no graphic detail in the process. If there is an answer to the question of why this man murdered, it is in this book somewhere. Everything about Nelson seems bizarre, from his family to his eating habits to his religious obsessions. But strangest of all was his compulsion to kill--for no imaginable reason. He killed women of all ages, from all walks of life, seemingly with no remorse.

Bestial reads like fast-paced fiction, complete with action, plot twists, suspense, and eerie foreshadowing. The book is compelling and elegantly written, and the story provides chilling insights into the motivations of a man who killed for killing's sake. --Lisa Higgins

Review

Journal Star (Peoria, IL) Unflinching....fascinating....macabre. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671732196
• ISBN-13: 978-0671732196
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,037,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Harold Schechter is a professor of American literature and culture. Renowned for his true-crime writing, he is the author of the nonfiction books Fatal, Fiend, Bestial, Deviant, Deranged, Depraved, and, with David Everitt, The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. He is also the author of Nevermore and The Hum Bug, the acclaimed historical novels featuring Edgar Allan Poe. He lives in New York State.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Bestial" is a gripping story; sad, unsettling, entertaining, October 19, 1998

By 

M. Mueller ([e-mail]) (St. Louis, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bestial: The Savage Trail of a True American Monster (Paperback)

Harold Schechter's "Bestial" is first and foremost an entertaining journey. Through the lives of the victims, the killer, and the authorities who investigate the crimes, Schechter unfolds a drama as facinating as a Poe tale. The book not only informs the reader about a forgotten serial killer, but relates the difficulty police had in connecting crimes and coordinating forces two catch a nomadic criminal. Highly recomended for anyone who enjoys a trip to the unsettling outskirts of human existence.

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Relentlessly terrifying, March 8, 2000

By 

Rory Coker (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bestial: The Savage Trail of a True American Monster (Paperback)

In his early days, the subject of this true-crime history was so weird and insane-acting that no one in their right mind would allow him near them. But when he was sent to an insane asylum, over the years he learned a skill that made him one of the most dangerous predators in serial killer history: he learned to be perfectly, completely charming! Landladies had no hesitation showing this handsome, polite and obviously highly religious man their upstairs room to let... and they never left that room alive, as Ferral induced them to look up--- "what caused that stain?"--- broke their necks, and then raped their cooling corpses! As harrowing a true-crime account as I have ever read.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than muder and rape... in that order, October 23, 2000

By 

Khraaven (Zelienople, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bestial: The Savage Trail of a True American Monster (Paperback)

Schechter's book is a great read. It is a well written account of an American serial killer from a time before the term serial killer had been invented. The pleasant surprize of "Beastial" is the excellent treatment he gives the Social environment of America during the 1920s. The result is a greater understanding of the mind set of a country that was terrified by the sick twisted, corpse raping, body concealing "Gorilla" of a man known as Earle Leonard Nelson. I absolutely could not put this one down!