Customer Reviews

Bind, Torture, Kill: The Inside Story of BTK, the Serial Killer Next Door

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Many of the writers and participants in the BTK saga participated in this, the truly definitive story of Dennis Rader and how he terrorized the city of Wichita, Kansas for 30 years.

Unprecedented in the annals of true detective stories, the BTK serial killings continue to baffle the best and brightest of the Wichita PD, KBI and FBI. After a silence of many years, BTK resurfaced. The Wichita PD sank every resource at their disposal into a renewed effort to find this diabolically twisted serial murderer. Millions of federal, state and local dollars were committed to the project. And, one day, BTK made his first mistake and was caught on camera. His second mistake followed as he "communicated" with the Wichita PD with a floppy disk.

Other than the Wichita PD and numerous detectives, there was no one more involved with the case than reporters of the Wichita Eagle newspaper and certain other media reporters in the area.

It is from this "intimate" knowledge of the case that this book springs.

If you have read any other book on the BTK Killer, throw them away, this is the only one that you will every need to refer back to.

The book was extremely well done. And I would highly recommend it.

This is the greatest detective story of our lifetimes ....... It is well worth the money. You will not be disappointed.

Densel Myers
Raised in Wichita, Kansas
Yukon, Oklahoma

The BTK killings began, as far as is known, in 1974 in Wichita, Kansas when four of the Otero family were found dead in their own home by their children coming home from school. Dennis Rader was a family man that, in all appearances, loved his family. Dennis Rader was NOT a nice man. He was the BTK killer who had started his life of fantasy sex and thrills with the Otero killings. He was careful not to leave any evidence around but took souvenirs from his crime sites. At that time little was known about DNA but its beginning was near so the police kept anything they thought would help in the future to help find this killer. The Otero killings by BTK were very violent as the bodies were posed after Rader had strangled them or had started to strangle so he could play with them while they died by taking photos, have his sexual fantasy's, and, if not dead, would make sure they were before he left. He spread his joy further by masturbating on the clothes or even on the dead people themselves.

The killing continued over long periods of time. Many police departments, state, local, and federal, were eventually brought in to the case. The four reporters that wrote this book did an excellent job of recreating the crimes while writing for the Wichita Eagle newspaper, while all along cooperating with the various authorities so the killer did not know the details of the case that was known. Richard LaMunyon was Chief of the Wichita Police Department when these crimes started. He had a lot of organizing to do while keeping panic down as much as possible. But, the people of Wichita could not help but become scared and worried with every move they made whether inside or out of their homes not knowing when this killer would strike again.

Kenny Landwehr was in his teens when the murders started. Kenny always wanted to be a cop and eventually did. He was promoted to Detective on the Wichita Police force in 1986. He was learning fast. He was made head of the Homicide Bureau and became even more involved in BTK's activities. He eventually made Lieutenant and worked day and night on the case. Lundwehr was by far not the only one working the case. Many from other law enforcement agencies were getting deeper into the investigation.

Rader got a job as Animal Code Enforcement Officer, a job that enabled him to get closer to his future victims and also get more strict with those people hoping he could get in their homes and seek his future methods of killing. The hunt for the BTK killer went on for years. Authorities and the press would think the killing had stopped when another victim would show up only to reinforce the fear of Wichita.

I felt occasionally the story got a bit too detailed but in general the BTK killer worked off of details and was sure to leave his handiwork so all would know it was the BTK killer again this time. Dennis Rader was a sadist. His family never had any idea what he was doing when he told his family he had to go someplace and do this or that. They never suspected what he was doing and had a hard time believing it when he was caught and charged. There is lots of gore in the book as it tells quite well what Rader did before and after his killings.

This strong account of the BTK case benefits from access to the investigators, and manages to shape a lot of interesting history into a swift, compelling narrative. The story is presented chronologically, and deftly conveys the fear loose in Wichita along with the mounting frustration of the police. Slowly, BTK fades away, only to surface years later via a series of communications with police and media. Finally, a trap is sprung. This will be a satisfying read for most true crime devotees, as the persistance of law enforcement and the ego of the the perpetrator bring the case to a satisfying conclusion. The authors are particularly effective in their depiction of Rader as, not some kind of criminal genius, but as a rather shallow nobody. They are also sensitive to the toll these crimes took on innocent people. Good read.

I was very interested in how the BTK killer, Dennis Rader, was caught. This book was definitely above average. It was written by 4 reporters who followed the case in Wichita, Kansas for years. Parts of the book were difficult for me to read due to the callousness of the murders he committed. But once I finished reading those parts, I could deal with the rest of it. I wanted to know how a seemingly regular(?) guy could live a normal life for years, just minding his own business, raising a family, going to work, and belonging to a church. Rader was right - he's a monster. If I was queen of the world, this egomaniac would have been executed. Scary scary book - sometimes we're not safe in our own homes. Be prepared to experience discomfort if you read this book.

This particular account of the BTK story is specifically written from the point of view of the police who worked on the case. There are other accounts presented from other points of view, such as Bob Beattie's book, which has good information but was rushed into print and reads like a first draft. These reporters interacted with law enforcement during the unfolding of the story, and this was an appropriate way for them to present an account of it.

This book was difficult for me to read, but I couldn't put it down. I knew one of the victims. I was a reporter who covered another of the murders. (I am not connected with any of the authors other than having met some of them.) And I was acquainted with several police officers who worked on the case at various times. This is a detailed account of how the solution to the case came together, with extremely accurate information -- so accurate, actually, that I went through the grieving process for my friend and for some of the now deceased police officers, all over again. I knew the pain of losing them, and also the terror and insanity of coming home from work and opening every closet door in my house with a knife in my hand, praying I wouldn't have to use it, and knowing that if I did, I'd be no match for an experienced murderer. I now know that my morbid fascination with reading every article and book I could find, and watching everything on TV, was just a part of the grieving process. I just had to know certain things before my heart could lay these losses to rest, allowing me to move on with my life.

I feel like this book could be, in part, my own biography and the biography of so many others who lived in Wichita during this era. As I read it, I was amazed to understand the ways in which my own life entwined with this case, and the same can be said by many other Wichitans.

If you want an accurate, complete picture of this story, this is an excellent place to start, but understand it is told from the point of view of law enforcement, and therein lies its strength. This is a complex story, and no one book could tell it all. You may also want to add on other books such as Beattie's that tell the story through different eyes. This story, from this point of view, needed to be told, and it was told very well by these reporters.

This riveting chronological narrative of Wichita's infamous Bind Torture Kill (BTK) murders is one of the finest true crime books I've ever read, as well as the definitive account of the crimes (and capture) of the churchgoing citizen serial killer Dennis Rader.

What made the BTK case so unusual, of course, was the very ordinary nature of the killer himself, a Boy Scout (who learned his knots all too well), civil servant, husband, and father to two.

No one could believe that this solid member of the community could have committed such heinous acts, or that he could have gotten away with his crimes for decades.

Unfortunately even this comprehensive and well-written book can't answer the ultimate mystery: what made BTK kill? He was NOT the product of an abusive or alcoholic home. Yet from early adolescence he was driven by sexual compulsions he could not control, which somehow caused him to confuse sex with bondage and suffering in his mind.

At any rate, this book is a page-turner if ever there was one; I defy you to put it down until you finish it. IMO this title is FAR superior to FBI profiler John Douglas' book on the same subject.

Highly recommended.

I lived in Wichita KS during the very scarey days of BTK. My aunt went to school with the Otero children and I remember the night 2 detectives knocked on the door to ask her questions about them. 7 yrs. later my aunt and I were living together and we made a pact that whoever got home first would wait on the front porch until the other person arrived and then we would be scared to death to enter the house. The first thing we did was check the phone line to see if it had been cut. BTK always cut phone lines and there were constant messages on the tv and radio reminding people not to enter their homes alone and to always chedk the phone lines.
I couldn't put the book down because the book actually tells what was really going on behind the scenes in Wichita...what the public was not being told. BTK would troll areas looking for women going in and out of their homes...and maybe 2 girls sitting on a front porch scared to go inside and check their phone lines..? I wanted to know more about BTK and this book gave it to me.

As a person in the field of forensic psychology, this book kept my interest. However, it was not written as well as I would've expected and the information was dispatched in such a dry manner that I often had to stop reading and go to another book for a while.

However, a major plus was that this book - as it claims - made a very good point of getting a good look at the BTK murders from the perspectives of the good guys involved. Made for a nice change from the usual crime books.

The book was an excellent account of the 30 year hunt for this guy. It details all of the work that so many people did to capture him...and you do get to 'know' these people. I am, however, more interested in criminality and enjoy learning about 'why' and backgrounds of these psychopaths.

I always thought BTK was a boring guy, monotone, disinterested - and the book also portrays him that way. There was no more than a couple of paragaphs on family life, history, adolescence, events, etc. Maybe it's because he was a rather boring personality - except for being a pain in monitoring everyone in his 'career'. Personally, I found the book got rather boring and was more an attribute to the people instrumental in his capture. If you like police work, you'll enjoy the book.

This book takes us behind the scenes of the investigation and capture of BTK. Very interesting and insightful. A must read for true crime book enthusiast.