Customer Reviews

Blood Lust: Portrait of a Serial Sex Killer (Onyx)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I found this book to be one of the most fascinating books I have read recently. As an avid reader of true crime, I appreciate a well written story. The detailed accounts of survivors of this monster are almost unbelievable. I too, wished there were more details about his family, and input from the killer himself, but overall, I really enjoyed it. What struck me as odd, is that this isn't a person that you hear alot about. It's always the more publicized killers like Gacy or Bundy, however, this guy certainly ranks up there with the rest of the weirdos.

Very good book, frightening story! I too read this book very quickly, it was very fast paced and easy to read. The crimes that Dayton Leroy Rogers committed were nothing short of horrendous, and it amazes me that he was allowed to be out in society to commit these unspeakable acts after being in prison for his sexual deviations to begin with. If you are a true crime reader this one's for you. Excellant writing by Gary C. King.

I read this book within 24 hours, I believe thats my personal record. It was written well and Gary really takes you there. I definately recommend this for a "true crime" reader!

"Blood Lust" represents good no nonsense true crime about a serial killer in Oregon. That seemingly peaceful and scenic State certainly has had more than its' share of sickos, as TC aficionados (and no doubt the natives) are well aware. In BL, the protagonist is one Dayton Leroy Rogers who killed and mutilated eight young Portland area women in the mid 1980s. There is little suspense here. The killer is identified from the outset. The reader's interest will revolve around the portrayal of the gruesome manners of the young ladies' deaths and how the local authorities find the corpses and compile their case against Rogers. Author Gary King strikes a solid balance between crime reporting and the human suffering of the victims. Since the perpetrator is known, readers may ignore the "Ann Rule rule" and peruse the centerfold where pictures of the demised humanize them. It's chilling to think that most likely there are more female of Rogers' victims somewhere in this vast area. This reviewer visited Oregon recently and appreciates how rural the state is once one leaves the Portland/Seattle metroplex and the I5 corridor. 12 reprintings since 1992 are a testimony to the obvious and well-deserved popularity of "Blood Lust".

This was a really chilling book, a great read. Wish there were more interviews with Rogers' family or Rogers himself. Other than that, I like the way the facts were laid out and the personal touches about law enforcement officials.

Blood Lust centers around the story of Dayton Leroy Rogers, respected businessman and father from Portland Oregon who had a 2nd life as a serial killer at night. The things he did to these girls you wouldnt beleive and the story tells what he did and how he eventually got caught and the horrific things they found. Overall , great read - i read whole book in less than a day. Great for crime lovers.

This horrific story left me gasping! No punches are pulled in the telling of what happened to at least 7 girls who made the sad mistake of meeting up with Dayton Leroy Rogers during (and prior to) the summer of '87, ending with the gruesome, tortuous death of Jennifer Lisa Smith in a parking lot in view of a Denny's Restaurant with witnesses who heard her dying screams!

Here is a serial killer not only in it for the power and control ...but for the pure sexual gratification he got from seeing a woman bleed and hearing her scream. Mr. King wakes us up to the fact there are, have been, and always will be monsters like this out there! We can study & analyze til Hell freezes, but I don't think it's going to stop them from doing what they do! Let's hope it can help in understanding others when they are in their early stages and to either get them proper "help" or lock them away for more than good! This book proves that monsters & monstrocities DO exist;and, that justice does exist...tenuous at times...but it does exist!

This book was written with no holds barred...It was at times very hard to read the things that this animal did in some cases i had to skip through because i couldn't stomach the brutality of this maniac's terror he caused these poor women...Its hard to imagine that we have these lunatics running around our world but they are out there and every story that becomes public is pretty damn scarry...For a true crime reader the book is really hard to put down....

First, I was amazed, in reading this book, that I only came across one editorial error, quite startling in true crime, don't you think? The story King write about leaves more questions than it answers. Though part of the subtitle is, "Businessman. Family Man. Savage Murderer," at no time does King give us an iota of insight into the killer's relationship with his child, his wife, his parents, or any siblings. In the instance of the killer's child, the child is put off so far into the distance that we don't even know if the child is male or female. Short shrift is also made of King's relationship with his wife. We get absolutely not an inkling about what that relationship might have been like. And what about his relationship with his parents? His extended family? Were there siblings? And "businessman?" I would think that would connote a white-collar worker, not a small parts repairman. More than the lack of depth into its chief characters, I was distrubed by the totally neutral and dispassionate tone King uses when describing such brutal crimes. I got more of a chill down my spine over King's distanced view than from the crimes themselves. I found the lack of information about the killer himself most off-putting. Once we learn that the killer refused to speak to authorities, we never hear from him...or much about him...again. I'd have to say that as far as excellent true crime goes, this is a really mediocre read.

In this, the first part of the 21st century, there is little argument that the world is full of boogey men - scary beings slinking around furtively doing their nasty business. But there are few of these frightening characters that are more disturbing than the sexual serial killer. Is it the gruesome nature of their crimes that make them among the worst of violent criminals? Is it the escalation of their acts, requiring more and more violence, blood and depravity to achieve satisfaction? Or is it that they walk around with us, day to day, their sheep's clothing masking the beast beneath the fluffy, white wool?

Sexual serial killers often have dissociative states or entirely different ego states that allow them to change personalities as easily as hanging up one set of clothes and putting on another, not unlike Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. And so it was with Dayton Leroy Rogers, respected businessman from Portland, Oregon, and his bone-chilling acts of humiliation, perversion and torturous murder. Gary C. King's true crime novel, Blood Lust, is a detailed re-telling of one of America's most horrific sexual predators.

King's novel is wonderfully detailed, the words resounding in the reader's head as if they were, themselves, the case investigator, finding clues, an increasing number of victims and, finally, Rogers himself. Be prepared for the chills that will inevitably run down your spine, the shock of depraved acts beyond understanding and the seemingly cool nature of a deviant killer hidden in plain sight.