Customer Reviews

Clues from Killers: Serial Murder and Crime Scene Messages

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I found this book to bring a unique perspective to the most common fundamental feature of serial killings: that for the killers, the murders are more than violent actions, they are a means of communicating. This book provides ten case studies in serial killings and focuses on the communicative action of killers. Written in an easy flowing, journalistic style, the author explores the various ways in which serial murders attempted to communicate with police, investigators, and the public at-large.
One theme recurs: the killers not only sought to communicate about the crimes they were committing, but the crimes themselves were a form of communication from apparently socially isolated individuals who had a difficult time expressing the frustrations in their lives that led to their abhorent pathology. The author takes the reader through ten different murders over 100 years apart stressing similarities and identifying differences in the ways serial killers communicated. Deploying a communicative perspective on such actions is a unique way to help understand and, as the author notes, at times to help identify and apprehend the perpretrator.

It is a strong approach to understanding and interpreting the means of communication of serial killers. What it reveals about the killers and their motivations is unique and should help those in police investigation and forensic sciences understand and identify serial killers in the future. Much more work can be done in this area but this book illustrates the value of bringing the communication discipline to bear in understanding such heinous acts as described in this book.

Bill Newnam
Atlanta, GA

CLUES FROM KILLERS is a topical book which defies expectations. It uses techniques of rhetorical criticism in an integrative way to shed light on the diverse communications serial killers have left behind at crime scenes. Author Dirk Gibson acknowledges his indebtedness to recent developments in historiography, and the influence of the Annalistes is felt in the writing of each chapter and in the overall method of the book. Journalistic acumen is paired with solid historical research to create vivid pictures not just of these infamous killers, but of their hapless victims in diverse places, times and social circumstances. This did much to sustain my interest in the human drama attendant upon some of the most loathsome crimes imaginable. Mr. Gibson takes the reader on a dark ride of crimes and communications perpetrated by 10 different serial killers, from New York's Son of Sam to LA's Black Dahlia Avenger, with lethal stops at the hands of Jack the Ripper, the Unabomber, the Zodiac Killer, and the recently arrested Scout Leader, Dog Catcher and Church attendee from Kansas who is best be known by his communicated moniker as the BTK Killer.

Given this grim subject matter, Mr. Gibson's approach is dispassionate and informative. He brings the tools of rhetorical analysis to bear on the culprits' communications, and produces insights which will be helpful to laypersons as well as to professionals in law enforcement and communications studies. In describing the initial letter from the BTK killer, written after the first killing in 1974, Mr. Gibson notes that : "The writer meant to terrify by predicting more murders. Yet other sections seemed intellectual and intended to inform." Terse non-judgmental analysis like this sketches the personality profile of the apprehended subject, a bipolar individual with developed rational powers who liked to let other people know when they'd committed infractions of regulations, coexisting with a sadistic killer beyond the pale of human conduct. With similar analysis Dirk Gibson builds a case that serial killers are driven to communicate verbally, sometimes in ways taunting the police by extolling the killers' own supposed prowess in escaping detection, sometimes as informational recountings of the crimes, and then again as psychotic threats by monsters intent on subsequent murder. The book broadens the topology of communication studies; it is also to be hoped that the research done here might help law enforcement in future efforts to catch such repeat killlers early.

CLUES FROM KILLERS is thoroughly grounded in the facts of the killings, the killers and their means of communicating. The book integrated police reports, journalistic accounts and a broad range of secondary sources in a clear style refreshingly free of academic jargon. Reading the book made me curious to know more about these crimes. The only recommendation I would make to the author for the book's second edition might be a timeline for each killer, giving the names, dates and places of each murder with a parallel track of where when and how the killers communicated. This would do much to simplify the basic chronology of these cases for the uninformed reader. The illustrations included in the book include photocopies of some of the Ripper letters, as well as copies of messages from the uncaught Zodiac Killer and a photo of Chicago killer William Heirens' lipstick on the wall scrawl left at the crime scene: "For heaven's sake catch me before I kill more I cannot control myself." Such copies of actual messages do much to supplement Dirk Gibson's skillful communication analysis, and I hope that in future editions (or future books related to this subject) more copies of such documents might be included.

Finally, criticism of this book by an earlier reader is loaded and unfair. It is possible that Mr. Gibson didn't name the proper Mayor of Kansas City when murderer John Robinson attempted to get himself voted "Man of the Year" in Kansas City in 1997. If so, it's a slip-up which should be corrected. But this type of criticism (finding a tangential error of fact and using it to call into question the content and method of the whole book) is a time-honored debaters' trick and may well be more indicative of professional jealousy than sober judgment on that reviwer's part. It should in no way dissuade sensible readers from buying this good book about evil men and their manner of communication.

I couldnt put this book down once we received it in the mail. Its a great book for anyone who wants to study the mind of killers. Thanks for bringing such a great book to us serious readers out here!!
sandy- from Iowa

I'm in the process of reading this book and just got to BTK and am constantly considering putting this book down.

I was very interested in the author's take on things through the vantage of a communications expert, but anything that he states is rather obvious, oftentimes redundant, or otherwise banal. Moreover, He should also not be citing "Serial Killers A to Z" as a source.

Further, the book is laden with typos, awkward phrasing and poor editing. In several chapters he lists significant people in the cases only by their last names and with no introduction whatsoever. Gibson also refers to crimes and murders committed by the killers, yet not covered in the book, but gives no explanation of what he's talking about.

I'm sure that this guy is perfectly smart and everything. However, some of the major points in the letters are overlooked and not even mentioned. (i.e. Mad Butcher Letter describes a burial in California - Gibson doesn't even note it.)

Granted there are tons of serial killers out there, many of which have communicated with law enforcement and the media, but I think Gibson should have chosen some who communicate in different ways. (i.e. the Green River Killer, who communicated through his mutilation of the bodies.)

If you're going to read a book about serial killers read this one: Serial Killers: The Insatiable Passion It's a little dry at times but thoroughly informative.

I read some of the reviews prior to reading the book. I felt that Mr. Newnam's comments were quite helpful while Dominiques were not. The book conveys information that was very useful for the research I am currently involved in. I felt the format of the book made it very easy to follow and it kept my interest throughout.

This book has really good qualities. I got it for a paper I was writing about the Kingsbury Run torso murders, and I was happy that he had a lot of the materials I needed. I ended up reading some of the other sections, but when I did I began to see the book's failures. The information that he presents fact-wise about the messages and letters that killers left was very good. However, repeatedly, he inserts the whole letter or message, and then goes back and repeats what it said without adding any additional insights. I felt like I was reading everything twice. Had his purpose been just to inform the reader of the actions and the messages that the killers left, then there would be no need to repeat everything. Had his purpose been to interpret what they meant, then he really fell short because he failed to do that as well. At certain points, he does share what his opinions and assumptions about the killers' reasons, which I did like. I just wish that it either had more interpretation or less repetitiveness, because I honestly found myself getting bored and skimming through the pages at points. For my purpose, the book was fine because I just needed the bare facts. But if reading it for fun or to get information about the reasons behind the killer's actions, then I wouldn't recommend it.

Of the three serial murderer books that I purchased, this was by and large my least favorite. The pictures included were great and unique, but I found a lot of the text to be redundant with a knack for overstating the obvious. Perhaps I was just expecting a different writing style?

I wonder if the Kansas reviewer read this book. A much more accurate picture was given by Bill Newnam. Better yet, buy it and see how good it is for yourself.

I thought the book was a very interesting read.
I would highly recommend this great book!!

The author works with an interesting idea: despite the differences among serial killers, they have a desire to communicate about their crimes, and further, that we can learn a great deal about serial killers from these communications. Unfortunately, this book does not live up to its billing.

The author examines 10 cases of serial killers. He provides a narrative of the case and the communications from the killer, then offers a brief analysis. Gibson presents an enormous amout of detail that does not, unfortunately, contribute to our understanding of the killers and their need to communicate. The life of each victim of the DC Snipers, for example, was important to the victims and their survivors, but as they were chosen at random, details about their lives do not tell us anything about the killers. Gibson tells us the names, ages, and occupations of the individuals that found remains of the Mad Butcher, and devotes two full pages to an excerpt from the autopsy of the Black Dahlia. The book is less than 250 pages, but this "filler" suggests that the author lacked material.

There is also a lack of consistency in the selection of cases. Some of the cases are fairly recent: the DC Sniper, the Unabomber, and the Son of Sam, while others cases were much older: The Mad Butcher and Jack the Ripper. Not a problem in and of itself, but if we are seeking to learn about serial killers in general, Gibson failed to effectively tie the older cases into a current perspective. Some of the cases examined were never solved (the Zodiac, Jack the Ripper, and the Black Dahlia Avenger), making it difficult to assess the accuracy of assumptions made on the basis of the communication presumed to be from the killers. Finally, the author did not have complete access to all of the communication from the killer in at least one case (The BTK Strangler), and is therefore, unable to assess the killer's purported message.

The analysis of the communications was not as extensive as I had expected. For example, the author points out that one letter from the Son of Sam had six paragraphs and a postscript, that the paragraphs consisted of sentences of different length, that words were spelled incorrectly, and that the author of the letter used vivid language. Gibson does not, however, tell us what these language choices mean about the case in particular or about serial killers in general.

I also noted a factual error in the text: on page 143, Gibson describes the campaign serial killer John Robinson waged to have himself proclaimed Man of the Year. "In early November 1997, Robinson launched his campaign by writing to then-Kansas City mayor Charles B. Wheeler." Doctor Wheeler served two terms as Kansas City's mayor...from 1971 to 1979. Emanuel Cleaver was Kansas City's mayor in 1997.