Customer Reviews

Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The issue of feminism is only a very small part of this book: a few pages in a couple of chapters from nearly 500 pages of everything else about female serial killers! A fascinating, compelling and heavily researched study of the history, psychology, culture and sociology of female serial killers, along with some detailed case histories to back it up. The book is an excellent companion to his book on males--Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters. What I enjoy most about his books are the case studies which provide much more detailed descriptions than other general books on serial murder. There are about twenty extensive accounts of various types of female serial killers many of which go way beyond the short encyclopedic treatments so often published. I also like the way the author structures his books into several parts: history, psychology, and then case studies. You do not need to read the book from beginning to end, but can often open it at any chapter, reading it in almost any order, like a magazine. His books are more like a collection of complete articles and case studies, linked together by the common theme of serial homicide. Read together they paint a big picture of female predators. Like a smart True Detective magazine - a 'vanity fair' of true crime, women and serial homicide. Very enjoyable and readable style with a subtle edge of black humor behind it. Maybe the best new stuff written on Charlie Manson and his girls. And his take on Aileen Wuornos made me cry: it was heart-breaking true to her--a shot right between her angels and the devil. Bright new talented true crime author and a scholar too. Frightening no punches-pulled accounts of sequential female predatory aggression in all its many lipstick shades.

This is a good book, covering individuals from the distant past (Messalina, Elizabeth Bathory) to 19th century poisoners, Nazi death camp workers (Irma Grese), moving into recent history (the Manson girls) to modern cases as well (Karla Homolka, Aileen Wuornos). And these women I mentioned are just a few of the many, many case histories and individuals Vronksy explores.

It definitely shows that the author did his research and covers this subject more thoroughly than other books I have read on this subject. I'd definitely recommend it highly to true-crime fans. It reads well and is informative and effective, from stomach-churning transcripts of the Homolka/Bernardo videotapes to theories on why Bathory perhaps did not bathe in the blood of her many victims.

My only criticisms are that the author does focus a lot on Wuornos, as he seems to believe her to be somewhat of an anomaly amongst female murderers in terms of her motives and "style" (for lack of a better word).

Also, he goes after an activist named Phyllis Chesler for her feminist defense of Wuornos in a very aggressive way. He definitely makes some valid points against Chesler's arguments, but there is a vitriol in his words that made me feel he was somehow very personally offended by this woman: calling her a "creature", sarcastically mentioning that "we can all sleep better" knowing that Chesler has moved on to other causes. His almost venomous attack on her stood out to me in a big way while reading.

I definitely recommend this book. Very informative and entertaining.

Radical feminists who insist that only men commit serial murder will be angered by this book, which lists the names of 140 predatory female serial killers and offers case studies of varying detail for some 40 of them. Vronsky is highly critical of radical feminism, which argues that when women kill they do so only to defend themselves against male aggression. He very persuasively argues that many female serial killers kill for the very same reasons that male serial killers do--but that they leave different signatures at the crime scene.

If you liked Vronsky's book extensively reseached book on male serial killers, then you'll love this one. Vronsky writes in his usual biting sarcastic style but his treatment is very intelligent and informative and he never "writes down" to his readers while covering some pretty dense historical and psychological material in a jargon-free style. His comparisons of female with male serial killers give you not only new insight into the female perpetrator but make you re-think what male serial killers are all about.

Vronsky breaks down a lot of myths about female serial killers pointing out that over half of them have killed at least one female themselves and 39 percent at least one child and that strangers--not husbands, lovers or family members--are marginally the most preferred category of victim for female serial killers today. Vronsky points out that female serial killers are much better at it than male ones, eluding apprehension for twice as long a time on average than males and that the frequency of female serial killers appears to be doubling every two decades. According to the statistics he provides, 1 in nearly every 6 serial killers in the USA is a female. That's quite the shocker and the case studies in this book easily sustain that.

Excellent book with no parallel on the psychology, history, and gender-politics of female serial killing with a fascinating chapter on female accomplices of male sexual serial killers.

The research is okay, I guess, but the author peppers his book with random anti-feminist diatribes-- he seems to think they are germane to the topic, but he fails to make that connection for his reader. Really, I'm quite well aware that ultimately each person is responsible for his or her own actions, but you're going to have a very difficult time proving to me that abuse (particularly in the Homolka case) does not have an effect on a person's psyche.

Moreover, after spending the book telling us that the women killers can't blame their pasts for their actions, Mr. Vronsky implies that Charles Manson is not wholly to blame for HIS actions, because he spent many years in jail and his brain was fried by LSD. Hmm, double standard, anyone?

Mr. Vronsky also spends time speculating over what the victims were thinking as they died, which is obviously impossible for him to know. He also spends a whole lot of attention on the sexual aspects of those cases where sex was involved, and it seemed to me that he was impressed with the charisma of those men who seduced women into killing, while disgusted with the women who killed on their own. The vibe of creepiness I got while reading was NOT coming from the descriptions of the killers, let's put it that way.

The book is written in a casual-yet-superior fashion. Mr. Vronsky somehow manages to convey all the arrogance of Ph.D. level scholarship with none of the professionalism one would expect from someone who is a Ph.D. candidate, as the back cover proudly trumpets his status to be.

Frankly, based on the cover description, I was expecting a much more professionally-written, less biased work, and I am quite disappointed.

I have read a lot of true crime books, but never one so thoroughly researched on women who kill. This book gives an in-depth view of the different types of personalities and crimes that women commit, from "angels of death" to "sexual sadists." This is NOT just a "male" problem in society. I especially enjoyed the section on the feminist take on the subject. Women have used their "charms" to seduce, confuse, and get away with murder for years. In many ways, women are scarier than men.

Fantastic insight into the interplay of politics, publicity, and the PERCEPTION of female serial killers. An excellent slap at extremist feminist political portrayal of women serial murderers as "victims" with a balanced critique of this distortion. All in all, a completely unique portrayal of what could merely be sensationalist bunk. Very scholarly. Recommended for the reader who wants facts, not rumor.

Worth your time. I did enjoy reading about this topic. If you are interested in this topic, this is a resource for you. I have used this information teaching my forensic sci classes. Well written book. Highly recommend.

First, I have to say that I am reading this part with great interest. As a true crime reader, I find this book to be quite in-depth but I have some disagreements with the author regarding some notable omissions like Caryl Ann Fugate who was along with Charles Starkweather in the 1950s on a murderous spree. She was only 14 years old at the time. Also, Sante Kimes who was also known to be vicious to her servants/slaves and left a murderous which included her own son, Kenny, as her accomplice leaving bodies across the country and abroad in the Bahamas. I think he devotes a lot of time to Aileen Wuornos who I believed was mentally ill and that was not analyzed properly. I believe she was either bipolar or paranoid schizophrenic regardless she was mentally ill until her death. Female serial killers in this book include all kinds including the kind granny Dorothea Puente, the nurse Genene Jones who is eligible for parole in 2009, mother Marybeth Tinning who suffocated her children for attention was eligible in 2006, and others. Karla HOmolka has been released from prison and I thought her crimes were horrendous. While the author does provide a great deal amount of time analyzing those, I felt that the Manson girls who have been rejected for parole repeatedly are villified beyond redemption and will never be released in the first place despite the fact that they have all changed behind prison. I don't think of the Manson girls as serial killers much less as followers as Manson much like the girls who went on sprees with their husbands, lovers, partners, etc. I'm still reading the book slowly to absorb the knowledge. I study true crime but I have no aspiration to do any harm to anybody else. This book is good but not excellent, I would have liked the author to have analyzed Santee Kimes.

I enjoyed this book but mainly found the section on the first female serial killer, Aileen Wuernos, very interesting. I don't believe she should have been executed. Murder is never justifiable of course but in Aileen's case, she had an extremely terrible upbringing & difficult abusive life. The first time she murdered was self defense & the victim deserved it wholeheartedly. After that, something just went terribly wrong inside her mind & she became a cold blooded murderer. I feel that if this woman had been given a life of love & a wonderful childhood, she would never have become a murderer. I believe there was good in Aileen & I hated the way the movie "Monster" depicted her. There was no way they had to make her so repulsively unattractive when she wasn't that way in real life. I don't quite see the point in all that unnecessary ugliness to the actress Charlize Theron to make her so butt ugly to reflect Aileen, who was actually quite attractive when she was younger & before the physical abuse of her life ways aged her prematurely.

The chapters on the madness of the Manson girls was pretty gripping. Who would ever have thought a teenage girl that looked like Leslie Van Houten, a prom queen, could have such an evil & ugly soul? Ugly things do come in pretty packages. I'm still angry that all those Manson freaks weren't fried as the jury sentenced them to be. If you like true life crime & female serial killers, you will like this book.

I have read so many books on serial killers so several books I read just don't stand on there own. This one however I was very impressed with. As I have read in other reviews many people took issue with the parts that talked about feminism. I am a woman and maybe because I am not a feminist I did not have a problem with this. I felt he was addressing specific issues that frankly I felt were accurate. I enjoyed the detail he went into on all the cases and felt I was able to get a much better view of the cases and lives of the women in this book. I really believe the author must have really took a great deal of time researching for such a detailed book. I also enjoyed how for example in the details of Elizabeth Bathory he provided details about the history and why certain things were done in that day and age. I also enjoyed the many studies and facts about what makes a sociopath and a serial killer. Having read so much about true crime sometimes it's difficult to find something new. A lot out there is just repeating the facts but I found this book different. I checked this out at the library and am defiantly going to buy my own copy in the future. As far as books specifically on Women serial killers I believe it is in fact one of the best out there. Highly recommended.