Customer Reviews

Henry Lee Lucas: The Shocking True Story of America's Most Notorious Serial Killer

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Around 20 years ago, Dr. Joel Norris was one of America's top "experts" on serial killers (as serial killing was nowhere near as commonplace as today), and has written several books on them, including one on Jeffery Dahmer, however, like i said, this is some 20 years ago & key facts revealed later in the lives of Lucas (aswell as Dahmer) have proved previous theories & conjectures to be wrong, such as the stated belief that Lucas & Toole worked for a satanic cult & committed nearly 300 murders, when, in actuality, they were just 2 skid row drifters from the south, who would kill you & rob if given the chance, and most modern researchers believe the duo only to be responsible for 25 to 40+ murders at the most (with a possibility of 60), which is still a hell of alot of people in my book. But other than these mere gripes, the book itself reads well & keeps your intrest. Dramatic description of Henry's "Orange Socks" case, unsettled me a great deal, too bad it's one of the murders Henry most likely never committed.

Written while Lucas was still awaiting trial on several hundred criminal indictments, this book tells the story, if his confessions are to be believed, of one of the most prolific serial murderers in the annals of American criminal history. Lucas has since died, found unresponsive on the floor of his prison cell, dead from an apparent heart attack; a relatively peaceful way to go, especially given the details of the confessions he was giving to the police during his time of "celebrity." He says he has done everything you could do to a victim, except for poisoning; he denied having ever poisoned anybody, a real sweetheart. But this would mean he shot people, stabbed them, strangled them, beat them, suffocated them, drowned them, dismembered them (sometimes while they were alive, sometimes while they were dead), the agenda goes on. The list of his crimes is astonishing, ranging from incest and simple assault to cannibalism and necrophilia.

After citing a case known as the "Orange Socks" murder and a few setting-up details, the book goes into Lucas' 1983 arrest for the murders of an old woman known to her friends as "Granny Rich" and Lucas' travel companion, Frieda "Becky" Powell. And though you only have to kill one person to be a murderer, there is a lot of speculation and controversy over Lucas' real body count. He killed his mother in a fit of rage in 1960, and had served hard time for it; and here is where one becomes angry at the criminal justice system and the way any bureaucracy works. He himself knew something was wrong with him, and when his parole date came up he practically begged the parole board not to release him; he knew his life would quickly derail and he would be in trouble again. They wouldn't hear it, and citing overcrowding, they practically pushed him out through the prison's gates. So imagine everyone's surprise when a body was found right outside the facility, especially when he said he would "leave a present" for them when he got out.

The story tells of of his meeting and friendship in Florida with Ottis Toole, another of society's "treasures" (quotations indicate sarcasm). This was a deadly combination, and the two fed off each others' perversity. Through Toole, Lucas was introduced to satanism, cannibalism, and homosexuality. This relationship also introduced Lucas to Toole's nephew Fredrick Powell, and his niece Becky Powell. In the end, Henry and Becky were alone in the world; they were tired, hungry, lost, and out of hope. A fight between them ensued, resulting in Powell slapping Lucas, and Lucas stabbing Powell in the chest, then raping and dismembering the corpse...he had just killed the one person in the world he had affection for, and this loss led to his ultimate conversion and endless string of confessions.

The chapter about Lucas' childhood is just as horrible as anything you'll see in a movie: Abominable living conditions, along with endless episodes of shocking physical and emotional abuse on a daily basis, and believing one is nothing; they are worthless, their life has no value, nor does anyone else's, and you have a sure-fire recipe for a very dangerous person. The content of the book all follows this traumatic upbringing and the result of it going unchecked. During his confessions he seemed to have a good heart underneath it all, whether it was an act or not, but this monster was created in his early years, the programming into his mind that life has no value, people are garbage, sex is meaningless, and theft and violence is the only to get along in the world. He lived as a nomad, stealing and killing all his life until he was finally caught.

This book was published before Lucas' final fate was determined, and due to the length of the list of charges leveled against him, his life ended before it could all be sorted out. His final years and death aren't included in this book, but at least it ends with him safely put away, and authorities worrying about other cases like this which may come up in the future.

This isn't a very long book, but it is densely packed with information; a book that'll make you afraid to travel or even go out alone.