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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Criminal Mind, November 4, 2002
This review is from: The Sex Slave Murders: The Horrifying True Story of America's First Husband-and-Wife Serial Killers (Mass Market Paperback)
The Sex Slave Murders chronicles the crime spree of Gerald and Charlene Gallego. The couple is often referred to as America's first husband and wife serial killers. Flowers does an excellent job of laying out the troubled backgrounds of Gerald and Charlene, leading up to their eventual meeting, marriage, and killing spree. Charlene served as bait, luring young women, and then Gerald would attempt to live out his "sex slave" fantasy with the victims and ultimately kill them. One of the strongest assets of the book is the attention given to the victims. Instead of just listing names and dates, Flowers takes time to outline what the victims and their lives were like. As a result, the reader will get to know the victims, thus, the true impact of the Gallego crimes is better felt and understood. Although this book is non-fiction, it reads more like a novel. While Gerald's "sex slave" fantasy was central to the crimes the couple committed, the author does not exploit the fantasy by focusing on the nature of the heinous sexual acts. Instead the book explores the reasons behind the crime and the reasons why Charlene Gallego was a willing assistant in the crimes. Most importantly, the book highlights the lives that were cut short or forever changed as a result of the crimes committed by the Gallegos. While there were a few times in the book that I felt it jumped around and others where it was a bit repetitive, this book was excellent overall. R. Barri Flowers has done a tremendous job, and if you are looking for a true crime read this book should not be missed. Reviewed by Stacey Seay
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Sex Slave Murders, December 23, 1999
This review is from: The Sex Slave Murders: The Horrifying True Story of America's First Husband-and-Wife Serial Killers (Mass Market Paperback)
An animal with a fondness for cruelty, an animal with a lust for sexual torture, an animal with a penchant for murder... And the woman who loves him, who willingly helps him, who lures his victims for him, who stands by while he tortures them, and who merely looks away when he executes them. This is the bizarre and grotesque world of Gerry and Charlene Gallegos, who broke all the rules of pathological behavior by being the first husband-and-wife serial killers. Through exhaustive research, intense interviews, and meticulous detective work, criminologist and sociologist R. Barri Flowers introduces you to two of the most odious sociopaths of our time. He takes you into their world, and explores their methodology, their histories, their motives, and their madness. If you find the concept of sociopathy fascinating and compelling, read this book. It is a thorough study of two people together torturing and murdering eleven victims, but it is also a thorough study of a woman who assists her husband in his derangement, a petite, pretty young woman who willingly and expertly lures his youthful female victims for him... an unusual twist in the world of serial killers. Here Flowers makes his first foray into the area of true crime writing, but certainly not into the world of authorship. His previous books include such studies as The Prostitution of Women and Girls, and The Adolescent Criminal: An Examination of Today's Juvenile Offender. He is currently working on his first novel, and is preparing an encyclopedia of serial killers.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Top Of The Line , Riveting True Crime Thriller!!!!, April 3, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Sex Slave Murders: The Horrifying True Story of America's First Husband-and-Wife Serial Killers (Mass Market Paperback)
As an avid fan of true crime and mystery books, I found The Sex Slave Murders by R. Barri Flowers to be amongst the top books I've read in each category. Certainly as a true crime tale, they don't get any scarier and the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction. It involves a murderous couple, Gerald and Charlene Gallego, who meet in California, then become involved in sex slave fantasies and serial murder. I found myself hooked from the first page that talked about Gerald Gallego's father being a twice convicted murderer, who was executed -- implying a "bad seed" in his killer son. With Charlene, they may have fancied themselves some sort of modern day Clyde and Bonnie. In fact, I saw them only as brutal killers, whose murder spree took ten innocent lives before they were brought down. The courtoom drama that turned the two killers gainst each other was riveting! For any true crime fans who want a real page turner and a case unlike any other out there from start to finish, I greatly recommend The Sex Slave Murders! I also read Flowers' mystery novels, Damning Evidence and When Night Falls. They were also great. I can't wait till his next true crime book comes out!
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