Smooth Operator: The True Story of Seductive Serial Killer Glen Rogers (St. Martin's True Crime Library) [Mass Market Paperback]

Clifford L. Linedecker (Author)

Book Description

Series: St. Martin's True Crime Library | Publication Date: December 15, 1997

He Made Them Feel Beautiful, Special and Adored...

Tall, blond and strikingly handsome with penetrating icy green eyes, Glen Rogers could use his knee-weakening charm to entice lonely women out of romantically lit bars and into the night. Each one thought she had found the perfect man-until Roger got her alone and turned on her in a bloddy rage that would end in her own violent death...

Then He Lead Them Like Lambs to the Slaughter...

In all, four women would find out too late the deadly truth. For underneath his Prince Charming facade, Roger hid a twisted fury that could only be sated by strangling or stabbing beautiful, vulnerable women. Finally, after a gruesome six-week killing spree that shocked the nation and landed Rogers on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list, he was caught in a grueling twenty-mile high-speed chase.

Smooth Operator

Here is the fascinating true story of one of the most notorious serial killers in history--a man who used his fatal charms to lure innocent women into a cruel date with destiny...

With 8-pages of startling photographs.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

He Made Them Feel Beautiful, Special and Adored...

Tall, blond and strikingly handsome with penetrating icy green eyes, Glen Rogers could use his knee-weakening charm to entice lonely women out of romantically lit bars and into the night. Each one thought she had found the perfect man-until Roger got her alone and turned on her in a bloddy rage that would end in her own violent death...

Then He Lead Them Like Lambs to the Slaughter...

In all, four women would find out too late the deadly truth. For underneath his Prince Charming facade, Roger hid a twisted fury that could only be sated by strangling or stabbing beautiful, vulnerable women. Finally, after a gruesome six-week killing spree that shocked the nation and landed Rogers on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list, he was caught in a grueling twenty-mile high-speed chase.

Smooth Operator

Here is the fascinating true story of one of the most notorious serial killers in history--a man who used his fatal charms to lure innocent women into a cruel date with destiny...

With 8-pages of startling photographs.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime Classics (December 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312964005
• ISBN-13: 978-0312964009
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #639,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Reads more like a travelogue than a true crime story . . ., November 13, 1999

By 

James - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smooth Operator: The True Story of Seductive Serial Killer Glen Rogers (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

Take out the wordy and irrelevant descriptions of various locales frequented by serial killer Glen Rogers and this 269-page book would never crack the 150-page barrier. Why, for instance, Linedecker found it necessary to go into such detail about the geography and history (as in all the way back to the 18th century) of such towns as Hamilton, Kentucky . . . well, if you can figure it out, please let me know. Local color is one thing, but this is local humdrum. To make matters worse, the author spends far too few pages writing about the real meat of any true crime story . . . the actual crimes, the crime scenes, the forensic evidence, the investigations, the investigators and (saddest cut of all) the victims. The photo section of the book is particularly maddening. It features eight pictures of the killer and only two pictures of the poor women who had the misfortune to cross his path. And I'm not talking about exploitive and sensationalist crime scene photos of dead bodies. I'm talking about how these women looked in life. Just as with the so many stories of murder and tragedy in our society, the killer gets most of the press and the victims get the short end of the stick. Oh, and one more thing . . . when you crack this book, be ready to read at least fifty descriptions of how Glen Rogers drinks, what he drinks and what happens when he drinks. Better yet, read the first one and skip the other forty-nine. Basically, Smooth Operator is a series of newspaper atricles that Linedecker put on the rack and stretched into a book. If you want a good read, leave this one sitting on the shelf collecting the dust it deserves and spend your money on ANYTHING by Ann Rule, Robert Ressler or John Douglas.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good read...but not the best., August 10, 2001

By 

I. Allison (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Smooth Operator: The True Story of Seductive Serial Killer Glen Rogers (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

I finished this book in two weeks, which is a far cry from my usual No-doz induced, all-night read-a-thon. At times, the book would move at lightning speed, at other times it was slower than molasses. Why did the author feel the need to give the geography of the city to the readers? Was that supposed to give us insight on why Mr. Rogers was a serial killer? Someone pass me a pillow, I'm going to bed. Nighty-night.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Really Lost Me, November 10, 2002

By 

Janet (Fort Rucker, AL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smooth Operator: The True Story of Seductive Serial Killer Glen Rogers (St. Martin's True Crime Library) (Mass Market Paperback)

I don't usually feel so strongly about a book that I take the time to write a review, but I do feel that other potential readers must be warned!
I can tell you that I made it all the way to Page 150 before I abandoned the mission of trying to finish this book.
The author was really beating a dead horse (yes, the pun was intended) with his use of cliche's and in his descriptions of Rogers and his victims. For example, how many times do I have to be informed of how much Rogers drank, what he drank and what his reaction was to all of which he drank? The author also goes off on little rants that really aren't relavant to what is really going on (like going into an in-depth history of "Carnies") and his over-use of adjectives really got on my nerves. At one time, a description of the victim and a crime scene was given and all I could think was "Was this actually written in the reports?".
Who edited this book, anyway? And exactly who was the intended audience? This story could have really been interesting, but the entire thing read like a badly written magazine article.