Nightmare in Wichita: The Hunt for the BTK Strangler (Paperback)

~ (Author) "On Tuesday, January 15, 1974, fifteen-year-old Charlie Otero walked home from Wichita High School Southeast..." (more)
Key Phrases: Nancy Fox, Joseph Otero, Bernie Drowatzky (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

THE FIRST BOOK to tell the tale of the BTK serial killer-written by the lawyer who assisted the police during the thirty-year search and was instrumental in the long-awaited arrest.

In 1974 a serial killer began a fourteen-year murder spree in Wichita, Kansas. Joining the ranks of Ted Bundy, the elusive sex murderer taunted authorities with clues, puzzles, and obscene letters. Then in 1988, he vanished, the killings stopped, and one of the longest and most baffling manhunts in the annals of crime came to a dead end. But in 2004, a letter- and a grisly clue-arrived at a local Wichita paper. And with it, a terrifying implication: BTK was back. Now, Robert Beattie delves for the first time into one of the most intriguing, and horrifying serial murder cases in American history.

- Includes an Afterword by the author with up-to-the-minute information-including the capture of the alleged killer
- Robert Beattie, a life-long Wichita resident, had unique access to the families of the victims
- Beattie has been following the case since the 1970s
- Some people close to the case have speculated that this book was, in part, what prompted the BTK killer to resume contact with the police and media in 2004 after nearly 25 years of silence. Obsessed with publicity, experts believe BTK was jealous of the attention author Robert Beattie was receiving as a result of writing Nightmare in Wichita, thus provoking him to send a letter to the Wichita Eagle

Product Details

• Paperback: 333 pages
• Publisher: New American Library; Number Line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 edition (March 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451217381
• ISBN-13: 978-0451217387
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 4.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #619,670 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly Written, May 3, 2005

By	Travelin' Reader (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This is a very poorly written book. I was interested in the subject but had to fight my way through unanswered questions, terrible sentence structure and just plain wasted words. Mr. Beattie knows the subject but has an awful time getting it out. Not worth the money.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A book ruined, May 22, 2005

By	Brian K. Mock (Wichita, KS) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I picked up this book I hoped that I would learn some background information about the BTK murders. I am not a native of Wichita so I knew about the murders, but not a lot. I guess in some respects I was not disappointed. I learned many facts and did gain some insight into the feelings of the city during this dark time in Wichita history. However, this could not outweigh the problems I had with the book.

I found the writing to be amateurish and the editing sloppy. I attribute some of this to the rush that the publishing company put on the release of the book following the arrest of a suspect. Little things, such as identifying BTK package drops along I35 instead of the correct location, I135 were disappointing.

The worst part was Mr. Beattie's need to congratulate himself throughout the last part of the book. It is a never ending commentary of on the number of people that told him he was responsible for bringing the killer out of hiding. We also don't care or need to hear about the number of interviews he did and who interviewed him, though Mr. Beattie again seems to take pleasure in revealing this to us. The self congratulatory back patting that he engages in distracts the reader from the true story in the book. Mr. Beattie should have remembered that he was writing about BTK history and not himself, despite the fact that he is now, in his words, "part of the BTK mystique."

My suggestion, check this book out from the library and quit reading when he begins to discuss his grand role in the BTK investigation. Unfortunately it seems Mr. Beattie got off track at that point and the real story was lost. This ruined the entire book for me and I have yet to talk to another person who has read the book that does not say the same.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars BeattieTK, May 3, 2005

By	Conagher (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews

As you may have surmised, this book is on the subject of the BTK killer, responsible for ten murders in the Wichita, Kansas, area. Sadly, it seems that the appeal of this book is largely restricted to the south central Kansas area, which is unfortunate because BTK foiled everyone for thirty years, including Wichita police and the FBI. BTK is known to many investigators and profilers due to his uniqueness in the panoply of serial killers. BTK even entered the pop culture as being a model for Francis Dolarhyde, the serial killer in the book and 2002 movie _Red_Dragon_, part of the Thomas Harris "Hannibal Lecter" series. If BTK operated in a larger media market it is certain that he would be more well known as an individual, rather than some obscure reference (as an aside - national media, Wichita is not some "small town" in Kansas; Wichita is considered a mid-sized town with a population of 350,000. Yes, it is possible to live in a city that is called something besides New York and Los Angeles. There is intelligent life in the Midwest. We have running water and electricity. All of the people I know from growing up in the Wichita area came from a diverse gene pool, have all their teeth and married outside of the fourth degree of consanguinity. It's not like living on the coasts, but most Wichitans thank their deity of choice for that fact. But I digress.).

The book starts out very well. Beattie chronicles the murders starting with the Oteros in 1974. The Otero murders and the fact that an apparent serial killer operated in the area shocked many Wichitans. Wichitans now had a reason to lock doors, fear strangers, own firearms for personal safety and so on. People began checking their phones for a dial tone (a BTK hallmark was cutting phone lines prior to an attack) and check closets (a BTK hiding place). The trend in home building even changed, as people began demanding master bedrooms on the second floor, as BTK often came in through a window. Beattie has plenty of quotes and observations from those involved in the investigation as well as friends and family of the victims. I have no complaints regarding this first two-thirds of the book (other than some minor editing issues), and I actually applaud Beattie on his research and his work on the BTK era between 1974 to 1986. Had Mr. Beattie stopped there, I would have easily given it four to five stars.

The final third of the book begins in January 1999. This is where the book begins its decline. Credit where credit is due, the reason BTK probably started communicating with police and the press is due to Beattie's remarks in the Wichita Eagle newspaper and the writing of this very book. Beattie is part of the story. But the story is not Beattie, a fact that he seems not to understand. The final third of the book reads like a journal of Beattie's life between January '99 and March 2004. Which would be fascinating were I seeking to read a book on the life and times of Robert Beattie, Esq. But I want to read a book about BTK. Beattie uses the first person pronoun copiously in this final third of the book, probably three times more than he references BTK or the BTK suspect, Dennis Rader. Beattie goes into stories about how many times he was interviewed in a day by the major networks, how overseas media were calling him, how his answering machine is overloaded by media requests, on and on ad nauseum. He talks about how "strange men" come to the door. What's so strange about them? They knock on the door and leave when he doesn't answer. O-kay? Bob, this is called "fifteen minutes of fame." You have to expect this, even if you don't like it. But regardless, what does any of this have to do with BTK???

And then, finally, thankfully, we have a word (almost literally) about Rader. The first 192 pages and whatever is left in the final third of the book when Beattie isn't talking about himself and the fact that he's a member of Mensa are all about the crimes of and the hunt for BTK. Finally, when the police are able to pinpoint a man who fits the BTK mold so well Beattie devotes a whole five pages to him. Five pages, most of which consist of biographical data anyone could find out with a public records search. I don't know exactly when Beattie's deadline for this book was, but I ran a search of Google News within a day of Rader's arrest and found far more about the suspect than made it into this book. There's more in this book about Beattie's Mensa meetings (Beattie's a member of Mensa, by the way) then there is about Dennis Rader. In what space Beattie spares to talk about Rader, he emphasizes the fact that Rader is a "registered Republican." Imagine that, a man trying to mix into a solid red state registering as a Republican, as if that even matters. Okay Bob, you're a lawyer and a university professor - you've got your liberal stripes. Give us something relevant, like facts about his years as a compliance officer and harassment complaints lodged against him, both of which were surely ready by press time. Oh yeah, Beattie's a member of Mensa - did I mention that?

This book is worthwhile as a source for historical information regarding BTK's crimes and is a good bibliography for other books regarding serial killers in general (he mentions several other books regarding the history and psychology of modern American serial killers). However, as the book moves into the present, Beattie loses focus on what the book is about and ends up focusing on himself. If there is a second edition I hope Beattie employs an editor and that editor is ruthless on the final third of the book, adding much more about Rader in the place where Beattie talks about himself. I have no problem with Bob Beattie the man; he seems like a hail fellow well met, a nice guy who would be an interesting man with whom to converse over a couple of beers. Perhaps he'll publish his memoirs some day, and I would probably find it to be a good read. However, this book is not the place for his personal reflections on his brief fame. This book is a mediocre start; I hope, though, that someone picks it up after the Rader trial and writes a complete volume of the BTK case. And I hope the author leaves his ego out of it.

Wait for this one to hit your local library; don't waste money on it.