The Shoemaker: The Anatomy of a Psychotic (Hardcover)

~ Flora Rheta Schreiber (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st Edition. edition (June 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671226525
• ISBN-13: 978-0671226527
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #783,399 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spine Chilling!, November 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Shoemaker (Signet) (Paperback)

I also read this book years ago in my early teens. As an adult, this book has left a large impression on my mind. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in psychology or serial killers.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In the mind of a killer, November 9, 1998

By A Customer

THE SHOEMAKER is a rarity amongst books that deal with killers, in that it's not tabloidish or sensational. Additionally, Flora Schreiber does what no genre book has done, truly get behind the mind of her subject. The psychotic killer, Joe Kallinger, is the subject that Schreiber (who penned SYBIL..that many know of from the Sissy Spacek movie) so thoroughly and convincingly covers. At points you feel as if you're reading an autobiography; so in depth this book is. The portrayals of Kallinger's "visions," his lapses into the surreal and unreal, are so vivid, so real, that the reader themselves will feel as if they were in a trance or on a mind-altering narcotic. While Schreiber certainly feels for her subject, she doesn't lose sight of the fact that this man, despite his mental shortcoming that were bred from an odd childhood, did take the lives of others, including that of his own seed. Tough to find, you can't go wrong with seeking it out.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NEEDS TO BE REPRINTED FOR NEW AUDIENCE, August 27, 2002

By A Customer

I, too, read this book long ago - in my early 20's - and have never been able to forget it. Unfortunately i judge other books weak in comparison. I still wonder if this guy is locked up, and what happened to his poor kid? He is now an adult - and a good cause for worry. It should be deemed a classic in this genre, and kept on the shelves.