Lest we forget Thomas Harris' "Red Dragon" which was groundbreaking. As a wee lad, I had never read anything like this - first it opened right in the middle of the enquiry, then M. Harris was the first to invent the "profiler entering a killer's head" trope. As far as "SOTL"… The best thing is the ending, with the letter from Lecter to Clarice. *SPOILER* it ends up with "I hope that for you, the lamb has stopped screaming". Then you have a purely cinematographic moment, travelling to Clarice sleeping miles away, in peace. My take : who was Hannibal Lecter ? A psychiatrist. That's when you understand that the whole story you have read was not catching a serial killer, but something else : Clarice's therapy. That's not written as such, but the hints are there. Pure, unaldurated genius. I love it when in the end, the story you've been told appears to be something else… "Hannibal" is different, it show that Lecter is actually at war with vulgarity, and the book manipulates the Hollywood tropes to make you accept what's called madness as simply a defense system - and I'll stop before I go into a rant. (Sorry, but when I start on Thomas Harris, I turn lyrical !)
Harris' prose was gorgeous, too, and there were those little gems of wisdom that I savoured ("the emperor councils simplicity" "the worm that destroys you is the temptation to agree with your enemies, to gain their approval"). Every ten years or so, I read the whole Hannibal series -- even the weaker efforts were great compared to many other writers. Hope you've managed to catch the series "Hannibal", it comes closest to Harris' vision.
@@1michelemichele1 Most indeedy. I'm not really into TV series (fortunately it's not illegal yet), seeing that it was all about cannibalism which was entirely secondary in M. Harris' vision did not really made me feel to watch it…
Perfect timing. Actually been scouring the internet for serial killer recommendations today, so this couldn't have come at a better time for me. S.A Cosby's books in particular sounds like a treat to read. Thank you Olly.
When I saw the top ten category I thought -- I'm not a huge fan of serial killer books -- and then realized I had read all of them. I'd throw in Cornell Woolrich's Black Alibi from the 1940s mostly because of the time and place. But don't let your cat near that one. And for a trashy great time, it would be The Third Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders.
I love the books by Ann Rule. Her murder/serial killer books are incredible. They are all true stories, but her dramatisation style brings out a spine-chilling realisation that these were real lives and real killers.
Great list. I’m very interested in reading Zombie. Maybe Psycho. I’m one of the few people who have never seen the movie. My friend Dahmer is on my radar too. 😊💙
I have invested in a new "Olly" bookshelf that is already largely full. I have added three of these since I started watching your channel and need to locate four more (already read three). Thanks for the recommendations!
Great list as always. A few True Crime books I love include The Family by Ed Sanders (1971 about the Manson murders) and The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule (about Ted Bundy).
Hi Ollie, I just talked about my darkest prayer, by SA Cosby in my latest video. I’ve never read him yet. I’m more of a fan of serial killer nonfiction like in cold blood and one that I just read that was better than the fictional account of the same murder. The fictional account was looking for Mr. Goodbar and the nonfiction account is. closing time, the true story of the Mr. Goodbar murder by Lacy Fosbourg was excellent. Aloka.
How Lecter the fictional character became Lecter the intellectual Godfather of all Serial-Killers is one of the most curious phenomena of the last decades...
Lecter is much more fascinating. In SOTL, IMHO he was an embodiment of the devil figure, with its seduction - and its mystery : you never got into his head, because you don't share thought with the devil. "Hannibal" made you accept that his so-called insanity was a defense mechanism against the vulgarity of this world…
Oh My God! My favourite genre! Olly, you’ve made my evening! I know this isn’t a horror, nor particularly terrifying, but I do love Perfume by Patrick Suskind. I love his layers of description and the character development. I also found myself applying his social commentary to everything from the horrors of social media and disgusting politics etc
I sat poised over the on screen keyboard, just in case you left out Every Dead Thing, John Connolly's first Charlie Parker book, before the series slipped fully into the Occult Detective subgenre - and you did! 🙂 You also left out Wire in the Blood, by Val McDermid.
I have only read three of these novels. I am adding the rest to be TBR right now. Thank you, Olly! Also, I prefer The Silence of the Lambs to Red Dragon. I enjoyed both books, but The Silence of the Lambs was perfection. I would add Perfume by Patrick Suskind to my best serial killer books list. It is one of the best books I have ever read.
I've read two other books by S A Cosby and enjoyed them both. So, I shall have to check out All the Sinners Bleed. I really enjoyed J C Oates Zombie. As something you might want to check out in the future: I just read Bret Easton Ellis' The Shards which was published back in February of this year. It's set in 1980s Los Angeles and involves a mysterious serial killer known as The Trawler. It's written in an interesting pseudo-memoir style where the writer includes himself as the protagonist/narrator and where he sets a large part of the story within the actual private high school he attended, The Buckley School. It was a bit long, but over all, I enjoyed it and found it really suspenseful in parts. Always enjoy your book vlogs, Olly! Keep the faith!
Great list Olly! I would love to read The Killer Inside Me at some stage. I would love to get my hands on Zombie, but it is not on kindle and I can't find it anywhere. I would recommend Heartsick by Chelsea Cain, a seriously chilling novel.
When I tell people my favorite "genre" of TV, I say, "serial killer shows"... though I've not been as focused in my reading, I love these books, too. It's not quite right to say mysteries, detective shows, or police procedurals--but specifically serial killers.
I must admit, I was a tad disappointed when I read it at the time. But then, I'm the one who thought Daniel Cole's Ragdoll was a piece of crap I could not even finish when everyone and his second cousin said it was the dog's proverbial bollocks, so…
I just read the Goodreads blurb on it, and it sounds like there's a lot of truly horrific violence against women in it? I mean, I think most serial killer books do have women as the victims, but I find myself much more bothered by reading graphic depictions of sexual violence than I used to be. But I love a police/detective procedural, so I'm torn...@@pateris
@@Tokayd13 Birdman, you mean ? Don't worry, there's only violence against animals, men and children, nothing bad. JUST KIDDING ! It's been a while, I must admit don't remember.
Great list! I would add Michael Connelly's The Poet. If you haven't read any Michael Connelly, he is right up there with the best there is (King is a huge fan)...need I say more? 😂 I'd also include Dennis Lehane (he wrote Shutter Island and Mystic River) - also a fantastic writer/crime writer :)
Thank you for sharing. More good stuff to add to the TBR pile. My suggestion would be Laird Barron’s Black Mountain. Book #2 in the Isaiah Coleridge series, pretty sure the antagonist is a serial in that one. Series is good crime fiction that progressively sprinkles in more and more occult elements.
I fully agree with Stevens's "By Reason". Absolutely enthralling. Have read "American Psycho" at least five times and have the same edition. "Love" it! Two books I would suggest "Headhunter" by Michael Slade (which I see you didn't like that much) and especially his "Cutthroat". Also, Chelsea Cain "Heartsick", about a female serial killer; not that many books about them. And a true crime, "Deviant" by Harold Schechter, about Ed Gein. Very highly recommended!
Really enjoyed this video, was even more chuffed when I realised you're British. I struggle to find book channels with British hosts, aha. I don't have anything against Americans, I just think sometimes their tastes don't align with my own, so I have more faith in you, good sir. I have subscribed.
Tristan and the Classics is a good British Booktuber, as well. The books he reviews are not the books Ollie reviews, so there'll be no risk of overlap.
A different kind of serial killer story is Joolz Denby's "Stone Baby". It's barely a thriller, actually it's a story told by someone who is best friend with the killer's girlfriend. As everything Joolz Denby, it's a story about people, about the consequences of an SK story on a whole community - and you don't feel like you're reading a story, but living it with the characters, so visceral and believable it is. I translated that mother, and believe me, it was not as easy task !
Good to see Shane Stevens represented. By Reason of Insanity is great! Some other books to consider: Killer on the Road by James Ellroy, Perfume by Patrick Suskind, Intensity by Dean Koontz, The Poet by Michael Connelly, and In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes.
I've often wondered what it must've been like for people who read Psycho before the film came out and the ending became so well known. I found it quite fascinating to read when I did finally read it a few years ago, knowing the ending while looking at how Bloch tries to conceal what's really going on; I wonder if he had any idea just how iconic his story would wind up being.
I loved both Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris…. Although, I enjoyed reading Fed Dragon slightly more. Zombie by JCO is amazing… I was lucky enough to have her sign my hardback copy at a local book festival in 2019.
Great list Olly! I'm really enjoying the 10 in 10s. I hope you do more of them. I wish this book was fiction - The Killer Department: Detective Viktor Burakov's Eight-Year Hunt for the Most Savage Serial Killer in Russian History by Robert Cullen. It was the basis for the 1995 film Citizen X.
I read “Psycho” and it was good, I got through 1/2 of “By Reason of Insanity” (chilling), “Silence of the Lambs” is truly great! “American Psycho” was weirdly great, I have “Zombie” by JCO, and Birdman to read. The others I’m taking notes to get.
Based upon this video I pulled up the Saul Black book, “The Killing Lessons” and stopped reading by the time I got to page 3. I’m sure it’s a great book but just wasn’t in the mood to expose myself to that level of tragedy in such short order.
I really like Slob by Rex Mille. There are more in the series but the only other one I read was Chaingang. Slob was part of the Splatter-punk thing that was going on in the late 80s. I’m surprised no one made movies about of them however there was a comic mini series called Chain-gang.
Nice to see The Killing Lessons show up, Olly; I loved it! Some of my favourites: The First Deadly Sin, by Lawrence Sanders The Sleep Police, by Jay Bonansinga The Count of Eleven, by Ramsey Campbell Counting Down, by Gerard Stembridge The Snowman, by Jo Nesbo Mr. Bowling Buys a Newspaper, by Donald Henderson The Screaming Mimi, by Fredric Brown
There was one called "The Traveler" by John Katzenbach about a killer kidnapping a girl and "training" her to assist him in serial murder, based on the Christopher Wilder case 👍
Have you read Chaos by Tom O’Neil? Not a novel but journalistic investigation into Manson and how the prosecution just made stuff up. Left me feeling like Manson was the scapegoat for the cia
I've read all the S.A. Cosby's books except for the one you mentioned in this video. Good writer. My favorite title, so far, is the "bury-your-gays" one, Razorblade Tears. I could never finish American Psycho. I think i made it to page 20. All those inane descriptions about fashion did it for me, and the style was less than proficient but, then again, I enjoy a lot of older literature (18th and 19th century from Europe, the US, and Latin America) and people just wrote better back then. I will read The Killer Inside Me one of these days. I have a great pb copy. The most powerful reason why I've almost abandoned the serial killer genre is the cruelty and misogyny so abundant in these books. I remember one where the killer removed a woman's face with an electric sander; she was alive, of course, as the sanding happened. Forgot the title. One by Jeffrey Deaver (Coffin Dancer, maybe?) has the killer chain or handcuff a woman to a broken steam pipe; she's told the hour when the steam will erupt and remove her skin and flesh; I think he provides her with a clock, too. A second reason is the artificiality of making the killer into this uber-intelligent person and the detectives and victims into idiots. The third reason is the sheer imbecility behind most of the killer's motivations. In the first of the Memory Man novels by David Baldacci, the motivation for the killer was that she had been r@ped by cops and football players; years later, she encounters a man who had been a football player and wanted to become a cop: presto! the weirdo gets motivation, an associate, and pulls off a killing spree in a school. I like your videos even though I tend not to agree with your recommendations.
@@CriminOllyBlog Thank you so much for responding. Now I realize it was a rather old video and I haven't watched your most recent ones. I have a long TBR list and I wanted to give horror a try, again (I tend to dislike the most visceral stuff), so I'll be paying attention. In an aside note, I enjoyed an Englishman's series, Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, until he started writing with another Child, his brother, I believe. I don't know if you have read this very long, bit simplistic guilty pleasure 20-plus books. They are a lot of fun in the vein of a larger than life protagonist who never ages, never loses, always beds the prettiest woman, and leaves town as soon as the job is done. It's very pulpy, but badly served by anodyne covers: they should go 1970s on the entire series.
Some great shouts in the comments already (Shining Girls, Perfume), to which I'd add Child of God by Cormac McCarthy, Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward, Twilight by William Gay (serial killer adjacent, strictly speaking) - and, while non-fiction and not strictly serial, hard to exclude In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
Haven't read any Jim Thompson in ages. Have to dig some out again now. Last time I binged on his work I was reading Richard Stark too. Not serial killer, but hard boiled AF.
Was hooked on Richard Stark in my late teens but I have never gotten around to reading Jim Thompson. I habe meant to but for some reason never got around to picking any of his books up.
Hasn't James Patterson done a few serial killer books ? 🤭 That thought came to me when you mentioned true crime sometimes being exploitative. I have the same feeling but in the opposite direction ie. I think crime fiction is often exploitative.
Interesting selection of books I much prefer Red Dragon by Thomas Harris it was more terrifying with the creepy serial killer ,the Tooth Fairy. He was totally f. Up. And also George Stark in The Dark Half by Stephen King, he was very violent with all the slicing and dicing to his victims.
Lest we forget Thomas Harris' "Red Dragon" which was groundbreaking. As a wee lad, I had never read anything like this - first it opened right in the middle of the enquiry, then M. Harris was the first to invent the "profiler entering a killer's head" trope. As far as "SOTL"… The best thing is the ending, with the letter from Lecter to Clarice. *SPOILER* it ends up with "I hope that for you, the lamb has stopped screaming". Then you have a purely cinematographic moment, travelling to Clarice sleeping miles away, in peace. My take : who was Hannibal Lecter ? A psychiatrist. That's when you understand that the whole story you have read was not catching a serial killer, but something else : Clarice's therapy. That's not written as such, but the hints are there. Pure, unaldurated genius. I love it when in the end, the story you've been told appears to be something else… "Hannibal" is different, it show that Lecter is actually at war with vulgarity, and the book manipulates the Hollywood tropes to make you accept what's called madness as simply a defense system - and I'll stop before I go into a rant. (Sorry, but when I start on Thomas Harris, I turn lyrical !)
Harris' prose was gorgeous, too, and there were those little gems of wisdom that I savoured ("the emperor councils simplicity" "the worm that destroys you is the temptation to agree with your enemies, to gain their approval"). Every ten years or so, I read the whole Hannibal series -- even the weaker efforts were great compared to many other writers.
Hope you've managed to catch the series "Hannibal", it comes closest to Harris' vision.
@@1michelemichele1 Most indeedy. I'm not really into TV series (fortunately it's not illegal yet), seeing that it was all about cannibalism which was entirely secondary in M. Harris' vision did not really made me feel to watch it…
I remember reading silence of the lambs when I was about 14 and being absolutely blown away by it's brilliance
As someone who’s new to the horror/thriller/crime genres, these lists are pure gold. Thank you for these great recommendations!
I loved By Reason of Insanity.
The Killing Lessons sounds intriguing.
I'd also recommend 'The Seven Days of Peter Crumb' by Jonny Glynn, 'Exquisite Corpse' by Poppy Brite, and 'Frisk' by Dennis Cooper.
Perfect timing. Actually been scouring the internet for serial killer recommendations today, so this couldn't have come at a better time for me.
S.A Cosby's books in particular sounds like a treat to read. Thank you Olly.
I wrote it down as well !
When I saw the top ten category I thought -- I'm not a huge fan of serial killer books -- and then realized I had read all of them. I'd throw in Cornell Woolrich's Black Alibi from the 1940s mostly because of the time and place. But don't let your cat near that one. And for a trashy great time, it would be The Third Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders.
I love the books by Ann Rule. Her murder/serial killer books are incredible. They are all true stories, but her dramatisation style brings out a spine-chilling realisation that these were real lives and real killers.
I met her once. Nice lady.
I would probably add Primal Fear and The Alienist to this list. Also Angel of Darkness. Loved the video.
Oooh, The Alienist is a good one!
I thought of Primal Fear as well! There are a lot of parallels between that book/series and the Hannibal series. I deeply enjoy both.
Great list. I’m very interested in reading Zombie. Maybe Psycho. I’m one of the few people who have never seen the movie. My friend Dahmer is on my radar too. 😊💙
Great overview video - I will always remember the feeling of reading Psycho. Amazing book.
I have invested in a new "Olly" bookshelf that is already largely full. I have added three of these since I started watching your channel and need to locate four more (already read three). Thanks for the recommendations!
Ha! I love that!
Great list as always. A few True Crime books I love include The Family by Ed Sanders (1971 about the Manson murders) and The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule (about Ted Bundy).
Hi Ollie, I just talked about my darkest prayer, by SA Cosby in my latest video. I’ve never read him yet. I’m more of a fan of serial killer nonfiction like in cold blood and one that I just read that was better than the fictional account of the same murder. The fictional account was looking for Mr. Goodbar and the nonfiction account is. closing time, the true story of the Mr. Goodbar murder by Lacy Fosbourg was excellent. Aloka.
How Lecter the fictional character became Lecter the intellectual Godfather of all Serial-Killers is one of the most curious phenomena of the last decades...
Lecter is much more fascinating. In SOTL, IMHO he was an embodiment of the devil figure, with its seduction - and its mystery : you never got into his head, because you don't share thought with the devil. "Hannibal" made you accept that his so-called insanity was a defense mechanism against the vulgarity of this world…
Oh My God! My favourite genre! Olly, you’ve made my evening! I know this isn’t a horror, nor particularly terrifying, but I do love Perfume by Patrick Suskind. I love his layers of description and the character development. I also found myself applying his social commentary to everything from the horrors of social media and disgusting politics etc
I sat poised over the on screen keyboard, just in case you left out Every Dead Thing, John Connolly's first Charlie Parker book, before the series slipped fully into the Occult Detective subgenre - and you did! 🙂
You also left out Wire in the Blood, by Val McDermid.
I have only read three of these novels. I am adding the rest to be TBR right now. Thank you, Olly!
Also, I prefer The Silence of the Lambs to Red Dragon. I enjoyed both books, but The Silence of the Lambs was perfection.
I would add Perfume by Patrick Suskind to my best serial killer books list. It is one of the best books I have ever read.
That is a great book! Good suggestion
Great list Olly! I loved Red Dragon, but haven’t finished the series yet. My son got me American Paycho, and I still need to read it.
Love these mini-reviews. Have you tried any James Ellroy for crime?
I've read two other books by S A Cosby and enjoyed them both. So, I shall have to check out All the Sinners Bleed. I really enjoyed J C Oates Zombie. As something you might want to check out in the future: I just read Bret Easton Ellis' The Shards which was published back in February of this year. It's set in 1980s Los Angeles and involves a mysterious serial killer known as The Trawler. It's written in an interesting pseudo-memoir style where the writer includes himself as the protagonist/narrator and where he sets a large part of the story within the actual private high school he attended, The Buckley School. It was a bit long, but over all, I enjoyed it and found it really suspenseful in parts.
Always enjoy your book vlogs, Olly! Keep the faith!
Killer On The Road by James Ellroy.
Killing Eve by Luke Jennings, and my sister the serial killer by Ovinkan Braithwaite and They Never Learn by Layne Fargo Let's not forget the ladies.
Great list Olly! I would love to read The Killer Inside Me at some stage. I would love to get my hands on Zombie, but it is not on kindle and I can't find it anywhere. I would recommend Heartsick by Chelsea Cain, a seriously chilling novel.
When I tell people my favorite "genre" of TV, I say, "serial killer shows"... though I've not been as focused in my reading, I love these books, too. It's not quite right to say mysteries, detective shows, or police procedurals--but specifically serial killers.
Always love to see a bit a Lecter on lists. Red dragon was one of my intros to the genre.
Birdman sounds interesting, I think I'll pick that up soon.
I must admit, I was a tad disappointed when I read it at the time. But then, I'm the one who thought Daniel Cole's Ragdoll was a piece of crap I could not even finish when everyone and his second cousin said it was the dog's proverbial bollocks, so…
I just read the Goodreads blurb on it, and it sounds like there's a lot of truly horrific violence against women in it? I mean, I think most serial killer books do have women as the victims, but I find myself much more bothered by reading graphic depictions of sexual violence than I used to be. But I love a police/detective procedural, so I'm torn...@@pateris
@@Tokayd13 Birdman, you mean ? Don't worry, there's only violence against animals, men and children, nothing bad. JUST KIDDING ! It's been a while, I must admit don't remember.
😀@@pateris
Great list! I would add Michael Connelly's The Poet. If you haven't read any Michael Connelly, he is right up there with the best there is (King is a huge fan)...need I say more? 😂 I'd also include Dennis Lehane (he wrote Shutter Island and Mystic River) - also a fantastic writer/crime writer :)
I need to read more Connelly. I did read The Poet years ago and liked it. Agree re Lehane, another write I need to read more of!
Thank you for sharing. More good stuff to add to the TBR pile. My suggestion would be Laird Barron’s Black Mountain. Book #2 in the Isaiah Coleridge series, pretty sure the antagonist is a serial in that one. Series is good crime fiction that progressively sprinkles in more and more occult elements.
I see the library near me has All the Sinners Bleed and The Killing Lessons so I;ll check them . Great content.
Thank you! Hope you enjoy them
The shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. A time travelling serial killer is a unique take on the genre.
Early John Sandford is excellent too
Thank you for “unputdownable”, a perfect mash up!
Thank you! Glad I found your channel! Hit a goldmine for new reads!
Oh brilliant! Thank you ☺️
I had not heard of Birdman. I'll have to check that one out.
It's a good one!
I fully agree with Stevens's "By Reason". Absolutely enthralling. Have read "American Psycho" at least five times and have the same edition. "Love" it! Two books I would suggest "Headhunter" by Michael Slade (which I see you didn't like that much) and especially his "Cutthroat". Also, Chelsea Cain "Heartsick", about a female serial killer; not that many books about them. And a true crime, "Deviant" by Harold Schechter, about Ed Gein. Very highly recommended!
I like the Slade books overall, but think the plotting can feel a bit muddled at times.
I'd love to see my annotations 😂 I hated reading that book and only finished it because I fancied my professor 😬
It’s just lots of love hearts and *sigh* prof is so dreamy
Really enjoyed this video, was even more chuffed when I realised you're British. I struggle to find book channels with British hosts, aha. I don't have anything against Americans, I just think sometimes their tastes don't align with my own, so I have more faith in you, good sir. I have subscribed.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the video 😊
Tristan and the Classics is a good British Booktuber, as well. The books he reviews are not the books Ollie reviews, so there'll be no risk of overlap.
A different kind of serial killer story is Joolz Denby's "Stone Baby". It's barely a thriller, actually it's a story told by someone who is best friend with the killer's girlfriend. As everything Joolz Denby, it's a story about people, about the consequences of an SK story on a whole community - and you don't feel like you're reading a story, but living it with the characters, so visceral and believable it is. I translated that mother, and believe me, it was not as easy task !
One of my favourites is The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup
Thanks for the recommendation! I actually have that one on my kindle
Good to see Shane Stevens represented. By Reason of Insanity is great! Some other books to consider: Killer on the Road by James Ellroy, Perfume by Patrick Suskind, Intensity by Dean Koontz, The Poet by Michael Connelly, and In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes.
I am currently reading Killer on the road. Very engaging and surprisingly different from what i was expecting. Great recommendation.
A few of my older favorites are act of Love by Joe R Lansdale and Slob by Rex Miller.
I've often wondered what it must've been like for people who read Psycho before the film came out and the ending became so well known. I found it quite fascinating to read when I did finally read it a few years ago, knowing the ending while looking at how Bloch tries to conceal what's really going on; I wonder if he had any idea just how iconic his story would wind up being.
A crime writer to check out Chris carter first book is called crucifix killer second book executioner
I loved both Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris…. Although, I enjoyed reading Fed Dragon slightly more. Zombie by JCO is amazing… I was lucky enough to have her sign my hardback copy at a local book festival in 2019.
Picked up Birdman after this video
Great list Olly! I'm really enjoying the 10 in 10s. I hope you do more of them.
I wish this book was fiction - The Killer Department: Detective Viktor Burakov's Eight-Year Hunt for the Most Savage Serial Killer in Russian History by Robert Cullen. It was the basis for the 1995 film Citizen X.
Awesome ❤ I've been searching the topic for days.
I read “Psycho” and it was good, I got through 1/2 of “By Reason of Insanity” (chilling), “Silence of the Lambs” is truly great! “American Psycho” was weirdly great, I have “Zombie” by JCO, and Birdman to read. The others I’m taking notes to get.
I like reading horror and thrillers this time of year. You got lots of good books there. Enjoy your reading ❤😊
Great stuff! Alll of your discussions are top notch
I read My Friend Dahmer based on your recommendation earlier this year. Great book! I would have added The Blooding by Joseph Wambaugh.
'The Bad Seed'! 'The Bad Seed'! 'The Bad Seed'! (by William March) ;)
Based upon this video I pulled up the Saul Black book, “The Killing Lessons” and stopped reading by the time I got to page 3. I’m sure it’s a great book but just wasn’t in the mood to expose myself to that level of tragedy in such short order.
Yeah it’s very hard going in places
@@CriminOllyBlog Would seem it’s very hard going from the outset!
William Trevor wrote a good one , I think its titled Felicitys story ,read it a long time ago.
I’ll have to look that up
I really like Slob by Rex Mille. There are more in the series but the only other one I read was Chaingang. Slob was part of the Splatter-punk thing that was going on in the late 80s. I’m surprised no one made movies about of them however there was a comic mini series called Chain-gang.
I did read that (and Chaingang I think) way back then
Hi olly. Great video. Have you read notes on an execution yet? Suppose to be hyped up and could probably fit into the crime genre. 😊
I haven’t! Will have to check that out
Nice to see The Killing Lessons show up, Olly; I loved it!
Some of my favourites:
The First Deadly Sin, by Lawrence Sanders
The Sleep Police, by Jay Bonansinga
The Count of Eleven, by Ramsey Campbell
Counting Down, by Gerard Stembridge
The Snowman, by Jo Nesbo
Mr. Bowling Buys a Newspaper, by Donald Henderson
The Screaming Mimi, by Fredric Brown
I remember seeing that god awful movie base on The Snowman were they didn't film like a fourth of the script or something.
I'm sure the movie has convinced many people the book and Nesbo are horrible. It's a shame.@@stephennootens916
@@stephennootens916 Boy, did this one sucked goats bollocks…
Fredric Brown ! I don't know you, but I like you already ! ;)
There was one called "The Traveler" by John Katzenbach about a killer kidnapping a girl and "training" her to assist him in serial murder, based on the Christopher Wilder case 👍
Have you read Chaos by Tom O’Neil? Not a novel but journalistic investigation into Manson and how the prosecution just made stuff up. Left me feeling like Manson was the scapegoat for the cia
I haven’t. But I do have it on my kindle
@@CriminOllyBlog you should read it. It reads easy for the type of book it is.
i love reading crime novels. especially true crime.
I've read all the S.A. Cosby's books except for the one you mentioned in this video. Good writer. My favorite title, so far, is the "bury-your-gays" one, Razorblade Tears.
I could never finish American Psycho. I think i made it to page 20. All those inane descriptions about fashion did it for me, and the style was less than proficient but, then again, I enjoy a lot of older literature (18th and 19th century from Europe, the US, and Latin America) and people just wrote better back then.
I will read The Killer Inside Me one of these days. I have a great pb copy.
The most powerful reason why I've almost abandoned the serial killer genre is the cruelty and misogyny so abundant in these books. I remember one where the killer removed a woman's face with an electric sander; she was alive, of course, as the sanding happened. Forgot the title. One by Jeffrey Deaver (Coffin Dancer, maybe?) has the killer chain or handcuff a woman to a broken steam pipe; she's told the hour when the steam will erupt and remove her skin and flesh; I think he provides her with a clock, too. A second reason is the artificiality of making the killer into this uber-intelligent person and the detectives and victims into idiots. The third reason is the sheer imbecility behind most of the killer's motivations. In the first of the Memory Man novels by David Baldacci, the motivation for the killer was that she had been r@ped by cops and football players; years later, she encounters a man who had been a football player and wanted to become a cop: presto! the weirdo gets motivation, an associate, and pulls off a killing spree in a school.
I like your videos even though I tend not to agree with your recommendations.
That’s definitely a fair point about the killers always being absolute geniuses. That’s for watching, I always enjoy your comments.
@@CriminOllyBlog Thank you so much for responding. Now I realize it was a rather old video and I haven't watched your most recent ones. I have a long TBR list and I wanted to give horror a try, again (I tend to dislike the most visceral stuff), so I'll be paying attention.
In an aside note, I enjoyed an Englishman's series, Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, until he started writing with another Child, his brother, I believe. I don't know if you have read this very long, bit simplistic guilty pleasure 20-plus books. They are a lot of fun in the vein of a larger than life protagonist who never ages, never loses, always beds the prettiest woman, and leaves town as soon as the job is done. It's very pulpy, but badly served by anodyne covers: they should go 1970s on the entire series.
@sid1gen yeah I’ve read a few of those over the years, always entertaining
A book about Jack the Ripper would be great to have on a serial killer list
The graphic novel From Hell is excellent!
Scaredy Cat by Mark Billingham, serial killers normally work alone....
Really great list!
Olly have you done a review of the Slough House series by Mick Herron?
I haven’t! I have read and enjoyed the first one though
If you want some serial killer cheese - “All Shall Die” by Kristopher Ruffty
Ever read The Minus Man by Lew McCreary? I'd have added that one to the list. One of the best(and little known) serial killer novels out there.
I haven’t! I’ll look that one up. Thank you.
Well, there's a gimmick, but The Bad Seed, by William March. 1954.
Have you read any of the other books in the Birdman series? The Treatment is 10x more brutal.
Thank you for the recommendations. I didn't like at all Birdman by Mo Hayder. Very disapponinted with it.
Sorry to hear that
Some great shouts in the comments already (Shining Girls, Perfume), to which I'd add Child of God by Cormac McCarthy, Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward, Twilight by William Gay (serial killer adjacent, strictly speaking) - and, while non-fiction and not strictly serial, hard to exclude In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
Hello Olly! Was just wondering if you had read the Jim Butcher book you said you may read for the Occult detective month? If so, did you enjoy it?
Great list of psychopath thrillers. Thx for sharing! 📚 🎃 🇺🇸
Glad you liked it!
Haven't read any Jim Thompson in ages.
Have to dig some out again now.
Last time I binged on his work I was reading Richard Stark too. Not serial killer, but hard boiled AF.
Was hooked on Richard Stark in my late teens but I have never gotten around to reading Jim Thompson. I habe meant to but for some reason never got around to picking any of his books up.
@@stephennootens916 Killer Inside Me is a good place to start. Nasty.
@@stephennootens916 Stark, who as we all know is a pseudonym for the late, great Donald Westlake !
@@pateris I have to admit I never read a book under his real name.
@@stephennootens916 I'd say go for it, but it's been a while and maybe they have aged badly, like some of that time…
Hey olly great choices have you read any more mo hayder? I recommend u do if not.
Try the books by 'Chris Carter'
Does the Dahmer book have recipes?
Lol
Hasn't James Patterson done a few serial killer books ? 🤭 That thought came to me when you mentioned true crime sometimes being exploitative. I have the same feeling but in the opposite direction ie. I think crime fiction is often exploitative.
Dexter?
Yeah I quite liked the first one, but not enough b for it to make the list
Interesting selection of books I much prefer Red Dragon by Thomas Harris it was more terrifying with the creepy serial killer ,the Tooth Fairy. He was totally f. Up. And also George Stark in The Dark Half by Stephen King, he was very violent with all the slicing and dicing to his victims.
But Stark is not really a serial killer, innit ? Just some hyper-violent mobster…
Most of Mo Hayder's books are disturbing, I recently read Treatment and that one has stayed with me.
Yeah I've heard that is the most disturbing one
Sir where can I find those books please help🙏
@@mohantripathy8869 at a library.
No mention of John Connolly? How very dare you! Havent read SA Cosby, my fancy is tickled. .
💚🖤
raised by a serial killer……
Wait, what?
is a book
'The Killing Lessons' is a super shitty book. Not at all good. 'By Reason of Insanity' is one of the best. Thomas Harris is a cut and paste thief.
_Great_