Talking with Serial Killers: World's Most Evil

Talking with Serial Killers: World's Most Evil by Christopher Berry-Dee

Paperback, 289 pages

Published 2019 by John Blake Publishing

Shelves: crime-thriller-mystery, death, non-fiction, read, read-in-2020, series-or-companions, title-appeal

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Christopher Berry-Dee delves deeper still into the gloomy underworld of killers and their crimes. He examines, with shocking detail and clarity, the lives and lies of people who have killed, and shines a light on the motives behind their horrific crimes.
Through interviews with the killers, the police and key members of the prosecution, alongside careful analysis of the cases themselves, the reader is given unprecedented insight into the most diabolical mings that humanity has to offer.
Extending its sweep from lonesome outsiders to upstanding members of the community, Talking with Serial Killers: World's Most Evil shows that the world's most monstrous killers may be far closer than you think...

If, like me, you're a fan of anything True Crime, it's likely you'll have seen at least one of Berry-Dee's Talking With books on a shelf in a bookstore near you. The series includes titles such as Talking with Psychopaths and Talking with Female Serial Killers, this one claiming that it's about the World's Most Evil. With my interest piqued by the dramatic title, I was eager to dive into this book.

There's no doubt that this book does address some of 'The World's Most Evil', though at the same time only covers five people. None of the killers that I would've personally addressed are mentioned in the book, but I did get to learn about three new subjects that I, perhaps shockingly, can't recall reading about before. The featured killers in the book were the infamous John Wayne Michael Gacy, Kenneth Alessio Bianchi, William George Heirens, John David Guise Cannan and Patricia Wright. 

The book addresses each of these people in short sections though gives a very good summary of their both their lives, from childhood to death or incarceration, and their crimes. I was very interested to read about all of these people, particularly those who I'd not heard of before, and I feel like I gained a good wealth of knowledge about them. I've actually listened to some podcasts and watched some documentaries on the killers since reading and have found that  Berry-Dee certainly covered almost everything there is to know in this book. Like anything from the true crime genre, this can be a difficult read in several places but was kept factual and professional. There are, expectedly, some very graphic scenes portrayed in the book, but they do serve their purpose for historical education and make you really imagine what was happening. It's easy to see why Berry-Dee considers these people some of the World's Most Evil.

Whilst the book was well compiled and held my interest until the end, I was a little disappointed that it didn't really encapsulate the 'Talking With' part of the title. The book is formed from lots of information that the author has collected and studied over the years, but there was hardly any direct words from the offenders themselves. I would have certainly found the book more interesting and unique if there had have been. I only really felt that the author really portrayed personal communication with Patricia Wright, whose story I found the least interesting as it was so shrouded in doubts from the author, rather than factual like the previous cases. Whilst the portrayal in the book didn't interest me, I did research her story online afterwards and found it more interesting - I honestly can't say that I would've put her amongst the 'World's Most Evil' in comparison to the previous subjects.

Overall, if you don't know much about Gacy, Bianchi, Heirens, Cannan or Wright, this book is certainly worth a read - just to get a good overview of their cases and stories. If you are really wanting an in-depth look as the psychology behind the killers, or to read material from the killers themselves, you may be disappointed. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of true crime as a 'base' book - something to your own research upon at a later time. I am pleased that I read his book, but rather disappointed that there was no real 'Talking with Serial Killers'.  Nonetheless, I'd still be interested in reading more work by this criminologist.