How to Make a Serial Killer
Full Title: How to Make a Serial Killer: The Twisted Development of Innocent Children into the World's Most Sadistic Murderers
Author: Christopher Berry-Dee, & Steven Morris
Genre: Nonfiction, Psychology, True Crime
Summary: What makes a serial killer? Do they learn how to killed or are then born killers? A long debated question that will be answer in this book.
Review: How to Make a Serial Killer opens up with the nurture vs. nature debate. The conclusion is that it is a bit of both. This book is interesting, and it got a lot of good information on the life of some of the infamous serial killers.
There is a test the FBI used to test how high of a risk a serial killer is. There are thirteen different categories. If a serial killer falls under 70% of these categories, then they are a high risk to society. However, the test is not perfect because the test looks at a person’s early childhood. There are serial killers that don’t show any sign of childhood abuse or very few problems in their adulthood. One killer had military training and one day decided to get a thrill from murdering. That is one of the possible motives for serialized killing.
The categories for this test are:
- Alcohol abuse
- Drug abuse
- Psychiatric history
- Criminal history
- Sexual problems
- Physical abuse
- Psychological abuse
- Dominant father figure
- aligned with a negative relationship with male caretaker figure.
- Negative relationships with both natural mother and or adoptive mother
- Treated unfairly
- Head trauma
- Demon seed
*Note: 8 & 9 are suppose to go together.
I’m surprised that killing animals and wetting the bed is not on this list. Wetting the bed is mentioned in the book but, not killing animals.
I would have liked for the authors to go more into detail on the traits that make a serial killer. Different killers’ lives were analyzed and what traits they have were noted.
These people live pretty normal lives. A lot of them got married, have kids, and went to work. Imagine your co-worker having an odd hobby. You ask them and they will be like:
Yeah; I slip people’s throats, bleed them out, and hang them up to dry. Then I dress them up and place them around my house. It’s art...okay. Stop judging me. *grumble* gosh you people are so mean *grumble*. Hay how about you come to my house after work and I make you into a piece of art.
Having an abusive childhood is not the one deciding factor to make someone into a killer. Offend times, people with abusive childhoods will go on to hurt people. Most likely people younger than them.
How to make a serial killer gives an interesting insight into the minds of the most notorious killers. However, I was hoping it will go deeper into the psychology of what makes a serial killer.
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