DEPRAVED

Rating:
Summary: Interesting tale of serial killing in the "Good Old Days"
Review: "Depraved" tells the story of the first serial killer in American history, Herman Mudgett. Mudgett, through cunning and sadistic genius, murdered perhaps as many as 200 people in his customized "murder castle" (an exact number of victims isn't know since Mudgett lied through his teeth about most everything). The macabre castle had air-tight, soundproof rooms in which to kill victims and also had a crematorium in which to dispose of bodies. This story could be taken from the headlines of today but was not. It happened over a century ago, showing that the "good old days" weren't that good for some people. Definately worth the time of true-crime readers.

Rating:
Summary: The book is better than the killer
Review: I do agree with some of the things said before, one may be slightly disappointed by the book, but that is if you expect much about the "Castle" and the other stuff Holmes is known for. On the other hand you can hardly blame Schechter for it, he does a most excellent job of research, as usual, and I guess that book must have been and endless maze to write. Holmes' frauds and manipulations and lies become so messy that it's hard to follow all acurately even as a reader.

The weak spot of the book, in my experience of it, is that there is a whole part of it that, according to me, is maybe too "novelised", that would be the trips with the children and family on which some reader had some complains to make. I never had that impression before on a Schechter book but maybe this time the "novelisation" goes too far and there might be too much direct speech and other such things. It's not bad but it may surprise readers as the passage extends in its number of page.
Hopefully, this doesn't last till the end of the book and soon enough you're back to Schechter at his best. The rest of the book is as excellent as could be. Again, Harold Schechter has done the best job one could possibly make on the matter.

Now, as far as the killer is concerned, I do despise him a great deal, as any serial killer should, but Holmes was really some soulless machine. Even Albert Fish would get more sympathy from me, at least he was "passionate", he didn't sleep well at night, which never seems like Holmes' case. He's like the incarnation of materialism and utilitarism's dark side. A capitalist to the core (and to the core of others). He's most despisable because he is totally unreliable and lies constantly till the bitter end. Odds are you will be more shocked at his mean tricks than at his "Castle". The latter which is not dealt much with in the book, although it was not possible to do more about it, so again don't blame Schechter, he's innocent!

Personally, Holmes is not the most interesting serial killer I read about so far. Not that he is devoid of interest, but he seems so inhuman, in the sense of a machine. I mean, you can have sympathy for even a monstrous psychopath like Fish, because even in his incredible deeds there was still something human, too human maybe, about it. But Holmes! He is capitalism's terminator. He'd insure on your life, kill you, sell your bones, steal your jewels to sell them afterwards, same with your clothes, and when he's cornered he'll write a book of his life, not without tonloads of lies and fabrications.

It is a very good book, apart from the weak spot I mentionned earlier, although I don't think everyone would agree with me on that. Schechter again did a great job, considering the matter he dealt with, however, if you never read a Schechter book before, I'd advise another one to start with, like Deviant, or even Deranged.

Rating:
Summary: What a mysterious world...
Review: I love this book. H. H. Holmes is by far my favorite serial killer. That sounds strange but he is the most fascinating in my opinion. I picked up this book and could not put it down. I loved every minute of it. It's full of little known facts, information, and stories revolving around this intriguing man. From his roots in New Hampshire, to his pharmacy, to his castle, to his death. One thing though, above in the critic reviews it says that he kills his partner, his partners wife, and their five kids, that isn't true. He only kills his partner and two of his partners kids. There are countless others that no one even knows about that checked into the castle and never checked out. This is an excellent read and I recommend it to anyone interested in the killing mind.

Rating:
Summary: Ah, The infamous Death Doctor.....
Review: Schechter focuses on the provable crimes, only hinting at the most sensational POSSIBILITES of his life. Schechter is a historian. He concentrates on the provable, not the possibly false and certainly sensational.

Well-written, well-researched review of an excellent early example of the 'organised' offender. Background detail helps with the profiling exercise.

The marketing was sensationalistic, but I assume that was the decision of the publisher...

Rating:
Summary: America's SEVENTH serial killer
Review: The Green Goblin visited me while I was reading this book; she picked it off my reading table and literally could not put it down. She finished it in a day. It's that good. The story is that of HH Holmes, an American Jack The Ripper who built a murder castle (complete with secret doors, acid vats and chutes to send bodies to the basement) and killed an unknown number of people at the turn of the century. Holmes' depravity and audacity was unmatched, in addition to killing his victims he tried to exploit their remains for profit. In some cases he simply sold their skeletons to science, in others he tried to collect on their life insurance and or inheritance. Unique among serial killers, Holmes actually seemed to be smart; his story is almost too incredible to be believed. Read it.

Rating:
Summary: A wild ride with a unique psychotic
Review: There have been killers and con-men and thieves and dead-beats in America throughout its long history, but I don't think there has ever been anyone before or since like the subject of this long book. The history of H. H. Holmes is so complex, and with so many gaps, that Schechter has done an amazing job in managing to tell a more-or-less coherent story. Holmes himself never told the truth about anything, no matter how trivial, while his own caution and incessant travel kept much of his crime anonymous or undetected. Even in his early days, when he maintained more fixed addresses, his crimes were largely undetected--- there is no way to know how many people he murdered in a special building in a suburb of Chicago during the days of the Exposition, when he rented rooms to travellers who were never seen or heard from again. A continually fascinating book.

Rating:
Summary: nice but not great
Review: This book doesnt give you what it promisses. Although it's a good read i think it gives to much attention to uninterresting subjects.
I want to know all the details about the horror castle and about the murders but there's not much to read about this.
The book focussus on the train voyage of Holmes with some children who he murdered.
A bit disapointening.

Rating:
Summary: Very interesting!
Review: To my mind, this book was terribly disjoined and jumped around so much it was difficult to follow. An intriguing story, but would like to know more about this man BEFORE Chicago and AFTER conviction. Well written, but bogged down in detail an awful lot.

Rating:
Summary: Not the first by far, but still a good one.
Review: When I first read this book, I didn't like it all that much. But I read it again and liked it much more after that. H. H. Holmes isn't really my kind of serial killer -- I prefer ones who torture etc -- and he isn't America's first serial killer, but he sure is interesting. Nobody, not even Harold Schechter, knows how many victims there were. I almost cried when I read about the plight of the Pitezel children, bored half to death and separated from their mama in the final months of their life. Holmes was a depraved monster for sure. I have liked all of Harold Schechter's books and hope I'll like the next one and the next and the next...