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Rating: 
Summary: Not just one of the best true crime books I ever read but...
Review: ...one of the best books, period! Jack Olson gathered an enormous amount of first person inteviews with victims, families, psychiatrists, and Shawcross himself. Instead of getting fancy with the order of events (a la Don Lasseter), he logically lays it out for the reader. Shawcross is one sick pup and you'll get to know him real well by th time you put this book down. Only drawback--no pictures! Check out one the the cable companies' serial killer profiles to see what Shawcross looks like and his venues of murder.
Rating: 
Summary: An informative case study
Review: It's very diversified as the author periodicly changes to the view and quotes of the involved persons. I read some true crime books in the past and most of them started to get pretty boring after 2/3 due to the describtion of the trial. The author Jack Olsen doesn't waste the readers time by dragin out the methodics of the lawyers. Instead you receive very interesting stories from different people with different points of view. And most important: you even start to think knowing Arthur Shawcross after a while. The only negative aspect I have to denounce is the "impious" -so to say -lack of any photographic material. The matter of the fact is; All sick puppies outthere, looking for these strange kind of literature about serial killers, HAVE to read this, guaran-damn-ted!
Rating:
Summary: Difficult to put down.
Review: Jack Olsen's book is an exceptional review of serial killer, Arthur Shawcross. The book is difficult to put down once you get started and get past the first few narratives. I have two complaints about the book: no footnotes or index ; no prologue which sets up the narrative style of the book.The book begins with a narrative from Mary Blake, mother of the boy killed by Shawcross. Not knowing the history of the case, I assumed it was Shawcross's mother in the narrative. So, I had to go back and re-read the narrative knowing now that it was Blake's mother talking about her deceased son. A prologue would have helped to explain that Olsen was going to use this narrative style. Nevertheless, the book is an exceptional read. I found it amazing that even the psychiatrists couldn't really put their finger on why Shawcross killed. One court appointed psychiatrist, mentioned at the conclusion of the book, provided an interesting diagnosis. Richard Kraus suggested that Shawcross had elevated levels of kryptopyrole and his chromosones were listed as 47,XYY. He suggested that people with this make-up have a higher proclivity towards violence, but that many of the medical community thinks this is bogus. Kraus's explanation does add quite a bit to the story of Shawcross. Olsen should have used him more in the book, rather than at the end.
Rating:
Summary: gave five stars because there weren't six!
Review: The book is magistrally planned and written and kept me involved from page 1 to page 592.Jack Olsen is surely worth all the 5 stars for his professional style and knowledge. I highly recommend this book to whoever is keen on true crime.
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