Deranged

Rating:
Summary: Schechter is a master in what he does
Review: I won't talk too much about the book itself (there are like 40 reviews about it already(, but I have comments about some of the reviews.

First of all, Schechter does an extremely good and professional job about putting things in context. That is what some readers perceived as "uninteresting, boring things that have nothing to do with it" ,etc. Well, these readers are totally wrong. It is important and it is very relevent, as Schechter has understood, to have a context that what happens. The author, in every book I have read by him, contextualise the matter, and everytime it's very well done and very significant. Don't forget that Schechter deals with real stuffm, he's a historian. I find incredibly unfair some of the negative comments made on his work. Obviously some people just don't realise how truly horrid these things are or they stupidly expect things you cannot expect. Schechter cannot invent things that did not take place. Don't listen to anyone bashing his works because honestly he is a very good writer in what he does. His research job is a pure mastery, he is non-biased in everything I ever read of his, totally honest.
I'm telling this because I strongly upset at the, very few, reviews of people who obviously had never touched a book in their lives before. I can't conceive anyone finding Deranged annoying, the very thought makes me think that reviewer was a vegetable. You cannot judge Schechter's work as a work of "fiction" (I hate that word applied to literature anyway, none says paintings are "fiction" even when they depict things that never happened, but anyway) and, besides, his books are not at all boring or anything like that. His writing is great, and for those who still consider it as "poor" or whatever, I'll just remind you that Harold Schechter is a literature professor, not saying that makes a good writer, but obviously those who consider him a bad one, are not able to judge clearly.

Deranged is a book you'll find hard to stop reading, I read it in two days and just wouldn't stop. If you're a honest reader, meaning you're seriously interested in serial killers and human psychology in general, that book will not disappoint you. Now, if you youre only interested in reading striclty "horror" stuff then you should try something else, although I do not understand how anyone could not consider what Fish did as horror, that's something I honestly just don't understand. I guess the bad reviewers of this book are simpliy idiots, that's all I can understand, so don't you listen to them.

Anyway, if you just take a global look at the reviews, most of them give the book a 5 star rating, and it's well deserved. I therefore give it a 5 as well, and a 0 to negative reviews for their total lack of perspective and depth as well as incarnate idiocy.

Rating:
Summary: A promising subject, but a very unsatisifying book
Review: I've been looking for a book about Albert Fish ever since I learned of his existence. A religiously-inspired, senior citizen canibal who professed to have practiced every deviancy in the book should make a very interesting subject. Unfortunately,"Deranged" by Harold Schecter is nowhere as interesting as I hoped. Too much time is spent on the investigation and the dozens of false leads that produced absolutely nothing. (About half the book is seemingly concerned about false leads.) And when the book is finished, Albert Fish, a man who kidnapped, cooked and ate a little girl and then wrote a letter to her parents to tell them how delicious she was, seems less like the embodiment of absolute evil and more like a pathetic old man who can't control his impulses. Perhaps the material wasn't nearly as interesting as it first appeared, but a subject this lurid shouldn't produce a book this boring.

Rating:
Summary: What, exactly, was Albert Fish?
Review: If everything in Schechter's book can be taken at face value, Albert Fish was not just a serial child murderer, but exhibited every known sex perversion and a few unique to himself. However, I have deep reservations about just how crazy Fish was. Essentially everything about Fish's psychological quirks comes from one source, the notorious Dr. Frederick Wertham. Wertham was a gullible, naive pseudoscientist whose absurd antics in the early 50s are well-known. Since Fish rarely told the truth about anything, and virtually nothing can be reliably documented about him beyond a few anecdotes from family members, and since his only chance of saving his life was an insanity plea, I am extremely unconvinced that Fish was quite as incomparably weird as he made out. Apart from that this is one of Schechter's usual good jobs of research. His real "find" was the lawyer who defended Fish, who provided a large amount of detailed, "inside" info about Fish's trial.

Rating:
Summary: you must have a strong stomach to read this
Review: In my opinion Harold Schecter is in a league with Ann Rule on true crime, although each has written at least one novel. Albert Fish was a despicable, filthy old man who one would think was the embodiment of the "boogeyman" of all children's fears. He was a sexual pervert, multiple murderer, a pedophile, cannibal and masochist. The crime he was finally caught and punished for was the abduction, rape torture-murder and cannibalism of a 10-year-old girl named
Grace Budd. New York in 1928, a place where such things were unheard of. Fish answers a newspaper ad placed by a young boy looking for work to help out his poor family. When he arrives at the home of the family , a poor family who needed every cent they could get, he soon forgets the teenage son and focuses on the little girl, Grace. He soon finds a way to get her, he invites her to the "birthday party" of his niece. Her trusting parents let her go off with him, never to see her again. He takes her to "Wisteria Cottage", an isolated empty house and proceeds to take his self-named "implements of hell" to show her hell on earth. He rapes, murders, dismembers her and eats parts of her body. He remains free for some time before a clue from a note in a hotel room reveals his identity. Albert Fish also enjoyed torturing himself by impaling his own body with needles and other sharp objects. He would beat himself with a spiked paddle, eat his own feces, and when subjected to X-rays after his arrest he was found to have no less than 29 needles left inside his body. When he learned he would leave this world in the lap of "old sparkey" in Sing Sing Prison on January 16, 1936 he stated."That will be the supreme thrill of my life." If Grace were still alive she would be the age of my father, who I lost in 1996, 84 years old.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining as well as profoundly horrifying
Review: It's amazing that more people do not know who Albert Fish was. After reading this book, I'm convinced that the man (if one could call him that) had to be the most revolting serial killer in the history of America...it's hard to imagine someone much lower than he was. As far as gruesome reading goes, this book is worse than any work of fiction I've read ("American Psycho" is kind of close, but truth be told...)

Shock value aside, this book is an excellent read. Although written about events from long ago, its retelling is so vivid that the reader feels like (s)he is witnessing the past rather than simply reading about it. Everything from law enforcement's efforts to find him, to quotes from many involved (including many from Fish himself), to detailed accounts of his arrest and trial are thoroughly recollected.

If you like true crime, this book is a masterpiece. But if you consider pedophilia and cannibalism to be too extreme, don't say you haven't been properly warned.

Rating:
Summary: The stuff to haunt dreams.
Review: It's kind of sad that hardly anybody knows (or cares) about Albert Fish anymore. In my opinion he's much more interesting than Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, etc. I agree with the jury's verdict: Albert Fish was insane but he deserved to die anyway. Harold Schechter's descriptions of not only Fish's crimes but also the things that he did to himself -- sticking needles up his groin, whipping himself etc -- turned my stomach. It was all so incongruous, as Fish looked like everybody's grandfather. Yet another insightful, entertaining book from Harold Schechter.

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable, but true.
Review: Mr. Schechter pens yet another true-crime story that is worthy of a reserved spot for any true-crime buff. As the late author Robert Bloch said: "People are only into Ed Gein because they haven't heard of Albert Fish."

So, here is Fish's book. It is unbelievable. One has to remind oneself that this is actually TRUE. This really did happen. I couldn't believe it. A person who indulged in a numerous variety of perversities, sexual fetishes (some way, way too bizarre to mention here!) the unspeakably ghastly aftermath of Grace Budd was reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale classic "Little Red Riding Hood". In my previous review of a Schechter novel I said had found myself sympathizing (in a very awkward way) to Gein and actually saw a motive for his madness. In Fish's case I could not sympathise with him whatsoever. He was possibly the most deranged man to ever walk on Earth (in my opinion)...but contrary to what others may think, he was aware of the fiendish nature of his crimes. He planned Grace Budd's abduction with a cool cunning, and killed her in the most outrageous way possible... This makes for possibly the sickest yet most compelling read in the genre ever.

Hats off to Mr. Schechter once more for providing impeccable research and a story with no boring moments in it whatsoever.

Rating:
Summary: Dastardly deeds!
Review: Mr. Schechter seems fixated on books about mad dog killers that begin with the letter D for example Deviant, Depraved and this offering Deranged. I have read all three books and this one is the best, they are all good by the way. The research done is impresive, Mr. Schechter must have gone through volumes of microfiche to find the newspaper stories that he has added to statements made by participants he has taken from trial records and other sources. The structure of the story is well written and easy to follow. The subject Mr. Albert Fish is so...Deranged that it is hard to find a place to start when describing his evil and perverse acts. From sending dirty letters to ladies at lonely hearts clubs to murdering and cannibilizing a little girl. Trust me, this guy makes Jeffery Dahmer look sane and mellow. I have loaned this book to buddies and it has never been gone for more than 3 days, it is a quick read, hard to put down. This book will make you walk around the house checking to make sure the doors and windows are locked. Good work Prof. Schechter.

Rating:
Summary: Albert Fish: The REAL Boogey Man of the 20th Century
Review: Much like a ghoulish car crash on the freeway, the story of Albert Fish appeals to the macabre side of human curiosity: you know that you shouldn't look, but you just can't help yourself. Without question, Albert Fish was the avant garde "serial killer" of 20th century America. He seems to have been the prototype for the now stereotypical image of the "kindly stranger with candy" that lures innocent children into his clutches. Harold Schechter's account of "the Gray Man," Albert Fish, is a stranger-than-fiction nightmare that is both noxious and compelling at the same time. Moreover, Schechter brings an historical perspective to his account by weaving the Fish murders and his subsequent trial into the panolopy of concurrent events that defined that era (e.g., the Lindberg baby abduction, the Leopold and Loeb trial, the "Vampire of Hanover," Hitler's rise to power, etc.) In short, this book is a must read for any real fan of 'true crime' literature. However, a caveat needs to be made: this book contains some adult language and graphic descriptions of pederasty, sadism, masochism, cannibalism, coprophagia and, in the opinion of this reviewer, is an inappropriate book for minors.

Rating:
Summary: The true story of America's most evil murderer
Review: Put down that Stephen King novel: here's a book that will really give you nightmares. Albert Fish was one of the most twisted perverts ever to walk the face of the earth. "Deranged" dares to tell his story in all its bloody glory. And what a story it is: murder, rape, torture and cannabilism were some of Fish's favorite hobbies. What makes it especially frightening is that it's all true. I gave this book to my girlfriend for a gift; I think it was a good choice