Inside the Mind of John Wayne Gacy: The Real-Life Killer Clown by Brad HunterMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Time taken to read - 2 days
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Blurb from Goodreads
Brad Hunter has spent over thirty years writing about some of America’s most horrific crimes. In this new book he enters the mind of John Wayne Gacy, the real-life ‘Killer Clown’, often said to be the inspiration for Stephen King’s evil Pennywise in It.
Gacy lured victims to his home with the promise of work or a warm bed and then duped them into putting on handcuffs, claiming he wanted to show them a magic trick. He would then rape and torture his victims before killing them by suffocating or strangling them. Twenty-six were buried in the crawl space beneath his home; others were buried elsewhere on his property, while a handful were dumped in the Des Plaines River.
Gacy was executed for his crimes in 1994, but many questions remain unanswered. How many victims were there? Did Gacy act alone? And what drove John Wayne Gacy to murder? What caused the seemingly normal Gacy to sexually assault, torture and murder at least thirty-three young men and boys? local Democratic Party circles?
Drawing on his many years’ experience investigating and interviewing perpetrators of terrible crimes, Hunter seeks to understand what drove Gacy to unleash a reign of terror in suburban Chicago.
My Review
True crime about John Wayne Gacy, a pillar in his community, friends in high places, a construction company giving jobs to young men who often were down on their luck. When stirrings of trouble arise, when Gacy's name is mentioned again and again still nothing seems to be done nor connected because he couldn't be involved in young boys going missing. The book goes into who John Gacy was, the things he did, his marriage, his façade.
I have read a lot of true crime and whilst they always focus on the bad guy, the book is about him of course it does actually cover the victims, who they were. There has clearly been a lot of research done into this one, we get snippets from Gacy's own written words/accounts.
People who knew Gacy, the way the police worked at the time, how had the police actually taken seriously what was in front of them there would not have been as many victims. It is scary how some of these deviants are seemingly so normal until they are in front of his victims. It is scary how despite having such a shady red flags background and criminal charges he still went unchallenged for so long.
The book goes from Gacy's childhood up until after he is arrested and his debt to society is "paid" - with his last meal and even last words. For a short book it packs a lot, he is an evil man who was allowed to kill and harm unchecked for far too long, 4/5.
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