Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book so much that I read it in one sitting! I loved the storyline and the characters in this book. I would definitely recommend this book.

Entertaining romp through history by way of axe murders. I definitely learned a lot about ways axes have been used (outside of murdering people) through history. I found this to be a fairly quick and breezy read.

This is certainly an interesting title for an interesting book. It looks at the history of the lowly, and sometimes not so lowly, axe, particularly in its use as a tool of death. Going way back into the mists of time it looked at its evolution from a basic utilitarian object to things with a more definite purpose. In earlier times it was the cutting- no pun intended- edge of technology in killing masses of your enemy. It stayed that way until more elegant weapons were produced. It was never anything but a rough, tough and brutal.

Even when it was used as a means of execution, as in the times of Henry VIII, depending on who you were and how much you ticked off Henry, it could be sharp and swift or as bloody as a cudgel. It returned to being a tool when the rope took over as a means of execution. But it was still pretty handy if you wanted to take it into battle and you were more interested in results but proved a sad second when the other guys had artillery.

Since it was often around the house, it did have its uses for both premeditated and spur of the moment murders. In fact, at one point in the 20th Century it became a rather popular method and deserved its own moniker of being an axe-murder. Needless to say, this is a gory history but not without some humour. Four purrs and two paws up.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this title.

The title of this is so perfectly "Apt Wordplay: The History of [Topic]" it's like a computer thought of the title. I wanted to like this - it's an interesting topic, and the author clearly has thoughts about What We Talk About When We Talk About Axe Murder, but the text for each chapter is a little too dry with attempts to make this a little lighter that generally didn't work for me as a reader.

Real Rating: 4.5* of five

End-noted to a fare-thee-well, this rollicking romp through axes as historical objects isn't academic and dry, or deeply in-depth; it's a mountaintop view into the foothills and valleys of human material culture. Using the axe as our viewpoint stand-in makes a lot of sense. In anthropology classes I took in the 1980s, stone tools came in varieties like flakes, blades, and scrapers, all discovered by the carloads; a hand axe was treasure indeed. The knack of flint knapping is easier to acquire for smaller objects. An axe was high tech indeed.

There's a reason an axe centers the fasces in Roman art; there's a reason the axe was buried as often as a sword in Viking graves. They're not just useful, they're mightily impressive and have always been difficult to fashion until fairly recently. A sharp axe is a supremely useful tool for the agricultural way of life. Splitting logs to burn for warmth, making fence posts to contain cattle and demarcate property, etc etc, are all made trivially easy with ownership of a good, sharp axe.

Splitting wood is, of course, not the only splitting an axe does with effectiveness and relative ease. Author Rachel starts us with split skulls in Neanderthal prehistory, when possession of an axe was a major symbol of power. As the reasons humans kill each other really haven't changed over the millennia (spoiler alert: we enjoy it), the means we choose to do it with haven't either. Whatever is handy, be it rock, knife, or axe. What we don't know in any detail is why the owner of a particular skeleton was deprived of the ghost driving it, though the remains are clearly damaged in specific, tell-tale ways. So Author Rachel talks about axes more in the first third of the book than murders. (Seriously, stop at 30%...chapter six...if details of what happens are not to your taste.)

In historical times, as details become available, they are vouchsafed you.I do not find this particularly bothersome, but if you do, understand this is not going to be an easy book for you to read. We're still focusing on the axes, though, which is what enabled me not to feel queasy. The weapon of choice is contextualized to the extent possible based on the records surviving, be they legal, social, or religious in nature. And has Author Rachel done her archive diving! Literal hundreds of endnotes could probably result in a visit from the spooks if I followed them all up on Google. The thing I appreciate most in a history like this one, focused on a reasonably narrow bit of human behavior, is that sense the author's done a lot more than the minimum. That is definitely the case here.

I don't classify this as a microhistory to myself. It has a narrow focus. It doesn't, however, confine itself to just one bit of History like The Forger's Spell or Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, both estimable books. I suppose when your topic is something as universal or as ancient as an axe, one can't feasibly stay in the micro.

Speaking of micro, Author Rachel does not spare us Y-chromosome-havers in her analysis of why axes represent authority. There's a good bit about male insecurity as it relates to symbols of power and status. If I felt she was factually incorrect, or grinding an academic axe (!) too finely to make her point, I'd say so. Instead I shrank a little more every time the topic arose. Well done, madam, point well made. Dealing with how the labrys became a feminist/matriarchal symbol was fascinating.

The structural elements of the book are largely thematic. We're in chapters called things like "In Truth, An Enemy and a Man of Violence" (chapter four, the 500s BCE) and "Five Axes in the Cellar, One Axe on the roof" (chapter nine, Lizzie Borden). Author Rachel's style lends itself to hooks, positioned carefully at the ends of chapters. It makes the read hard to portion out; I usually read a chapter of a book, take a few notes, move to a different book; not here. I read through five chapters in a long afternoon. That's not common for me. I simply didn't want to stop, and the hook-y chapter ends (can't quote them, the Spoiler Stasi will trade their hoses and chains for axes) were designed to keep the reader engaged.

So what happened to the fifth star? It's half there, and deserves to be. I can't offer the full five only because the way Author Rachel mixes it up felt at times as though there were topics she could not go into that she wanted to. That left me wishing for an extra hundred pages and more ridden hobbyhorses.

No matter about cavils so minor as that. If you're interested in anthropology and history through a narrow but deep time-lens, have a good tolerance for murderous acts, and enjoy sly witticisms, this is a solid read for you

2.5, rounded up. This would have worked well as two separate books: one about the history of the axe as a tool (weapon or not) and another about murders committed by axe as well as the cultural evolution of the phrase "axe murderer." Alas, it is one book split into two parts; since I was expecting to read about murders, I found the second half of the book far more interesting than the first.

You’ll need to adjust your expectations before reading WHACK JOB: A HISTORY OF AXE MURDER. The subtitle really should be: A HISTORY OF THE AXE.

The first half of the book is about the evolution of the axe and how people used them from prehistoric times through to recent history. I love ancient history, so I found some of this interesting. Still, there’s only so much I want to know about axes. Their relationship to murder is mostly tangential or speculative.

The second half takes us through some axe murder cases, beginning with Lizzie Borden.

The writing is fine. I wasn’t wowed, but the content is interesting if you’re curious about axes.

*Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the free copy!*

"Whack Job" starts out 480,000 years ago in Egypt and China. This includes how the axes were made, and their significance. This may appeal to students of archaeology and early history, but I found it too mundane. It goes into specific events such as those of the Viking era, English executions, and various eighteenth and nineteenth incidents in America. The use of the axe in some of these events was just incidental.

It wasn’t until the latter half of the book that I found it interesting. That included inconsistencies in the Lizzie Borden murder trial and killings throughout the twentieth century. However, by that time I was so exhausted from reading the excessive details of the first half.

Maybe this piece of non-fiction would have worked as two separate books. But as it stands, I can’t recommend "Whack Job".

"Whack Job" is a series of historical vignettes, where the use of the axe features prominently in legendarily violent ways. It opens with history's oldest suspected axe murder with Cranium 17, and moves swiftly through Middle Kingdom Egypt, the Shang Dynasty, ancient Greece, and of course Vikings. From there, the author takes a rather sizable leap into the 16th century and into the modern era. Until now, I had not heard of the bloodthirsty massacre perpetuated by Freydis Eriksdottir or of the rightfully heroic, but equally brutal actions of William Tillman. It's delightfully niche history and the author maintains the theme well!

So why the 2 1/2 stars? Admittedly, this is a bit misleading. This is not a terrible book - at all! It is engaging, accurate, and funny without being disrespectful. For me, the issue is that it feels half-finished, like the author was pressured to send "something" to the publisher. There were numerous points that could've been expanded upon, like the influence of the axe-murder in horror film and literature, folklore or mythology.

I enjoyed the variety of the subjects, but the crimes that took place prior to the modern era or outside the Western hemisphere - Egypt, Iceland, China - felt rushed. I was also surprised the likes of Anne Bonny or Jean Hachette didn't make the cut, despite their fearsome reputation of fighting/killing their enemies with a hatchet or axe. Even the infamous Axe Man of New Orleans did not make an appearance, yet Lizzie Borden received a whole chapter. In this way it was inconsistent and I imagine the author's project is still ongoing. If they ever release an updated edition, I would definitely check it out.

Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 on Instagram

You’d think that a book that claims to be a history of axe murder would have more axe murder.

Apparently not.

I didn’t know I was settling in for chapter after chapter of dry and inconsistent storytelling about the history of the axe and how it was used in killing throughout the centuries. It’s not the subject matter of those chapters I object to, it’s the manner in which they were conveyed. At times McCarthy James is witty and even sounds like she’s geeking out a little, but then she’ll swing abruptly into a dense academic narrative that makes you feel like you need to pump the brakes and change gears yourself before you can continue reading. It’s not smooth and made for a less enjoyable read than this book could have been.

Overall, I think I would’ve liked this book to just be more consistent overall: it couldn’t decide what it was or how it wanted to be told.


I was pre-approved for a copy of this title as part of the SMP Early Readers Program via NetGalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews rated three stars or under will not appear in my social media. Thank you.

This is likely the most comprehensive overview of the history and functions of axes and hatchets. However, it's not a comprehensive history of ax murders. Some expected crimes are mentioned, like Lizzie Borden, but the authors opinions sometimes water them down. There's plenty of material on how Lizzie could have accomplished the crime in the time frame she had, for example, but there's little mention of these proposed scenarios. As a reference on this weapon, this book excels. As a true crime book, not as well.

Whack Job by Rachel McCarthy James is truly a fascinating nonfiction read.
A read about the history of axe murderers.
Hands down one of the most interesting nonfiction books I've ever read.
The research and plotting was well done.

Obviously throughly researched- spans decades even centuries of history related to axes.
For fans of true crime- an engaging read.

I don’t need trigger warnings for reading- but chapter 11 made my eyes bulge- child sexually abused- was a MISDEMEANOR in the late 40’s ?!?

2.5⭐️

Not exactly what I was expecting. I thought this would be more about the axe murders and murderers throughout history. Instead, it's more a history of the axe with some murders thrown in. I enjoyed the first half of the book, looking at before the 1700s. James had me engaged during the first half of the book. It involves prehistoric time and up til the 1700s (cavemen, Egyptians, and Henry VIII), while the latter focused on George Washington, Lizzy Borden, and some murders I never heard about. At times, James had me intrigued by what I was reading, but at others, I felt bored. She seemed to get long-winded on some things.

Published May 13, 2025

Thanks to Netgalley, Saint Martins Press, and Rachel McCarthy James for the E-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#Netgalley #Stmartinspress #RachelMcCarthyJames #WhackJob #ARC #History

A very thoroughly researched book on the history of axes - and some axe murders - throughout history. Detailed descriptions of axes, and some gruesome murders, as promised. This isn't the book I thought it would be but I have to applaud Ms. James for her very intense research into a subject that I don't believe has been written about in this kind of specificity. Most books about murder don't single out a type of weapon like this. There are a lot of colloquialisms scattered throughout, which keeps this book from being a dry scholarly text, it gives it a slight folksy feel. I can't say it's the most pleasurable read, it does have some long passages of axe descriptions, but I did learn quite a bit about types and the history of axes, and historical, infamous murders and murderers.

This ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publisher, the opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

Totally not what I was expecting, but still fascinating! I'm not quite sure where I thought this book would go, but I don't think it really occurred to me that this is an actual historical account of the evolution of the axe. I was intrigued by its origins and how its uses changed over time, and where the term "axe murderer" actually came from. There were chapters that lagged a bit, even though the information was important and needed to be included, and I kept waiting for something more salacious to be talked about -- but that's on me and my dark mind, not an err on the part of the author. Anyone who loves history and the macabre should find this an interesting read.

This is a fascinating look at the history of the axe as a tool of violence. The scope is huge, covering thousands of years, so there’s not a ton of depth. That said, as an overview, it’s interesting and held my attention. The audiobook is well narrated, too.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Once Freydis challenged her husband’s manliness, he and his men had little choice but to murder. Accusing your husband of “unmanliness” and threatening divorce was a standard way to get him to be violent on your behalf. By the age of Erik the Red,... [v]iolence was an expected part of masculinity, and there was little more important than masculinity ." p64

Final Review:

Other reviewers have noted this book is more of a detailed history of the axe itself than of axe murder or axe murderers, but I think this is a mischaracterization. Maybe slightly mismarketed, but still interesting enough to carry its own and definitely brimming with stories about axe killings throughout history. This piece feels more like history than true crime-- it certainly doesn't revel in the crimes it reports. I think this one should have higher ratings than it does. I recommend this for readers interested in anthropology, true crime (sort of), and history of crime involving the axe.

<b>My 3 Favorite Things:</b>

✔️ I love anthropology and history, so though I was maybe expecting something a little different, I am fascinated by the history of the axe included here. Who knew there was so much to learn about the humble axe?

✔️ The story of Freydis is one I did not know and as far as grisly murderers go, she might be my favorite ever. But Lizzie Borden runs a close race and James's approach to the Borden case is absolutely riveting.

✔️ The history of beheadings in medieval Europe was both astounding and moving, in a way. So many women died of beheading because of their jealous husbands making unfounded accusations of infidelity.

Thank you to the author Rachel McCarthy James, publishers St Martin's Essential, and NetGalley, for a digital copy. All views are mine.

I’ve not read Rachel McCarthy James’s first book, a true crime story called The Man from the Train, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about it. She did much of the research for that book and is credited as co-author alongside her father Bill James. The book focuses on a series of unsolved and horrific axe murders of entire families that happened in small towns across the US and Canada in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The James’s make the case for a single murderer, who they identify — an itinerant lumberman. This serial killer travelled from town to town, and murder to murder, by train, thus the title.

McCarthy James’s interest in axes and axe murder, and her abilities as a researcher and writer are again on display in this new book Whack Job. It’s an episodic history of the axe and its use as an instrument of murder.

The author takes us far back in history to discuss early usage of axe-like tools, which really grew in utility once they were attached to a handle. Both a tool and a weapon, the axe is an object more commonly used than the sword and one that can combine the utility of other early tools like the hammer and the knife. Because of their many uses axes, at least up until recent times, were commonly found in most homes.

More recently axes, and axe murderers, have become objects of humor — things to be made light of - as in the line “what if your blind date is an axe murderer?”, and McCarthy James has a bit to say on that topic as well.

Anyway, with that history behind us the book then moves on to the main feature - twelve chapters, arranged chronologically, each focused on a specific set of events featuring murder committed with an axe. The first axe murder dates back some 430,000 years. The most recent chapter focuses on an incident that happened in 1980.

The tone is mostly light, if sometimes wondering off into the clinical. Nevertheless, the incidents covered are all really interesting on their own, and for different reasons. The first, for example, happened so long ago we can’t know what really happened nor who the people involved were. That story focuses more on the archeology of the site where the murder victim’s bones were discovered, called appropriately the “Pit of Bones”, and located in north-central Spain.

The latest incident, from the 1980s, has lots of personal detail and McCarthy James’s account of it reads like a soap opera.

You get the point. Somewhat like the itinerant lumberman traveling by train in her first book, here she takes her readers on a roller coaster ride twisting and turning from one crime scene to another, sometimes viewing the murder from on high and other times in close detail. That’s not a bad thing, as it’s an interesting roller coaster ride.

I certainly enjoyed this book and think it would make a great beach read for a true crime buff. Its biggest drawback for me though, was that it didn’t seem to have a serious point to make.

What do I mean by that? Well, I like to walk away from reading a history book feeling that I’ve learned something — even an episodic history book like this one. And by “learned something” I don’t necessarily mean something useful, but at least something “good to know”, if that makes sense.

With Whack Job there isn’t an attempt to tie each of its episodes back to any overarching point other than “these murders were all committed by axe”. Honestly, I think that IS the author’s point. I imagine she’s culled through dozens more axe murders to boil her book down to these twelve selections. And that effort is rewarded by my, and hopefully other reader’s, reactions to the book. I walked away entertained, and I expect that’s as the author wanted. But I don’t feel particularly enlightened by my roller coaster ride, which is a let-down for me, and why I’ve given the book three stars.


RATING: Three Stars ⭐⭐⭐

RATING COMMENTS: A great beach read for the true crime buff; author Rachel McCarthy James takes us on a roller coaster ride of axe murders throughout history.

I was so excited to get an ARC of Whack Job by Rachel McCarthy James from NetGalley—it’s completely up my alley. I love well-researched true crime with a fresh angle, and this one absolutely delivered. The book dives into the history of axe murder in America, but instead of just focusing on the gore, it explores the cultural and political factors behind the stories.

Rachel McCarthy James brings a sharp, smart voice to the topic with just the right dose of dark humor. It’s informative without ever feeling dry, and I appreciated how she gave space to lesser-known cases while still tackling infamous ones like Lizzie Borden.

Some parts were a bit slower than others, but overall, it was fascinating, unique, and really well done. A strong 4 stars from me—I’ll definitely be recommending this to fellow nonfiction and true crime fans.