I was given the opportunity to read this from NetGalley for an honest review before it’s published in September.

I found that this book has many different murders through the 50 states of the USA that aren’t well known or written about which I found more interesting as the same stories aren’t written about over and over like quite a lot of other crimes that are constantly broadcasted or depicted.

As a true crime enthusiast I have spent many years reading about different murders by psychotically deranged individuals through each decade and this book shows just how far individuals were willing to go to commit the perfect murder regardless of which state they lived in or what year they happened, these psychotic sadists were all the same, thought the same and acted in the same despicable manner with one thing in mind; Murder.

If you’re interested in diving into more undeniably sadistic, grotesque and sickening true crime stories then this is the book for you.

This is a terrific compilation of cases specific to each state in the U.S. Harold Schechter has long been among the best historians of true crime. I know before I look at page one of any book he pens that the writing and research will be of the highest quality. This book is well illustrated and includes helpful state maps to show each crime's location. Schechter offers an explanation of his selection process, which is often specific to the way the crimes are linked to their locales. In addition, many are lesser known crimes. The "chicken coop murders" in California rather than the Manson murders, for example, which have been covered repeatedly in the mainstream press. I've done my share of researching U.S. murders, and I found some I'd never heard of. Schechter is a master of crime minutiae. He ensures that each state has a rich set of fascinating crime cases.