From “America’s principal chronicler of its greatest psychopathic killers” (Boston Book Review) comes the definitive account of Ed Gein, a mild-mannered Wisconsin farmhand who stunned an unsuspecting nation—and redefined the meaning of the word psycho.
The year was 1957. The place was an ordinary farmhouse in America’s heartland, filled with extraordinary evidence of unthinkable depravity. The man behind the massacre was a slight, unassuming midwesterner with a strange smile—and an even stranger attachment to his domineering mother. After her death and a failed attempt to dig up his mother’s body from the local cemetery, Gein turned to other grave robberies and, ultimately, multiple murders.
Driven to commit gruesome and bizarre acts beyond all imagination, Ed Gein remains one of the most deranged minds in the annals of American homicide. This is his story—recounted in fascinating and chilling detail by Harold Schechter, one of the most acclaimed true-crime storytellers of our time.
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"I had not heard before that the movie "Psycho" was based, in part, on a real person. When I heard that on a podcast, I was incredulous. So, of course I had to investigate, and that turned up this book. It was a worthy read. It is gritty and grotesque, but it is based on true crime. So be warned. If that doesn't halt you, then strap in for a good story, compellingly told and well read. Did Eddy Gein really dress up like his mother and kill? Listen for yourself."
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Bur (5 out of 5 stars)