Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders Kindle Edition

I found that the first third of this book was quite tedious. It wasn’t until the first body was found that the book picked up any kind of speed. In the first third the writer concentrated on the minutia of the investigation with at least a hundred pages devoted to the daily following of Gacy. For instance, a sentence would read something like “ He drove over the bridge, then turned around and and stopped in the center”. I don’t need to know this. This sentence wasn’t even about Gacy, but about the police following him. Also, the number of named policemen and detectives was so large you needed a spreadsheet to identify who was who. By the end of the book be prepared to wrestle with around four hundred names.The last four hundred pages were devoted to finding the bodies, then the trial, which lasted six weeks. Each week was broken up into its own chapter. This was good as a new selection of people were discussed and then excused from the rest of the book.The last section of the book was something I looked forward to as I first began reading. It seemed that this chapter would be devoted to what we learned about Gacy after the trial and up to his execution. That was, unhappily, not the case. In this chapter Sullivan more or less reminisces about what he learned about life having been involved in the capture and trial of Gacy. There was very little about anything relevant about this evil person who had snuffed out so many lives. Hence, three stars

My rating is based soley on the fact that Mr. Sullivan changes the names of nearly all of Mr. Gacy's associates and surviving victims. You see I was in my early 20s and living in the Chicago's north suburbs when these events went down. I already vaguely recall the newspaper, radio and newspaper accounts from those times. Also I had read had Sam Amirante's book on the subject just a few weeks before starting Mr. Sullivan's book.The changing of so many names just led to a confusing mish mash in my mind. I bought both books (Amirante's and Sullivan's) thinking that it would be interesting to compare and contrast the perspectives of the defence and the prosecution. That was not possible unless one wanted to take extensive notes and chart out all the different characters. No thanks. I'm not prepared to become a Gacy scholar.The only reason I can think that Mr. Sullivan would take this approach would be to shield the innocent players in these events from any potential notariety they might receive later in life as a result of being enmeshed in this most horrific of events. Laudible on Mr. Sullivans part maybe. But to me it is like writing a history of a great civil war battle but changing the names of all the confederate officers in order to shield their decendents. If one is not prepared to write a full and accurate history than one should consider that historical authorship is not the best use of one's time. Perhaps needless to say, I put this book down after a few chapters.If I could advise Mr. Sullivan I would recommend to him that he revise his book. That would make it so much more useful to those of us that just want to learn of, or be reminded of the events of this story.

For me, this story has a distinctly personal note. I am native to the south Chicago suburbs. I grew up only one hour away from where John Gacy lived. Being born in 1973, I was just a little kid when this story broke. Too young to fit the pattern of Gacy's victims, it did affect me nevertheless. As Mr. Sullivan points out, there was a gravitational shift in the world during the 70s. Partially this shift came as a result of the Gacy case. The world no longer felt safe. When us kids were out in our front yards, we needed to check in or be with someone our parents knew and trusted. The world became dangerous to us and we were only kids who lacked the ability to explain it all.John Wayne Gacy jr. still stands out as the stereotypical serial killer. As Mr. Sullivan points out in his book, he could have been anyone. There was no telling this man had been committing such horrors until his final victim was murdered. The thought that someone like this may still lurk in the world is horrifying when you really think about it.Mr. Sullivan recounts his experiences as a prosecuting attorney on the case against Gacy and retells it based on his review of the information from the trial reports. The book is well done and chronologically organized so it takes you through the gripping court drama in order. It is well written and easy to understand, if the motivations behind such a horrific act are not.I think Mr. Sullivan's motivation for such a book is to ensure the victims will not simply vanish into history and at least someone will remember they lived on this planet. To that end, I think he did. I felt genuine pangs of sympathy for the families who had to go through this horrific ordeal.John Wayne Gacy Jr. is dead and was cremated. However, as there is still interest in famous serial killers such as Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy, and the Zodiac Killer, there will remain interest in John Wayne Gacy and his legacy of devastation he wrought on the Chicagoland area and the entire country.

An exceptional well written and consice book that details all of the police investigation into jwg . Il be honest there are points in the book where you want to jump into the page and smack the arrogance out of jwg , an excellent read and much more informative than some true crime books .

A good book well written out love it

Perfect gift for anyone that loves true crime

thought it may have been longer than what it was, a bit disappointed, it’s a present for a dear friend of mine so shall keep the book for myself and look for a decent sized book from Waterstones or similar

Excellent story of the maniac killer clown