Have a picture of Moira Martingale, Cannibal Killers: The History of Impossible Murderers?, please send it to us.
Picture courtesy of Dreadlocksmile.
| Value for Money | 6/10  |
|---|---|
| Overall rating | 7/10 |
Full review by
Dreadlocksmile
on 1st Sep 2004
User Rating : 7
Respect :
0
Good Points: Interesting analysis of the subject matter with a good overview on notorious cannibals.
Bad Points: No in-depth details of the individuals involved. A very short book at a mere 191 pages.
General comments: Moira Martingale, Cannibal Killers: The History of Impossible Murderers - Synopsis:
"It's the crime that shocks us beyond all others. For the anthropophagite (cannibal) - neither acknowledging one of the last taboos of modern civilized society nor resisting a barbarous, perhaps uncontrollable bestial appetite - eats human flesh and drinks human blood. The anthropophagite murders to consume.
From ancient China to sixteenth-century Scotland (where Sawney Bean claimed more than one thousand victims over a period of twenty-five years) to our own times, history has recorded instances of cannibalism more macabre and appalling than those of the fictional Hannibal Lecter or Dracula, as this true-crime chronicle shows. It also recounts cases that have similarly cracked the facade of civilization in the twentieth century. Among the subjects included in this gallery of anthropophagy are Jeffrey Dahmer, the murderer of seventeen young men; Edward Gein, who resorted to cannibalism after the death of his mother and became the model for Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, and, most infamous of all, reputedly the worst cannibal killer in modern history, the dreaded Russian Andrei Chikatilo".
First released in 1993, this true crime book on cannibals takes you through the history of the subject and its place in modern day society. Martingale offers up brief analysis on the life and crimes of various notorious cannibals throughout time. She describes the basic facts to their crimes and draws interesting conclusions from the circumstances involved. The book is well-written, well-researched and a gripping read. The subject matter is very morbid, and some of the descriptions can be a little shocking (but that's obviously to be expected). Martingale has linked together the various cases studied well, with chapters running smoothly from one to the other.
The book isn't particularly long at only 191 pages, but is well worth picking up as an introduction into the analysis of this subject. It does fall short a little on its in-depth research and accounts of the individual killers, but this book is aimed more at the subject matter rather than the individuals involved. A good all-rounder really.
Dreadlocksmile's review and ratings | 369 words
Would you like to see a review that's not being listed?
