“They smelled the foul odors. They heard the power saw buzzing in the dead of night but neighbors never imagined the horrors happening right next door.
The hot sultry night of July 22, 1991 was one the tenants of the Oxford Apartments would never forget. A panic stcricken young man–a pair of handcuffs still dangling from his wrists–ran out of Apartment 213 and told police an incredible tale of terror.
Shaking with fear, he led officers back to his captor’s lair, where they made the gruesome discovery. Inside were the body parts of at least fifteen men–including torsos stuffed into a barrel, severed heads in a refrigerator, and skulls boiled clean and stashed in a filing cabinet. Tacked to the freezer were Poloroid photographs of mutilated corpses.
When investigators arrested 31-year-old Jeffrey Dahmer, they realized they had stumbled onto a “real-life Hannibal Lecter”–a sadistic murderer who told them he had saved a human heart “to eat later”. What could turn a handsome, former tennis player, the son of middle-class parents, into a perverse serial killer whose unthinkable acts shocked the nation?”
Oh Jeffrey! I know you are not suppose to play favorites but Jeffrey has been my number one serial killer. Not that I condone what he did in anyway but he has been one of the most interesting ones I’ve researched. That being said, I did learn a LOT that I didn’t know while reading this book. I won’t share those new things I learned as I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t read this or anything about him. But I will leave the comments open to spoiler talks if you want to know or discuss anything.
First let’s go over the parts of this I didn’t like. Mr. Davis went into way too much detail and background on the different towns Jeffrey lived in. Like we really didn’t need a history of Bath Township and Akron in Ohio nor did we need it if Milwaukee, Wisconsin either. It did nothing for the story. I feel like it was filler to get his word count up and I found myself skipping over those areas.
After finishing the book I went and read a few reviews on Goodreads. I noticed a lot of people complaining that some of the information on the victims and the killing of them were only a paragraph or two long. Well if you paid attention to the book you would have realized the only reason they had any info at all is because Dahmer confessed to all the crimes and in detail. So if there isn’t a lot of details it’s because Dahmer couldn’t remember everything or he chose not to disclose all of the information. So you can’t blame the author on this one.
Another thing that drives me nuts (not about this book but just things people assume in general) is that they label him a cannibal. 🤔😒 You can’t label someone a cannibal without proof or a confession of such doings. Dahmer never confessed to eating any of his victims. The closest he came to it was saying “I may or may not have taken a bite.” Yes he did admit to keeping a heart and a few body parts in the freezer to try but never admitted he actually got around to it. Nor is there any proof that he did. So please STOP labeling him as a cannibal. 🤦🏻♀️ omg it looks like I’m defending a serial killer. I’m not but just saying it doesn’t help with research and understanding to label someone something they are not.
Anywho! Back to the book. Don Davis did a great job with his research of Jeffrey Dahmer and turning it into a story. I really loved this and highly recommend it for someone looking to get into true crime reading as it’s not a large book and it’s pretty easy to read and understand!
Adventures Between Pages 
Leave a Reply