creeped out and horribly excited about reading this book!!
I won Psycho USA: Famous American Killers You Never Heard Of through the Goodreads First Read Giveaway on and received on !
I was really surprised with how much I enjoyed this book! I absolutely LOVED how Schechter would state what authors were influenced by certain murders and where they used that inspiration.
I found that to be a wonderful surprise when I started the book,
You hear about all of these horrific stories from not too long ago and the media makes it seem like it is the first incident of it's kind.
. . in reality, I learned that that isn't the case,
Such an intriguing book, . . one I'll definitely read again because I'm sure in all of my rushed reading that I missed some important details, I need to learn to slow down and enjoy a story without rushing through it just to see what happens next!
Very interesting book easy to pick up and put down because there are tons of small stories in this mammoth book!.
Despite the lurid title, this is no trashy tabloid collection but rather a wellwritten account of murders that once made headlines in American history but have since been forgotten.
Show this to people who claim that "things are so much worse these days, " Like sitelinkHarold Schecter's sitelinkThe Serial Killer Files, Psycho USA is a sort of anthology of murder snippets this time, however, he is looking at now forgotten or never cared about nor publicized serial killers and their crimes.
The stories are quick and pithily told, full of all the lurid crime details one could want but missing much of what usually makes Schechter the best at what he does the context beyond the killer and the killings.
He tries to make up for that, though, with a a subhistory running throughout the book, Underneath the crimes themselves, Schechter takes us on a journey into true crime fiction, from murder ballads to great novels to Country and Western songs,
As fascinating as the stroll down true crime lit was, though, it made me feel cheated in two ways: way one
was that I spent a lot of time listening to lyrics and poetry and plot summaries of other people's literary work rather than Schechter's own writing about the crimes at hand which was a bummer way two was that the idea was fascinating, so much so that I wanted an entire book just about the history of true crime literature get cracking on that book Schechter.
. . you know you want to write it, Plus, way two missed a great Hemingway short story that must have been inspired by one of the saddest murder stories in the whole book: the story of the Mad Sculptor, Robert Irwin.
Regardless, Psycho USA was a good listen, and it has pointed me in the direction of my next Schechter, sitelinkThe Mad Sculptor has jumped to the front of my next listen queue, The interesting parts of this book attempt to analyze while some criminals and some crimes have stayed matters of public obsession, while others, just as horrific, have faded away, I wish the book were weighted somewhat more to this content, and not to the schlocky list of atrocities the cover suggests, but there was some fascinating media analysis in here.
Also, as fucked up as a lot of modern true crime coverage has become, this book proves it has always been thus and at least no one is writing epic poems about popular murders anymore.
At least I think I hope! they're not, Harold Schechter is one of my favorite true crime authors, I have several of his books covering the crimes of Ed Gein, H, H. Holmes, Jesse Pomeroy and others and one day hope to find myself with time to read some of his fiction, He writes in a manner that is both intelligent and accessible and manages to speak about the unspeakable without the bombast and disgust that I am sure would mar my writing were I ever to try to write about killers.
So given his skills, I should not have been so smug as to think this book had little to teach me, Ive stated on this site before that up untilor so, I knew about almost all serial killers, and I did know quite a bit, But I certainly knew far less than I thought I did because in this book of more obscure American killers, some of whom are serial killers or mass murderers, I only knew of three killers out of the thirtyone presented.
Among poisoners, sex killers, lonely hearts murderers and family annihilators, I knew of the Smutty Nose Killer, an angry seaman who killed a house full of women for money Carlyle Harris, a despicable seducer and poisoner and William Edward Hickman, a kidnapper and mutilator.
I had sort of heard of Andrew Kehoe, having come across his name in reference to school mass murderers, but had never read about him in any depth,
Since I am attempting to write quickly for Halloween, Im going to write about the two murders I know best, and hope I can give justice to this compendium as I do it.
A lot of the true crime encyclopedias out there are tiresome cash grabs, covering the same ground over and over and discussing intricate and fascinating murders in so little detail that the reader finds herself longing for text at least as comprehensive as Wikipedia.
Not so with Schechter, and even if my discussion doesnt resonate, you should look into him if his name is new to you, If it doesnt resonate, its probably my fault,
Smutty Nose
I hate to call any of these murders my “favorite” but I find the Smutty Nose murders absolutely fascinating, This may be the murders most casual true crime readers know the best because it was written about in a fiction novel by Anita Shreve called The Weight of Water and the book was adapted into a film of the same name that featured Sarah Polley, Sean Penn and the amazing British actress, Katrin Cartlidge, who died too young from peritonitis.
The Smutty Nose murders get their name from the location of the killing off the coast of New Hampshire there is a series of small islands that are pretty much the last place anyone would want to live but insome hearty folk decided to live on these islands and a Norwegian family lived on one of the islands called Smutty Nose.
Quoting Anita Shreve, Schechter tells us the island got its name from “a clump of seaweed on the nose of a rock extending into the ocean, ” On this island lived Maren Hontvet, ayear old woman her husband John Marens older sister Karen Maren and Karens brother Ivan Ivans wife Anethe and Johns brother Matthew, The three men were commercial fishermen and occasionally worked with other fishermen in the area, They lived in a relatively small house, yet they took in boarders periodically, notably Louis Wagner, theyear old Prussian immigrant who would eventually slay everyone he found in the house on Smutty Island.
Louis Wagner was angry because he did not earn enough money and decided to rob the Hontvets,
Wagner was intimately familiar with the Hontvets, their financial circumstances, and the layout of their little home, having boarded with them for several months, By his own later admission, they had always treated him “like a brother, ” During one of his recurrent bouts of illness, he had been nursed back to health by the women, who, in his words, “were most kind to him, ” He would repay that kindness with the sort of atrocious cruelty that defies easy psychological explanation and tempts even rationalists to speak of pure evil,
Schechter isnt being hyperbolic what Wagner did to those women was appalling, Striking on March,, Wagner knew the men of the house would be out, He had met them in Portsmouth and they told him they were delayed and would not go back to the small island until the morning, Wagner seized his chance. He stole a boat and rowed his way to the island, It was after ten pm when he reached the house, and all the women had gone to bed, Karen was sleeping on a cot in the warm kitchen, while Maren and Anethe slept in a bed in a nearby room, Around midnight Wagner burst into the house and launched an attack so quickly and without warning that Maren had no idea what was happening, She died believing that her brotherinlaw John had snapped and was bludgeoning her Wagner used a kitchen chair to beat her,
Maren heard her sister screaming and could not get the latch on the door to work and was unable to get to her sister to help her, Karen ran to the door and hitting the door she dislodged the latch and Maren was able to let her wounded sister inside, but Wagner made it inside the room too and began to beat the two women with a long piece of wood from the chair he broke over Karen.
Somehow Maren got her sister inside and shut and locked the door with Wagner outside, Anethe ran for the window to escape and Maren told her to scream in the hopes people on nearby islands might hear her and send help, But Anethe was scared to the point that she couldnt utter a sound, Wagner found her outside the house and Anethe finally was able to say something, Recognizing her killer, she said, “Louis! Louis!” letting Maren know who was waging this attack, Maren had made it to the window just in time to see Wagner pick up an axe leaning on the side of the house and strike her with it,
Maren had a dire choice to make stay and try to defend herself and her mortally wounded sister, because Karen was too injured to flee, or run away on her own and leave her sister to die.
As she heard Wagner reenter the house, Maren had to act quickly,
Now it was either flee or die for Maren, Grabbing the nearest garment, a skirt, she threw it over her shoulders, climbed out the window, hurried past the slaughtered corpse of Anethe and with the little dog, Ringe, following close on her heels searched desperately for a hiding place.
As she ran, she was able to hear Wagner killing Karen, She made her way to the far end of the island, she wedged herself between two rocks and she and the little dog huddled together for warmth, She could barely breathe as she heard Wagner searching for her,
It was a situation so nightmarish that it has become a staple of horror movies: an implacable monster hunting for a young woman who huddles nearby in absolute terror, barely daring to breathe for fear her hiding place would be discovered.
Ending here to avoid "spoilers and because this is yet another of my entirely too long looks at a book, sitelinkYou can read the rest of this and my other Halloweenentries over on Odd Things Considered, So many stories. Never ceases to amaze me at just how cruel humans can be, Definite recommend! DNF
This is not a bad book Im just finding the encyclopediastyle entries dont really work for me, The authors introduction, however, discussing why certain crimes become and remain famous and so indicative of certain time periods they reflect the social anxieties and primal fears of that era was super interesting.
Completed yesterday, this book was A W E S O M E!!!
Worth the read and a complete pageturner,
Schechter is a really profound writer, He has a way of making complex terminology really simple and gives life to past villains that have been forgotten by history, There were some cases that were simply shocking to me that we'd allowed to drop from our collective memory that he resurrected with ease,
Ca't wait to read his next book!!! Wellresearched and entertaining,.Due to the grisly subject matter, I can't say I really "enjoyed" this book, I did, however, find it darkly fascinating It's very strange and, in an odd way, reassuring to know that our country has always had its Bundys and Dahmers, and it's not that just latethcentury society is singularly disturbed.
Every society, and every era, has its monsters, From a cultural perspective, it's also interesting to consider why some killers live forever in infamy like Lizzie Borden, for instance when other even more terrifying and dastardly people are quickly forgotten.
I, for one, was shocked that I had never before heard of the Kehoe murders, especially considering he was a rightwing terrorist, a precursor to Timothy McVeigh, This collection was wellwritten, with just enough narrative and detail to make me feel like I was reading a horror novel and not a historical overview, The scholarly validity of this book is up for debate, I suppose I think it should have included footnotes, for instance but it's a good popular history of some of the darkest characters in our cultural history.
I received this book through Goodreads First Reads,
Psycho USA is a nonfiction book that documents forgotten or not well known murderers or killers in American History, There's a nice is that a word that can be used when discussing serial killers sprinkling of weapons and poisons, making the overall theme of "murder" a more varied read.
My favorite part again, that sounds creepy were the songs and poems that were written about some of these killers to keep the story alive, It sounds dark, but how many people know the Lizzie Borden rhyme It was a cool glimpse into our history our being America, Not murderers.
Overall, I found this book an interesting and morbidly entertaining read, I was admittedly a bit bored in the beginning, and I wasn't sure if it was going to be my kind of story, I'm not sure if it was my mood or the book that changed, but it picked up and I'm very glad it did, I have a dark interest in murders and prisons, and this book was right up my alley, It was informative, well written, and reflective, People always say, "Man, the world is going to hell in a hand basket, We never acted like this, " Well, the murderers of thes who wielded pickaxes and hammers instead of guns beg to differ, As Sartre said, "L'enfer, c'est les autres, "
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime novels, nonfiction, or even horror, .