Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders

Excellent story of the maniac killer clown

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

Print a little to small ,the stories very sad.

Heavy going

Perfect gift for anyone that loves true crime

Very good read,if not frightfull,and not for the squeamish!!

Very good portrait of a serial killer

A decent read, but sometimes feels like a rehash of other books about Gacy

it's quite a good book! it shows the entirely point of view from the detectives and the troubles they faced to arrest Gacy. I only missed more informations about Gacy's life, when he was a teen, with his family. it does have this information, but it's not even twenty pages.however, the book shows his personality and the ways he could make people didn't believe he was this type of person.

Buen libro, la primera parte es interesante, la segunda es más técnica sobre el juicio y más tediosa, la última es sobre las reflexiones personales del autor, en mi opinión le falta más detalle de los asesinatos y la forma de operar del payaso asesino

Gripping,unnerving,gruesome;Essential reading about an infamous and well known mass murderer .Book written by the official prosecutor who followed all investigations at that time.

:)

Amazing. Detailed and full length. Loved it

I thought it was the movie not a book.

not to bad of reading

I thoroughly enjoyed this book..It was fast paced and quite interesting.

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.

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

“‘You know,’ Gary said, looking at one officer and then the other, ‘clowns can get away with murder.’”In Killer Clown by Terri Sullivan, the lead prosecutor of the John Wayne Gacy case reconstructs the investigation and prosecution of the one of the most notorious serial killers of American history. Gacy seemed like an average adult working male in a Chicago suburb, he even volunteered as a clown at children’s hospitals, but he was actually responsible for the murder of multiple young men.This book focuses more on the investigation and the trial, and less on the actual crimes or on Gacy himself. The writing was actually pretty dry and sometimes it felt a bit like the author wrote the book to brag about his accomplishments at trial. I appreciate focusing on the heroes of the story, members of law enforcement and prosecutors, but something about the overall style hit me as off. Not knowing much about this case got me through the book, because the case itself is fascinating. I would like to read about it at some point. I give this book 3 stars.

Sullivan's writing hooked me from the beginning. While there were a few times in which the book dragged, overall it held my interest fairly well. I also listened to the audiobook, which had a decent narrator.This book made me feel a lot of things: Disgust, Sadness, & Relief (for how things finally ended for this evil man). I liked that this focused more on the investigative side of things since I've never read a book from that POV. While I didn't completely understand some things (such as why JWG was allowed to dangerously speed) and astounded at how arrogant JWG himself was, I learned a lot.The surveillance showed just how tedious the process can be. This book doesn't gloss over the horrific details of what JWG did and while I'm usually not squeamish, even I felt sick at reading about them. The brutality of the torture and deaths JWG committed is almost unreal. I felt the trial chapters were the most powerful.The updated ending got a little rambling with all the things that Sullivan has been doing with his own life, though there were a few interesting tidbits in relation to the case. I feel this book honored the victims well.I am sincerely glad this evil man no longer lives among us.4 stars.

This is one of those books that will stick in your mind for a while. Very disturbing and sad. As a life long Chicago resident, it was crazy to be reminded that someone so evil yet normal at the same time lived among us. It was interesting to read in detail about how he was caught, his life before and during the murders, and the trial that put him away for good. I enjoyed reading how this monster was brought to justice, and the testimony from various psychiatrists giving their opinion on what made him "tick". I cannot emphasize enough that this book is not for the faint of heart. The book goes into great detail describing the torture, murder, and excavation of Gacy's victims. All of this is necessary to truly grasp what a horrendous man he was.

The book is tiny,so not much reading.The book was mostly dry and reads like a police report. I was looking for a story that took you through the crimes and lent a little of the psychological aspects of him, as well as the families accounts. I've yet to find such a book. True crime volumes only are interested in the gore,not the indebt study of the crimes and its victims. Still looking...