Gregory K. Moffatt

This, I'm afraid, was a disappointment. Moffatt's analyses were spot-on, as usual, but his research into these crimes much less so. He used a lot of dubious sources, mostly online ones (not calling an online source automatically dubious, mind) and, in his section on Jesse Pomeroy, misattributed a quote to Jesse when in fact it was spoken by Carl Panzram. The fact that the quote was wrong would have been obvious even to those who did not recognize it from the other source, because "Jesse" speaks about a crime that never actually took place.

This serious error -- and it was not the only error in his account of Jesse Pomeroy -- naturally made me wonder about the veracity of the rest of the stories. I did see some other screw-ups here and there.

I also think his inclusion of Ed Gein was a mistake. He said he didn't include Jeffrey Dahmer because Dahmer was not intentionally cruel to his victims; well, neither was Gein. Gein was simply a necrophiliac who wasn't averse to producing his own corpses when he felt the need. He did this by simply shooting the person in the head and dragging them away -- he did not design to make his victim suffer. And he only actually killed two people, as far as anyone knows. In addition, the fact that Gein was a verified psychotic should also have disqualified him; Moffatt kept other killers off the list for that reason.

It's a shame, because in this book Moffatt does make some astute descriptions on what separates "history's most vicious killers" apart from ordinary people, or even other murderers.… (mer)

The author specializes in protecting workplaces from violent employees and preventing workplace violence. In this book, in addition to discussing several case studies of violent individuals, he provides practical advice on how to predict if someone is going to "go postal" and how workplaces and individuals can protect themselves from harm.

I found the book to be very readable and the advice he gave to be sensible and, in many cases, a real eye-opener. Moffatt dispels the myth that school/workplace shootings and domestic killings are committed "out of the blue" and that the murderers give no indication that they're about to blow up. This isn't really a standard true crime book, but true crime buffs will certainly enjoy it.… (mer)