I’m a big fan of all things true crime, especially books. This one was very intriguing and I found myself having a hard time putting it down.

Peter Vronsky is one of the best out there for covering large groups of criminals in his true crime books, and this book is no different with how detailed and fascinating it is. Vronsky is an author not to be missed by anyone who enjoys reading true crime.

I have been into listening to true crime podcasts and every time they talk about the Golden Age of serial killers I think I want to know more then I found this book and it was what I needed. I really enjoyed it and thought it was a good read to learn about the different killers back then. Especially learning about what might have led these people to be serial killers! Definitely would recommend it.

I love the way this true crime book was written. It was informative and each case was written well. I will be checking out the other true crime novel written by Vronsky!

I read and enjoyed Peter Vronsky’s Sons of Cain and his latest, American Serial Killers, is equally fascinating. Using a 50-year timeline, Vronsky uses the decades as a backdrop of the times and the murders. Rather than listing each killer and their deeds, this book feels more atmospheric and makes it different from any serial killer compilation I’ve ever read. Highly recommended for true crime fans.

Peter Vronsky is such a talented writer and I want to live inside his mind. This book was amazing and I cannot wait to see what else he releases!

Really interesting history and time-line of the rise of American serial killers. It was fascinating to consider how public interest created a celebrity culture surrounding some of the more high profile cases.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I love true crime and I really enjoyed learning more about serial killers from this time period. I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style but the information seemed well researched.

This was a fascinating book! It was well written, I loved how Vronsky went through the years and really built up the history heading into the epidemic years. I liked how he told it all in a linear form and didn't just give us all the facts of say the Dahmer case but instead we saw his evolution through the years in between other killers. A must read for any true crime fans and I will definitely need to pick up his other books!

Similar to his other books, this volume is filled with in-depth information regarding various killers that were active during the late 20th century. There were a wide range of profiles including notoriously well-known killers as well as lesser-known ones. Vronsky presents the information in an informative and engaging style. Recommended for anyone interested in true crime.

American Serial Killers: The Epidemic Years 1950-2000 by Peter Vronsky is like a true crime encyclopedia of sorts. Vronsky discussed serial killers during a specific period of time (1950-2000) that he termed “The Golden Age.” The book was extremely informative, well researched and written. Definitely a must read for true crime fans. #AmericanSerialKillers #NetGalley

I was excited to read this book. It was extremely well researched and gave a lot of information. The one thing that I didn’t like was how disjointed the book is. It starts out with Jeffrey Dahmer but does not get back to him for several hundred pages.

The book was extremely knowledgeable and informative. It was a lot to take in and I had to read it over several days. If you are interested in serial killers and true crime I recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC!
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'He identified himself as Jeffrey Dahmer...'

I've read a lot of books about serial killers, both fiction and non, but I knew I would love this book when the prologue includes the line above.

This book is different from a lot of others in its genre, and I think that's what I enjoyed most about it. It took almost a scientific look at the beginnings of some of the most notorious killers, as well as some that are less known, but no less heinous.

I really enjoyed the way Vronsky focused not only on the killers, but on the families of the victims, the law enforcement and their evolving tactics, and the victims themselves. It was a unique approach that took this book to the next level.

If you're a true crime reader, or interested in psychology, this is a must read for sure, but definitely not for the faint of heart.

When reading - or rather devouring - a true crime novel by Peter Vronsky, readers knows exactly what they're gonna get. And if you don't know who Peter Vronsky is, then you simply cannot call yourself a fan or true crime because when it comes to analyzing, researching and writing about true crime (specifically serial killers), his name belongs beside those of Anne Rule and Gregg Olsen in the pantheon of the genre.

American Serial Killers: The Epidemic Years completes his Serial Killers trilogy (Sons of Cain and Serial Killers: the Method and Madness of Serial Killers) and, in my estimation, is the best of the series. All the tried and true beasts are here - Gacy, Bundy, Dahmer, Son of Sam - but it's the more obscure killers, like the Torso Killer, the Candy Man, the Smiley Face Killer and others too bizarre and disturbing to mention.

While American Serial Killers is full of the gruesome, nightmare-inducing details of their deeds, what makes this book of particular interest is how Vronsky approaches the questions of "why so many serial killers in America became famous, practically celebrated, between the 1950s and 200s.

From growing up in the shadows of war and without a father figure (or worse still, fathers haunted by their experiences in war) to the advent of the highway system that allowed them to travel further and faster to disguise their crimes, Vronsky ponders them with the detail of an academic.

This is the kind of serial killer book that you can show those annoying friends who roll their eyes in judgement but are secretly fascinated and say, "This is why I'm interested."

American Serial Killers: The Epidemic Years 1950-2000 by Peter Vronsky is a true-crime book.


First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Berkley Publishing Group, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis and Opinions:
Well, a book whose Prologue is the arrest of Jeffrey Dahmer grabs your attention fast.

The  Introduction talks about the "Golden Age of Serial Murderers", where these serial killers between 1950 and 2000 actually became "celebrities".  The book focuses on male sexual serial killers during this period, hoping to account for the unprecedented surge during that time, as well as the reason for the recent decline in these murderers.

Vronsky then goes on to discuss early serial killers from the 1800's to 1950, world-wide, most of whom I had never heard of, and there were many of them, although Albert Fish is rather well-known, and a few others ring bells.  I sometimes got bogged down by dates, and the first segments were about killers prior to 1950....which was not why I wanted to read the book.

Vronsky does, however, finally get to the years I was interested in, and there is definitely a lot of information on the serial killers from 1950-2000.  It's just that you have to wade through all of it if you are just interested in one killer.

The information the author provides is very disjointed.  For example, there is not a separate chapter on Ed Gein, or Dennis Rader (the BTK killer), or Arthur Shawcross (The Genesee River Killer).  Instead Vronsky related the information by years (usually decades), so that we learned about their parents, their childhoods, their formative years.  We learned what was happening with all of them during that time.  Then it went on to the next decade, and we learn what was happening with those same killers during this time frame.  For example, Edmund Kemper's story starts in chapter 3 (although he is mentioned earlier in the book), continues in Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7, but there is much information on other killers in between, that it is hard to keep track of Kemper.

So, basically, you can't look up a particular killer and expect all the information on him to be in one chapter.  His information will be grouped together with others, over many chapters.

However, a number of the biggies are here.  These included Ed Gein (who preferred the skin of his victims, which he made into belts, and vests), Dennis Rader (the BTK killer), Arthur Shawcross (The Genesee River Killer), Edmund Kemper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, as well as some lesser knowns.  Some have quite extensive information, others very little.

So, overall, this book is an in-depth look at serial killers.  It delves into the "hows and the whys" of the killers, as well as to the "hows and whys" they were caught.  It looks at military records, psychiatric notes,  FBI Profiling and interviews.  It has a lot of information.  Bottom line, it was good, but I just didn't like the way it was presented.

Serial Killers scare me, that is also one of the reasons I’m fascinated with them. I want to know more about how their mind works and I’m down for a good true crime discussion at any time of the day.

In American Serial Killers, Peter Vronsky threads hard core academic data and has expertly spun them into a true crime story. This is like a history book depicting the timeline of serial killings. Vronsky has taken a particular time period 1950s - 2000s and briefly explored each and every killings happened at that time. He calls this period “The Golden Age” and the introduction is my favourite part in the book!! Some killers I knew, some I may have heard and some I didn’t even knew existed are mentioned in this book. Vronsky has studied these killers extensively and with his clear writing, has presented the facts with statistical evidence. Appreciable work 👏

This is no easy book to digest or read in a single sitting. The informations are well researched and interesting at many places. As this was an arc, I couldn’t get ahold of the references used, but I know they’ll be included in the finished copy. I’m planning on getting the finished copy for my home library because this is a must have/read for any true crime fans.

Thank you Berkley & Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest opinion!

Definitely a gripping and detailed look at several serial killers, some who are lesser known. It was also a very interesting approach to look at how serial killers emerged over the years and how this "epidemic" came about chronologically. Unfortunately, this same approach made the book feel a bit disjointed as you leave one killer mid story to discuss another, and this story hopping occurs through much of the book. Overall, a really interesting read if you've read a lot about serial killers and true crime already, but maybe not great for someone unfamiliar with the topic and looking for an in depth look at different serial killers.

I find it extremely difficult to give a conventional star rating to true crime books and personally believe that true crime should truly be judged on the clarity of the author’s writing - which is what I have done here.

Peter Vronsky expertly compiles the history of serial killers in America. American Serial Killers contains brief descriptions of crimes committed during the 1950s-2000s and the history behind what we now know about serial killers and their psychology while adding some interesting insight about society at different times that may signal potential links to the rising “epidemic” of serial killers in certain times/areas. True to the title, this book does focus more on the details of serial murders in history; however, the points at which Vronsky does discuss sociological, forensic and psychological data and crime statistics are written in an extremely engaging manner.

What true crime fans should know about this book:
It’s well written and well researched but it doesn't really go into details about who the victims were or in humanizing them more. If you want a book that touches more on those affected by these crimes, this may not be for you.
Despite possibly already knowing many of the horrible details of some of these crimes, I recommend a break from time-to-time. Vronsky’s writing does not pull any punches from the intense and gruesome details.
As this does serve as a more detailed look into the serial killers that existed in the U.S. between 1950 and 2000, the well known murders/murderers from these times are discussed but there are many much less well known cases throughout.
The ARC of the ebook did have links to take you to the references used by Vronsky. One such reference included an article about the house that one of the murders took place in being up for sale. I did think this was a great tool, but am not certain if these will remain as hyperlinked notations or if they will simply be available at the end of the book for reference.

My interest in true crime started when I was 6 and a guy broke into a house less than 5 houses away from mine, put plates on the man’s back, and attacked his wife. Our best friends slept at our house for a few days since they lived just a few houses away from the attack as well and it would take some time for their burglar alarm to be installed. The Golden State Killer wouldn’t be caught for about 40 more years.

About 5 years later, in 1985, I read in the newspaper that the (second) Night Stalker seemed to attack people in yellow houses. We lived in a yellow house about 40 miles from his last attack (which seemed a lot closer after reading that article). I slept under my covers that summer.

The golden age of serial killers was right in the middle of my childhood, and it sparked an interest. This book was like a retrospective of the shit that scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. With 30ish years of hindsight, the author takes a sociological approach to what created so many serial killers of the time period. Despite, or maybe because of, such a high population (there’s so damn many of us), coupled with cruel social policies (Reaganomics, for example), a devaluation of human life was inevitable.

But did people have to act on that or take advantage of that to become serial offenders? Well, yeah. Increased opportunity. Affordable transportation. Interstate highways. And people suck.

This book should appeal to both the true crime beginner or veteran, alike. Excellent book for a look at the sociological perspective now that we are (hopefully) at the bottom arc of the apex of the golden age. Hindsight is great, for me, since I did most of my true crime reading in the mid-90s. This book is also great for the beginner since many of the cases are ones that an old-timer probably already knows a lot about. I found myself skimming, however, over the “classics” like Fish, Gein, and Bundy. That being written, there were a lot of unknowns (to me) that were interesting to read about. Definitely worth a read.

A great collection of stories about serial killers in the US. The stories were engaging and definitely kept you in suspense. The insights to the cases and why the individuals did what they did was thoroughly intriguing. This is a must read for the true crime fan.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.