Much in spirit of Erik Larson, this book was an in-depth, unbiased retelling of Eliot Ness and the "Torso Killer" who terrorized Cleveland for decades. I commend the author for keeping personal opinions out of the story and telling us the facts based on what his lengthy research showed him. It really brought you into the story.

Although, I found the background of Eliot Ness interesting, the serial killer aspect was more so. I wish there was a little bit less about him and more about the crime. I had never heard of this horrific crime spree that impacted the homeless, poor, and destitute, but think it showed how not much has changed since the early 1900s.

Despite being almost a century ago, the story shows us the pervasiveness of police corruption, political interests, and the impacts of homelessness and crime.

American Demon is a true crime book, not a novel. It is written like most history books which some might find a little dry. It follows the career of Elliot Ness through his time in Cleveland. Most people know Ness from Hollywood’s depiction. “The Untouchables” barely scratches the surface of reality. This is a more honest picture. The main focus is on horrific murders in Cleveland. It is well written and well researched.

Boston had its Strangler. California had the Zodiac Killer. And in the depths of the Great Depression, Cleveland had the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run.

On September 5th, 1934, a young beachcomber made a gruesome discovery on the shores of Cleveland’s Lake Erie: the lower half of a female torso, neatly severed at the waist. The victim, dubbed “The Lady of the Lake,” was only the first of a butcher’s dozen. Over the next four years, twelve more bodies would be scattered across the city. The bodies were dismembered with surgical precision and drained of blood. Some were beheaded while still alive.

Terror gripped the city. Amid the growing uproar, Cleveland’s besieged mayor turned to his newly-appointed director of public safety: Eliot Ness. Ness had come to Cleveland fresh from his headline-grabbing exploits in Chicago, where he and his band of “Untouchables” led the frontline assault on Al Capone’s bootlegging empire. Now he would confront a case that would redefine his storied career.

This book suffers greatly from the fact that the author seems to be far too personally invested in the subject. While similar subjects have made fascinating reading (most notably Erik Larsen's Devil in the White City, the cover of which this book's cover is obviously patterned after) the author's connection to the subject is too obvious and too strong.

I'll avoid reviewing this book publicly as I cannot give it a positive review, and I do not want to slog through the rest of it.

Award-winning author Stashower tells the story of Eliot Ness, the legendary law enforcement officer credited for taking Al Capone down. Readers are guided through dramatic times in American history, from 1920’s prohibition-era Chicago, to Cleveland in the the Great Depression and beyond. This part-biographical, part true crime novel focuses on Ness’s personal and professional triumphs and failures, as well as the investigation into the so-called Torso Murders- a series of grisly murders that terrorized Cleveland in the 1930’s. For years multiple victims were found dismembered throughout the city, putting pressure on Ness, and the police force he commanded, to catch the killer. Unsolved to this day, the details of this case are as intriguing as they are gruesome. This book is a great pick for fans of historical true crime, the Untouchables, and those who enjoy reading stories set in Chicago and Cleveland.

This is a book about someone that we don't really know and someone else we don't know at all. Stashower spends about half the book on deconstructing poor Eliot Ness, who is not Robert Stack and who is not Kevin Costner and did not really get Al Capone or throw Frank Nitti off a building, not that he wouldn't have deserved it. (Nitti actually died by his own hand; he was too drunk to shoot himself properly and it took three tries.) Ness was a Peter Principle guy; he'd been a solid low-level Volstead Act enforcer who had been hyped by the media, much to the consternation of J. Edgar Hoover. But it was enough notoriety to get him the job supervising the Cleveland police force. You come away from AMERICAN DEMON thinking that here was someone who had good intentions, tried his best, but his best wasn't very good.

And then you have the other guy, the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, who killed and dismembered twenty-odd people around the southern shore of the Great Lakes in the 1930s. And we don't know anything about him, not really. Maybe the police would have had a chance with 2020-era police know-how but who actually knows? (I watch the "FBI" series on CBS, and every show is set in this room with twenty analysts chained to their desks, with enough computer processing power behind the scenes to make a Pixar movie, tied into every surveillance camera on the East Coast, who can signal the field agents as to the location of the bad guy so that they can magically teleport to his location no matter where it is in the tri-state area. Maybe they could have caught the Butcher that way but I am not giving odds.)

Stashower's book is highly detailed, deeply researched, and picks up on every false trail and every promising lead--but is largely unsatisfying because Ness isn't who we need him to be and the killer is so mysterious and elusive that we never reach any understanding of who he is and why he turned out that way. Great narrative, full of grisly details, certainly worth your while.

If you want to read about murders, don't bother. If you want to read about Eliot Ness, then read it. When I finished this book I had to go back and read the blurb again because I thought this book was about a serial killer in 1930s Cleveland, turns out that's how it was presented. Did the book cover the serial murders? Yes, but... it was maybe... 30% of the book. Now, this is a good book but it's a chronicle of Eliot Ness' career and life. Was it interesting? Yes. Should it have been sold as a non-fiction biography? Definitely. It was fascinating in that respect but it wasn't what I agreed to read. I mean the first 25% of the book was about Eliot in Chicago, halfway through, Ness has moved to Cleveland and we have a few short paragraphs about the murders. Judging by the blurb, I was disappointed. The book is good although the author shifted back and forth in time sometimes necessary, sometimes not. I think if people understand what they're getting into, then they can enjoy the book.

When I saw the cover of this book I was reminded of Devil in the White City,  which was a book I loved. I requested a copy from Net Galley and was so excited to start reading. Unfortunately, this novel fell very short of my expectation. I would give it 2.5 stars if I could, but since I can't the book received 2 stars.

I will start with the positive aspects of this novel first.  It was a very well written and informative novel. It included several personal anecdotes from the authors own experiences, which I felt did add to the story line.

The negatives, however, were too great to overlook. What disappointed me most was how much it talked about Elliot Ness' early life and career. Over half the book was spent discussing his work with the Untouchables, and his Al Capone take down.  I didn't read this book to learn about his early career. I read it for his work on the Kingsbury Run torso killings. Only the last half of the book discussed the murders, and the text didn't go into as much detail about Elliot's involvement with the torso killings.

All in all it was not a bad novel it just wasn't what I had hoped it would be. It was well written but disappointing due to the expectations I had going into reading it.

I enjoyed reading this book immensely. It was different from most true crime reads as the killer, known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Row, was never apprehended although it is the author’s contention that Ness did identify him. This book was as much about famed lawman, Eliot Ness as it was about the slayings. I knew little about Ness going in and I found this chronicle of his latter career and life to be highly fascinating. This was a great examination of a central figure in the history of law enforcement and his involvement in an investigation into a lesser known serial killer in our nation’s history. Overall, a win for me. Thank you to @netgalley for an arc of this book.

𝙈𝙮 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)

𝙈𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨:

I studied criminal justice in college. I think my very first semester, I took a class about serial killers (𝘚𝘖 𝘧𝘶𝘯). I also took classes about organized crime. Then there was the class where the professor brought in a briefcase full of drugs… but I digress.

My point is I knew a little bit about Eliot Ness. I knew about his exploits in Chicago. But I 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 know about his work in Cleveland (who leaves Chicago to move to Cleveland? Again, I digress). And I never knew 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 about this Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run. I feel a bit cheated. It was gruesome and horrific and I feel like I should have learned about it in college (I had to write a paper on Hannibal Lechter, and he wasn’t even real).

For any of my history or true crime nerds, this is a great book. I kind of hated the ending, but I mean, it’s a true story so what can you do.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and Daniel Stashower for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

𝘼𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝘿𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣 is available now.

I really wanted to like this one a lot. The cover reminded me of Devil in the White City, but it didn't quite hold my attention as well. Eliot Ness sounded like a very interesting man. Too bad he didn't keep a journal, I'm sure it would have been so incredibly fascinating. If you like history and true crime, this might be the book for you.

“Alexa, please play ‘The Good Part’ by AJR”

Can we skip to the good part 🎶🎶

Serial killers are my jam, so requesting this title was a no-brainer. Minotaur Books is also my all-time fave for thrillers, police procedurals, and true crime alike.

In this one, you have to hang in there a long while (until at least 1/2 in) before we get to much of anything related to what makes readers want to pick this up - the story of the Torso Murderer a/k/a “America’s Jack the Ripper” serial killer in Cleveland and Ness’ investigation efforts. Unless you’re a history nerd, which I am not, part 1 and a chunk of part 2 was sooo boring. Although I realize a background into Eliot Ness was semi necessary to tell a good, true story from start to finish on investigating this guy, I am very uninterested in his childhood, the Prohibition, and Al Capone. There were only a handful of bodies and the word “serial killer” wasn’t even used until around 40%. I came here for a true crime thrill and left let down. I definitely agree with other folks pointing out this novel should have been named and marketed about Elliot Ness.

I ended up jumping around and finishing the title on a rented audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley, SMP/Minotaur, and the author for an advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

AMERICAN DEMON: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper brings to light the work of an infamous serial killer who terrorized residents of Cleveland, Ohio during the Great Depression. The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run's first known victim was a woman, whose severed body parts were discovered on the banks of Lake Erie September 5, 1934. Over the next fes years, 10 more bodies were found, many without their heads.

Eliot Ness, fresh from Chicago, where he and his "Untouchables" had recently brought down the notorious gangster Al Capone, was hired as director of public safety for the City of Cleveland. Ness had little to no experience in his assignment to find the mad killer, but he never met a camera or a microphone that he didn't like. He was full of optimism, enthusiasm, and ideas. His very presence brought hope to the city.

Ness was a character, and Daniel Stashower's fascinating true crime account serves as a biography for Ness as well as an intriguing murder mystery. The man behind the myth is at once simpler and more complex than myth has led us to believe. The story of the Mad Butcher could be taken from today's headlines. If anything, the story teaches us what the advances in forensic science since the 1930s could have brought toward solving this sprawling crime spree. Thanks to #NetGalley #Minotaur #American Demon for an ARC of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I would highly recommend American Demon for fans of Devil in the White City. While this book does have true crime elements, it was much more a biography/history book rather than a traditional true crime book. For true crime fans that are particularly interested in the Butcher of Kingsbury Run, or even in Al Capone, this book will also be of interest. However, for a typical true crime fan, the extensive historical detail, as well as the deep dive into the political climate and Ness’ life might overshadow the crime story too much. The first half or so of the book is particularly heavy on historical details. Overall, the book was well researched and written. I do wish that it had been able to end with a more solid conclusion regarding who the killer was (this is another thing that makes this book different from the typical true crime book) but the author did a great job of using the available information to make an educated guess. I did really enjoy learning more about the arrest of Al Capone. I have an interest in forensic accounting and this is always a case that is used to show what forensic accounting can do, but I never really knew the details until I read this book! Overall I am glad I read this book even though I am more interested in true crime than history. The history really did enhance my understanding of the crime and why detectives handled the investigation the way they did. I can highly recommend this book.

American Demon is ostensibly about a serial killer in Cleveland. The book reports the investigation of a number of gruesome murders that took place in the pre-World War II years. But the title of the book would be more aptly named, “The Rise and Fall of Eliot Ness.” Ness, the leader of the legendary Untouchables, whose rose to fame because of his efforts to take down crime leader Al Capone during the Prohibition Era, became the head of the corrupt Cleveland Police Department after his work was done in Chicago. Once in Cleveland, he set about reforming the department.

This book details Ness’s successes and failures, along with his personal foibles, so much that the murders seem to take a back seat to the telling of this larger than-life personality. I learned a lot of facts about Ness that in the end cast him as an earnest but flawed leader who perhaps rose to a level beyond his abilities (Peter Principle, anyone?).

Yet this is what makes the book so readable. Well-written, it busts the myths created around Ness, whose exploits were the subjects of books, television shows, and movies. I came away appreciating a major criminal investigation from almost 100 years ago, but more so the challenges Ness faced. Unfortunately, the end of the book, which I won’t reveal here, was less than satisfying, There were some questions left unanswered, and a resulting sense of disappointment both for and with Ness. Nonetheless, I recommend it wholeheartedly.

As other readers have stated, no matter how much the publisher wants this to be another “White City,” it’s not.

That said, I found the research to be outstanding, and i learned so much about Eliot Ness - more than I did in the fabulous movie “The Untouchables,” and more than my parents did watching the TV show of the same name.

(Robert Stack > Kevin Costner? Maybe… in this role at least.)

But I digress. Learning about how law enforcement worked in the 1920s & 30s was fascinating. Many of the techniques used today were just starting back then: lie detector tests, profiling, comparative mugshots and fingerprints - how they went through hundreds, or thousands to find similarities… wows.)

My main criticism of the book: this really was a biography of Ness. Which I would have happily read if NetGalley sent it to me (as they did “American Demon”). I wish there was more definitive clarification of the result of the murders. But that’s real life, isn’t it?

One other point about the writing: I visioned everything in black and white, at night and rainy… it had that noir feeling throughout which I truly appreciated. I really felt what Cleveland back then was like.

Really enjoy books like this Definitely would recommend to others who appreciate this genre as well.

American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper by Daniel Stashower was a little strange. The writing is up to Mr. Stashower's usual high standards but as others have noted the book itself deals primarily with Elliot Ness and mentions more than a few times the connection the author has with Ness through Mr. Stashower's grandfather.
I honestly think I would much have preferred that the title of the book was different because it implies a hunt for a serial killer in particular the Kingsbury Run (AKA Torso Murders) killer and unfortunately that is a little misleading since it is only a tangential part of the book.
Thanks to #NetGalley, #MinotaurBooks, and Daniel Stashower for the e-ARC of #AmericanDemon.

The problem with old unsolved murders is that everyone is dead and the evidence is long gone. I deeply appreciate Daniel Stashower's epilogue acknowledgement that he fell down rabbit holes trying to find new information. Also this book did not make me like Elliott Ness, but it was interesting.

serial-murder, Cleveland, law-enforcement, murder-investigation, true-crime, true-horror, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture, biography*****

I was hooked on all of the Eliot Ness biographic, not so much on the true crime aspect. It was well done but I come from Dahmer territory. Weill written and intertwined. Excellent read.
I requested and received a free temporary e-book copy from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

This book was fascinating and well-researched. I appreciated how the author intertwined the history of Elliot Ness's career and the emergence of a serial killer in Cleveland. The different techniques in attempting to apprehend a serial killer before the term serial killer was even in the world's vernacular. While I thoroughly loved this book, I can see how it would not be as engaging to some. American Demon does a lot of world-building and isn't just 24/7 murder. Instead, we learn about the politics of Cleveland with Elliot Ness as the focus of these events. I enjoy this narrative style, but it is not everyone's cup of tea. While I read this book I did a mix of audiobook and traditional reading. I enjoyed both formats but if I had to choose, I would say go with the audiobook. It was very well done. I give American Demon 4/5 stars and would read future books written by this author.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy of American Demon by Daniel Stashower. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC to review.