I’m a little late to the reading game with this one, but it was a great read. If you are a fan of true crime, you may already know Kate Winkler Dawson. This book comes from the first season of her hit podcast Tenfold More Wicked. Edward Rulloff considered himself to be a genius, and others felt the same way as we learn. He was poor and therefore couldn’t go on to university to study languages as he wanted to. He met the Schutts family almost by chance while working on the river. He was accepted into the family, marrying a daughter, while opening a school in town. He knew medicine of the time and treated basic ailments of the locals. But he had a temper and eventually that would be the end of his wife and daughter. He would talk himself out of trouble a few times, get people on his side at others before finally going to jail. Throughout the book we are treated to the visitors to Edward while waiting to see if his life would be spared because of his “genius”. A chilling look at how a man who murdered more than once was able to get away with it for so long.

Thanks to Putnam for the copy.

Excellently researched and packed full of historic and scientific information. More than just true crime . Anyone that loves history and science would enjoy this read.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. Kate Winkler Dawson is easy to listen to and keeps the story interesting. I liked the story of Edward Rulhof, as well as the insight into psychology and neuroscience. The chapters were organized well and filled with lots of facts but never felt boring.

Amazing. Kate Winkler Dawson goes above and beyond documenting cases of historic true crime in a way that makes your pulse race as you dive deeper into her research.

I am obsessed with true crime, so picking up this book was a no-brainer. I have never heard of Edward Rulloff before picking up this book. Now I really want to read more about him and his life, and I can't wait to read more from Kate Winkler Dawson. I do own her other book American Sherlock so I will be picking it up very soon. I just loved her writing and you can really tell she did her research, and she didn't make it read like a text book. I will tell all my friends and family to pick this up ASAP.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read and review this

Kate Winkler Dawson's excellent research and storytelling combine to make this a really intriguing and well written story that's a must for true crime readers/listeners. Dawson balances crime, science, and plot well in this one.

All That Is Wicked is the story of Edward Rulloff, a 19th century serial killer also known as the "Victorian-era Hannibal Lecter". He was the first to have his brain studied in an attempt to understand the criminal mind. I was fascinated to learn about the beginnings of criminal psychology and criminologists within that time. When starting this book I was unfamiliar with the author/ her podcast but will definitely be having a listen soon!

I want to thank NetGalley, Kate Winkler Dawsonand PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.

Interesting read about a serial killer during the 19th century. The life and crimes committed by Edward Ruloff were enough to make a good read. The interesting way of comparing the psychology of then with now to explain his motives and reasons was a wonderful addition. A fascinating glimpse at early psychology. The book was written in a very engaging way. Well worth the read.

This a fascinating and well researched book. It starts with the story of Edward Rulloff, a serial murderer, and talks about the evolution of criminal profiling and science. It was a pleasant and informative read. Recommended.

All That is Wicked by Kate Winkler Dawson is an interesting look at serial killer Edward Rulloff.
I was unfamiliar with Ms Dawson's podcast and Edward Rulloff. This was a very informative look at the "Victorian-era Hannibal Lecter" and at some of the earliest "Mindhunters" who spent time studying Rulloff and his crimes.
As the description says" Expanded from season one of her hit podcast on the Exactly Right network (7 million downloads and growing), in All That Is Wicked Kate Winkler Dawson draws on hundreds of source materials and never-before-shared historical documents to present one of the first glimpses into the mind of a serial killer—a century before the term was coined—through the scientists whose work would come to influence criminal justice for decades to come."
found the book to be well written, and informative. If you are a true crime buff this is a great addition to your shelf.
Thank you to #NetGalley, #PenguinGroup, and Kate Winkler Dawson for the ARC of #AllThatIsWicked.

Did not get a chance to read the full text...almost on its way to being archived. My apologies. Seems fascinating, but got overwhelmed.

Edward Rulloff was a serial killer before the term ever existed. A manipulative and intelligent man, he was able to mold himself and charm his way out of most suspicions and situations. Only after murdering a man during a burglary that left witnesses behind was he finally brought to justice.

I came into this book cold. I knew nothing of the author nor anything about Edward Rulloff. The concept of the book fascinated me and I was eager to dive deep into it's pages. Dawson does an amazing job of informing readers of Rulloff's past, education, and of course, crimes. I really liked the information regarding the history and theories on the criminal mind, forensics, and criminal investigation at that time.

Overall, a very interesting and informative book. In fact, it's one I plan on getting for our library and even gifting to a few family members.

While True Crime is not usually my genre of choice, I am a huge fan of well researched non-fictions, and All That Is Wicked is incredibly well researched. It focuses primarily on the crimes of Edward Rulloff, a 19th century serial killer. The book also goes into detail about mindhunting, especially the early stages. This was a fascinating read, and it was especially interesting to read about pre-forensic criminal investigation.

I loved this book! It's so well written and has the feel of an engaging thriller despite the fact that it's nonfiction. It's made me want to go back and listen to the podcast, which I haven't done yet.

The story of Rulloff is told so well, and the information around psychology and criminology back in that area was incredibly interesting. It is incredibly readable while also providing intelligent context, motivations and analysis.

I highly recommend this for anyone who has an interest in history or true crime!

The beginning of the book didn't spark my curiosity. But as I like True crime, I needed to give the book a fair chance. Reading about Edward Rulloff was interesting and did like the flow of the narrative.

However, the narrative is repetitive and felt like it never got to the point.

Thank you #NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for giving me the opportunity to read this.

This true crime book was an interesting read, especially since this was something I have not heard about before. It was very clearly a well-researched book. It was a bit dry at points and I was not as into it as I thought I would be. I wonder if I would have liked it more if I had listened to the author’s podcast.

This was a wild report about a man who may or may not have killed five people, who is obsessed with language, who is wrong about his Grand theory, and who was killed for at least one crime. This book is written in a captivating way, I couldn't wait to find out what happened next in the journey to getting this man to The noose! It was interesting to learn about how people were determined to be insane the past, how that has changed, and what part his actual brain played in it! If you love true crime definitely read this

This was a very interesting look at a historical true crime story. Having listened to the podcast about Rulloff, I wasn't sure what else I could learn about him, but this book did a great job of delving into the scientific ramifications of his crimes and the way the killer informed psychology and neurology in the 19th century. Dawson's writing makes this a very easy read - it reads like a story rather than a dry piece of nonfiction. My only gripe is that the chapters were quite long, and personally, I digest a book better when the chapters are split up a bit more. Overall, a great read for true crime and history fans!

Great. Googly. Moogly.
I had never even HEARD of Edward Rulloff, but boy did I know about him [and his sick, twisted ways] now. WOW.

This was an amazing read. Yes, I recognize how weird that sounds when referring to a book about a serial killer, but when stuff like this fascinates a person, a well-written, excellently researched book about a particularly icky person is just what someone like me needs when her last few books have been crap [minus the sweet children's books that often offer a respite as well]. And this was absolutely one of the best. I now have the author's other books to read and I just want to do a deep dive into all of them; in my opinion, that is the BEST review an author can get.

This book was just so fascinating - Edward Rulloff was one creepy, super-smart, killer. He believed he was untouchable and unconvictable [here's a spoiler; he was wrong] and was an accomplished liar and thief. He believed that he could kill when he wanted to and because he was "brilliant" [and because there were, for at least two of the victims, no bodies] he would not be held in judgement [again...he was wrong]. He conned newspaper men, the son and wife of the assistant warden at the first prison he is at [and boy does that end in a crazy way and shows just how much he doesn't care about people unless they are useful to him], and many more people who come into his path [I was shocked to read that he spent time in Meadville PA, which is less than an hour from me and a place I have spent a lot of time in and that he conned the Dean of Allegheny College to be able to teach languages there. SO crazy], all while believing he will both never get caught, and when he does, that nothing will come of it. He will be famous, from his book [that goes nowhere] and people will never forget his name. That didn't really work out that well for him in the end. Until this book, I don't think very many people knew of him and all he did, and now that its been published, the fame he was so desperately seeking will still elude him as people will read this and instead of loving him, will revile him for the monster he was, and that was the way it should be.

If you love true crime and a well-written book, then this one is for you. SO good. I loved every [even the very gross moments] minute of it. Having the author narrate the audiobook is just icing on the cake. I would listen to anything she narrates; she did an excellent job.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Winkler Dawson, and PENGUIN GROUP PUTNAM/G. P. Putnam's Sons for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

True crime is a tricky genre. On the one hand, it's something people - including myself - have always been drawn to, as long as there have been ways to consume it. But on the other, we're in the middle of a sort of reckoning with the less savory aspects of those stories, particularly the ways that we've long centered the killers rather than the victims and practically valorized the "geniuses" behind the crimes. I saw that same split evident in All That Is Wicked.

Having listened to some of Kate Winkler Dawson's podcast work, I had a sense of what I would be in for with this book. She's a great storyteller, and extremely adept at weaving in primary sources to flesh out her scenes. The writing in this book is clean and smooth, and the depth of research is plainly evident. I also appreciated the attempts to tie this story of the past to more modern scientific techniques (neurology, criminal psychology) and killers (Ted Bundy, BTK, and others), although I think this was somewhat less consistently successful and often resulted in choppy jumps between paragraphs. And to be clear, I feel like Winkler Dawson treated all of the "characters" with equal respect; nothing about this book felt lurid or sensationalized.

But despite the fact that All That Is Wicked is framed as a dive into the history of "mindhunting," it's really a book about one man - Edward Rulloff. And no matter how many times Winkler Dawson emphasized that he was a horrible, psychopathic killer, this book felt like an exploration of him as a pillar of that ever-problematic trope, the genius killer. True, this characterization was the reason why he drew so much attention in his own time, but these days, as we've begun to reckon with the fact that these so-called geniuses are actually more results of police incompetence and strategic victim choices, I couldn't help but feel like the choice to center Rulloff's story was woefully outdated, a relic of an earlier time in true crime. The conversation of crime has evolved into something more complex than "some people are just psychopaths," and yet All That Is Wicked really just doubled down on that idea.

TL;DR This book was well-written and well-researched, but ultimately left me with the troubling sense that it was doing the thing that true crime should be - and has been - moving on from: centering the killer and his supposed genius while his victims fall by the wayside.

3.5/5