Anthropophagy - the eating of human flesh - is the crime which shocks and stuns more than any other.Moira Martingale traces this phenomenon back to the sixteenth century to the notorious Sawney Bean who, together with his family, consumed more than 1,000 people over a period of twenty-five years.In modern times little has changed. "Cannibal Killers" looks at modern murderers, including: Fritz Haarmann - who would tear out young men's throats to drink their blood, before selling their flesh for meat; Jeffrey Dahmer, the murderer of seventeen young men whose dismembered body parts were found in his apartment; Edward Gein - the role model for Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" - who after his mother's death began killing and eating women, and Andrei Chikatilo, the Russian cannibal who has the dubious reputation of being the worst cannibal-killer in recent history.

“Cannibal Killers” by Moira Martingale is a book with a pretty self explanatory title. I believe this release is an updated version of the same book previously released by the author, but the original release must have slipped me by so I was delighted to be approved for this release. What can I say? I ate this book up, pun intended. True crime is a genre and subject which will never be exhaustive for me and this book differs from a lot of others as it’s about a subject which not very many people wish to explore, and subsequently cannot stomach. Personally it fascinates me and an entire book dedicated to the subject of cannibalism was for me, long overdue. It’s a truly fascinating read. I would have enjoyed photos of the murderers to accompany their story but that being said, many of the ‘mainstream’ cannibals we’re already aware of. A deep dive into what makes one human eat another. Fascinating.

My thanks to the NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an unbiased review.