This book hardly met my expectations but it was still well researched so for that I'll give it a solid 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 stars. I was originally interested in this book because of the fun title and my knowledge of the Lizzie Borden case. I expected this book to have more humor and antidotal moments but this felt more like a research paper - which I can totally appreciate but it's just not what I was hoping for.

I agree with many of the other reviews that say the book was informative and easy to follow! Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

Of course, I was intrigued and amused by the title! This book traces the development of the ax through time, pairing it with a murder in a related period. Some of the early descriptions of the ax were a little too bogged down in detail for me; I didn't care about the tool itself as much as I was interested in the true-crime aspect. Later chapters offered a better flow. The book was informative without being flat and it was an interesting read.

One of the most interesting nonfiction books I've ever read. The research and plotting was well done and true to the topic. As a society we tend to think murder and violence are such new concepts. This proves those thoughts false.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this wacking good book about a tool that was probably in many ways the key to early man's survival, a tool that went from chopping wood to chopping enemies, or innocent people as used in many heinous cases of murder through history.

When my parents first moved from their 6 story apartment in the Bronx up to the wilds of Connecticut, the first thing my father bought was an axe. My mother brings this up every Flag Day, as that is the day the moved, and how my father was bound and determined to get that axe. There was a fireplace, but most of the heat came from the furnace downstairs, one that was already as old as the house. The lot was abutted by forests, but the land was flat with only two trees near the house, a crabapple tree, and a dying peach tree. However this was the country, though it was a residential block, and an axe was needed. Axes have been used for a long time, to cut trees, to shave skins, to hammer things into place. And hammer heads off. Axes were tools, signs of authority, weapons to secure one's rule, and to wipe out families when used by a darker and more disturbed section of the human race. This book tells their story. Whack Job:A History of Axe Murder by Rachel McCarthy James is a history of the axe from murder in the first, and the first murdered body, to tombs, to holding power, keeping power, and the blood that has been spent in both stories and in real life.

The title is a bit of a misnomer as this is more a history of times with axes, in addition to details about famous crimes with axes. This isn't a Lifetime movie, or podcast about true crime with a cutting edge to it. The book begins with the author's interest, writing a book about a famous transient who traveled the rails, coming to small towns and using an axe to muder families. The author than goes into the mythology of the axe, how papers loved to talk about axe murders to sell papers, before going way back in time, to a burial pit with a body. A body that seems to be the oldest found, at least so far, to show that they were murdered with an axe. From there we move forward, to China and a woman ruler whose tomb was never broke into, and her numerous axes showing both her power, her ability to rule, and the ruthlessness in which she did so. To Egypt and pharaohs killed by axes, changing history. To England and the use of the axe in executions to win a King an heir, and to kill off those who complained. Lizzie Borden and her tale of woe, and of another woman in Iceland who used male pride and an axe to wipe out enemies imagined.

A book with a lot of history and a clever way of telling it . I can see where some people would be a little upset thinking they were getting a book about serial killers, willing to clutch at their pearls about stories of chopping and blood, and learning about Chinese history. However I found this book interesting, and enjoyed it quite a bit. James is a good writer, able to talk about various forms of axes, wounds, and bits of history quite well. The setup is interesting as are the periods covered. Some of the humour could have gotten the axe, but I can see where in a book that can get a little grim, a joke is necessary. The mentions in media about axes was also well done, with examples that fit the narrative quite well. Not the book I expected but one I really got into.

A nice mix of crime, history and tool use, with a story that offers a lot of facts, and interesting bits of trivia. I like these kind of books, as I love to learn something new, and dropping quips about axes does make for different conversations. Or ends conversations. This is the first book I have read by Rachel McCarthy James, but I look forward to more.

A world history told by a True Crime aficionado becomes a history of ax murders, natch. According to other reviews, this book is very much a basic, 101 intro to ax murder, since apparently it doesn't cover <i>enough</i> ax murders, and of the right type, which says a lot about the True Crime fans.

Going back to the dawn of human evolution and ending in 2022, the book covers the many uses of an ax, the many types of axes, and how and why axes have always been in easy reach.

Pre-homo sapien peoples, Vikings, American colonists, Chinese empresses, and more, axes pop up all over the world as both tool and weapon, as a symbol of power and a symbol of savagery. As fascinating look at world history.

Whack Job explores the axe as both a tool and a weapon, tracing its role in human history from prehistoric murder to battlefield brutality and infamous executions. Through gripping true-crime accounts, it examines how this simple tool evolved alongside society, shaping both conflict and culture. This compelling study reveals how even our most violent impulses are woven into the stories we tell about the past and ourselves.

From the description, I was expecting this to be accounts of when the axe was used to murder someone and why. Some of the accounts shared are that, but it was a bit of a mixed bag about murders committed with an axe, people who must have been powerful because they were buried with an axe, and people who were executed by an axe. The only thing that connected them was that an axe is mentioned at some point. There were several times I was confused about why a story was being told.

Some of the true crimes were interesting, and it was what I was expecting. I thought this would be an unbiased factual approach to what led to the axe being used, but the author frequently offered her opinion on the matter.

Overall, it was interesting, if not exactly what I was expecting. True crime readers may enjoy this one.

This is a fabulous title and an interesting idea. The concept of axe murderers has morphed into a joke in modern times but it certainly wasn’t to those who were killed by these useful tools.

The subtitle of this book is “A History of Axe Murder” which implies that this will be historical true crime. The main problem is that it is a mishmash: a history of axes and similar tools, a superficial description of different historical events where axes were used to kill people, including state-sanctioned executions. There is very little of what I would identify as “true crime.”

The author is enthusiastic and writes with humor and it is apparent that she did a huge amount of research to find the different stories about axe killings, dating back to hundreds of thousands of years ago. It was interesting to read about the different ways axes have been used to symbolize power, the fact that human sacrifice has been and will seemingly always be a part of humanity, and many other tidbits of our depressing state of existence.

There was a lack of cohesion; it felt like rather random stories from different epochs, describing instances of where someone was killed with an axe, not a book about axe murders.

If the reader goes in knowing this, then there will be a bigger chance of not being confused or disappointed.

"State violence performed with an axe is not necessarily the same as axe murder as an act of interpersonal violence."

And yet most of the book is about "state violence performed with an axe" and not axe murders. It's only the last couple chapters where you really get into that, despite the book claiming to be a history of axe murder. It's more of small snippets of different points in history where there also happen to be axes.

For some reason, I expected this to be humorous like Mary Roach's work, but it was not. Most of the book was boring history with a lot of names and some dates to keep up with and the reader is sometimes expected to know people and places with no explanation. At one point the author neglected to use BCE so the dates were going in the wrong direction and it was distracting. A lot of the book felt like a student trying to meet word count by being unnecessarily verbose.

Some of the chapters don't have to do with death by axe. Washington got a chapter solely because of the story of him cutting down a cherry tree.

The author says "a lot of forensic advances, even recent ones like blood spatter, are downright stupid" and I don't know how to take that in any way besides the author doesn't believe in forensic science, which is pretty stupid for somebody writing a murder book.

There were at least two spots where somebody was called the wrong name, despite being called the correct name in the sentence before or after. There were also multiple spots where it seemed like a word or two was missing, though that could have been the formatting on my phone.

TLDR; cool concept, bad execution.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

I thought this would be more fun - from the title, it seemed like James would have more of a sense of humor in her writing. There are some places where humor shows through, but this did end up being a lot drier than I thought it would be.

However, I did text multiple people about a line in this book and have been having an extended debate about whether triage counts as ritual human sacrifice for *several* hours - so it does fulfill my secondary reason for reading nonfiction (having cool talking points).

I probably wouldn't recommend this as a nonfiction to people who are mainly fiction readers, but I think people who read a lot of non-fiction will enjoy it!

This title definitely caught my attention. A book about axe murder? Why the heck not? I especially appreciated the author's take on Lizzie Borden. She's a local legend. The other chapters and time periods were also quite interesting. The Icelandic saga was another favorite. I appreciate the level of research the author conducted, especially in the cases of the earlier historical eras.

This is a short book and a fast read. I was entertained even if it wasn't ground breaking. The general topics give a taste of areas where the reader can go down paths to look for more information, which is the general goal for compilations of this sort.

Axe murders throughout history, from prehistoric mass graves in Spain, to axe-wielding warrior royalty of antiquity, the to the lurid tabloid accounts of the 19th and 20th centuries. We also learn about the humble axe itself, and the factors that cause it to go from utilitarian tool to weapon in crimes of passion. I liked that it managed to strike a balance between brainy (there is lots of talk about the role axes came to occupy following industrialization and mass production) and irreverent (one of the epigraphs is a line from an Insane Clown Posse song).

Interestingly enough, the chapter about Lizzie Borden, the most famous suspected axe murderer in history, is the weakest. It felt like something from an amateur true crime blog: basic details about the murder are peppered throughout the chapter instead of putting the important stuff first, the author spends a lot chapter space speculating as to what actually happened.

Very interesting topic in true crime that I had never thought would be this interesting to me. Covers all the big cases and even some I was unaware of and even makes learning about murder a fun experience.

This was hard to get into. The author starts out with the history of axes as a weapon in ancient Egypt. I had no in-depth knowledge of the various rulers during this time frame, so tough reading. Things picked up after the first chapter, when individual instances of axe murders were described but with a bit too much snarkiness and mild humor for my tastes. It's a short book, so I was grateful for that. True crime is a genre I read on occasion but I didn't much care for this book.

No cohesion or thesis, not much of a stable definition of axe murder. The stories were interesting but ten pages for the most famous of axe girlies? Come on.

This is not a book I would normally read but I was intrigued that it told the history of an object that’s been used through time as an instrument of murder. I am interested in crime, and this book provides a history of axe murders. It is about tension, conflict, violence and the dark side of emotions, including the cruel lengths and depths humans have reached. I wish the world weren’t like that, but I’m grateful for the awareness. Sometimes the examples were too detailed, and covered a lot of detail about the murders.

When the author says, in the introduction, "Early on in the process of writing my first book about axe murder" (loc. 17*), you know you're in for a ride.

This calls itself a history of axe murder, but I don't think that's quite right—it's more that this is a romp through various historical axe murders, with a lot of discussion of why axes used to be more common (and thus more likely to be used in murder) and what they meant about social status and how the term "axe murderer" came about. The specific stories range from ones I've never heard of (I'm not up on my Viking history, nor really my ancient Egyptian history) to famous cases (Lizzie Borden, anyone?) to just really devastating cases. I found that my interest increased as the book went on, partly because I just don't have that much interest in ancient history and partly because the more recent stories simply have so much more that is *known*—even when a lot of what is known about, say, the Borden case is just how much went wrong in the investigations.

The energy here is high: Don't go in expecting to come out an expert in axe murder, but do expect chapters that end with a lead-in to the next chapter, making it hard to put the book down for the night. This is one to read for entertainment purposes rather than for research purposes (though the endnotes might get you somewhere with the latter), but if you like your entertainment with a side of axe murder, this will do you well.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

*The publisher has provided me with an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review.*

I DNF'd this author's first book, The Man From The Train, because I was so fed up with the lack of citations. This book opens with a dedication to the author's sources. You know what that is? Growth!

Unfortunately, the book that follows is still rather insubstantial. For a "history of axe murder," the author spends an awful lot of time on details that have nothing to do with axes (did we really need a digression on Mamah Borthwick's relationship with Ellen Key?) and some chapters, like the one on Fu Hao, actually has nothing to do with axes or murder at all. And yet, even with all these pointless digressions, it's also quite short, with no real insights into or conclusions regarding the history of the axe in human civilization. The story of Lizzie Borden, a subject that has spanned dozens of books, is relegated to ten short pages. It honestly reads like McCarthy James came up with "the history of axe murder" as a cool idea for a book, then started writing it and realized she didn't have enough material, so she had to scramble for filler. All in all a disappointing read.

An informative and disturbing recap of the axe and its bloody role throughout human history. McCarthy James takes readers through a historical roundabout that highlights the axe's importance as a weapon, an adornment, a tool, a pop culture reference, and also a murder weapon.

I liked journeying through the various time periods, whether it was Egypt or Rome, dynastic China or Victorian England, to hear about the ways in which the axe was utilized for good or for ill. However, I do wish there was at least one chapter that broke down the pop culture significance of "axe murder" since it is in the title of the book. That said, still an interesting read!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my review.

I've come to the realization that I don't really like true crime, but this was still interesting! It gives a lot of historical details about how axes have been used throughout history, which was really interesting. I already can think of a few people who will be interested in this book when it comes out, and I'm excited to have it at the bookstore I work at!

From the pharaohs to the present there has always been an ax. Whether it is a decorative piece, a weapon of war, a tool for dealing with wood, or a murder weapon, this book has a handle on it (bad pun). The author describes in detail its history in ancient Egypt, dynastic China, the Viking and later Tudor era of England (think beheadings), wars in the later centuries, and eventually into details of several murders including Lizzie Borden, Taliesin and other 20th century axe murders. The writing is not dull or boring and there is meticulous research and documentation.
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected digital galley from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.
Avail May 13, 2025
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