Title: Multiple-Victims Murder
Author: Arnon Edelstein
Genre: Nonfiction, True Crime
Age Group: Adult
Rating: 4,5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.
Mass murder and serial murder: An integrative look
The term “Multiple-victims murder” refers to the murder of several people at the same time, or one after another, by the same killer, in a repetitive pattern. Usually these incidents count a high toll of victims and create significant anxiety increase in the public. Yet, the rate of finding murderers in these cases is relatively very low, especially in serial murders; that is if they are ever caught at all.
A comprehensive and critical overview of contemporary research on Multiple-Victims Murder
Multiple-Victims Murder examines the various categories of mass murder and serial murder and suggests a new category: “mass-serial murder”. It presents and criticizes the most up-to-date research and theoretical literature in this field, and suggests an integrative theoretical model. This groundbreaking volume is intended for criminologists, psychologists, sociologists, students and readers who are interested in truly understanding the complicated aspects of this fascinating field of investigation.
As a criminologist, I can’t pass up a book written by a professor in criminology, especially not when it focuses on serial murder, one of the areas I researched the most during my studies. Multiple-Victims murder, what this book is about, refers to the murder of several people – this can be all at the same time, or one after the other but by the same killer. So we have one person killing several people, either all at once, or at different times: the mass murderer and the serial murderer.
Multiple-Victims Murder refers a lot to other theories and other authors that criminologists will certainly be familiar with. As such, it seems to be written primarily for criminologists, psychologists and sociologists. You can’t compare it to a regular “true crime book” that is written for anyone who wants to know more about a certain crime, this book is clearly more academic in its nature.
However, I really enjoyed that part of it. It felt familiar to come across many of the names I’d seen in my studies, and to look at what their view is in regards to multiple-victims murder. The author suggests some innovating, groundbreaking ideas, including an integrative theoretical model that definitely seems to have its merits, although further research of the underlying theory, in particular empirical research, would be necessary.
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