In terms of sheer numbers, Albert Fish would seem to be little more than a lightweight in the annals of crime; he was only charged with and found guilty of one murder. But that one highly disturbing case--the brazen 1928 kidnapping and brutal killing of a New York City 10-year-old, Grace Budd--eventually brought about Fish's confessions to many more crimes of kidnapping, torture, murder and cannibalism: mainly perpetrated on young boys and occasionally girls, who, if prepubescent, were similar enough to young boys in their androgyny to suit Fish's predilections. No one knows how many victims Fish had during a criminal career that spanned more than 50 years, beginning with petty crimes and evolving into unspeakable ones that dovetailed into his auto-erotic preferences for sadism, pain and religious fantasies. He may have abused, by his own admission, 25 to 30 children a year, and possibly torture-murdered 15. His victims may have numbered in the hundreds.Whatever the case, and as this book makes clear, Fish was one of the sickest persons who ever lived.This incredible true-crime book, expertly structured, finds a happy medium between meticulous detail and lightning-paced narrative. It details the disappearances of Fish's first known victims (though there were likely many before those), the frustrating failed investigations into those cases, and the appearance of a kindly old stranger named "Frank Howard," who, seemingly in the commission of good deeds conned his way into the Budd home and stole a little girl right from her own kitchen with the clueless consent of her parents. As the book shortly reveals Howard was none other than Fish, an otherwise (seemingly) kindly family man who never harmed his own children but as an itinerant house painter committed atrocities in as many as 23 states, leaving no traces of himself and a trail of violated kids.The Budd case outraged and frightened the public, and if not for the kind of dogged investigatory patience of Detective William King (a real hero who devoted more time to the case than any detective would likely dedicate today, or would be allowed to by budget- and time-strapped departments), as well as Fish's own momentary carelessness and the divine intervention of a well-placed cockroach, the case might never have been solved.Schechter stays his hand beautifully in this book, letting the case unfold naturally, only giving the reader details of the true nature of Fish as his trial proceeds in the latter part of the book. The details of his religious manias and drive for self-torture (sticking alcohol-soaked rags up his ass and lighting them or sticking dozens of pins in his lower body) and the torture of others in similar ways are excruciating to comprehend. Fish was a pedophile, sadist, cannibal and much more. The infliction of pain on himself and others gave him orgasms. He took particular delight in sending obscene letters in response to classified newspaper ads, writing to strangers about his desires to have them mercilessly spank his fictitious retarded son, "Bobby." He also enjoyed golden showers and eating shit. He was obsessed by the Biblical story of Abraham and Isaac, believing God commanded him to sacrifice children, and subsequently torturing himself painfully believing that same God was commanding him to atone for his sins. The book details a more innocent time--and in some sense shows how the lack of knowledge about sex in those more repressed times led people to discount its existence, particularly the existence of people who practiced extreme forms of criminal sexual behavior. Fish, as it happened, had been picked up and held briefly at least six times by the New York City police and served a short psychiatric stint in Bellevue before being released, deemed harmless by the authorities.The trial of Fish is thrillingly recounted here by Schechter. Fish's well-selected attorney, James Dempsey, gave a brilliant performance in attempting to use the insanity plea to keep Fish from the electric chair. Dempsey's courtroom dramatics and rapier comebacks remind me of another brilliant defense attorney of that era, Clarence Darrow. Defense attorneys back then were so kick-ass.Fish was a fascinating case of guilt and remorselessness, of normalcy alternating with extreme perversion--and yet, somehow, because of the attitudes of the day, his "eccentricities"--beating himself bloody with a nail paddle while masturbating, claiming Jesus told him to do bad things, or playing weird flagellation games with his stepdaughters while nearly nude--were tolerated and dismissed among family members as just the odd habits of a dear old man. The Fish case is chilling and disturbing to the max. Gray and wizened and stooped, he seemed harmless. As a criminal specter he was known as the Gray Man and the Bogeyman. The site of the Budd murder, an abandoned house in rural Westchester County, NY, known as Wisteria Cottage, is, as can be seen in photos in the book, one of the creepiest places you'll ever encounter.As a psychologist who testified at Fish's trial said: "To the best of my medical knowledge, every sexual abnormality that I have ever heard of this man has practiced--not only has he thought about it, not only has he daydreamed about it, but he has practiced it."This is one of the best true-crime books I've read, and, certainly, any writer who would make this case dull reading should be banished from the writing profession. In this Schechter does not disappoint. If you can handle being exceedingly disturbed, this is an essential read about the incredible brutality that can emanate from the human soul.
I think a drunken George W. Bush would make more sense than this book. Perhaps, significantly more sense!For a long time, I struggled to search for a suitable adjective for this book. Is it boring? Is it annoying? Is it hopeless? It is actually an amalgamation of all of this, and more. My views about this book might be stronger than they should be, because I did judge it by its cover, and thought I would be reading a biography of one of the most disgusting creatures to ever walk on this earth.I've got a reasonably high tolerance for blood, gore, and the gruesome and macabre. However, the subject matter of the book has nothing to do with what I feel about the book. I know 12-year olds who regularly turn in better school project reports than this piece of yellow journalism.Albert (or Hamilton?) Fish was a horrible, horrible man. His fiendish crimes were probably an outcome of the depravity he had to endure at an orphanage. Of course, the fact that some mental disorders ran in his family might also have contributed. The book cover calls it 'The Shocking True Story of America's Most Fiendish Killer'.Shocking, yes. Fiendish killer, yes. True, yes. Story, huh? Hardly!There is no explanation for Fish's behaviour. The author just uses some poorly worded sentences that meander endlessly to largely describe the murder and cannibalization of young Grace Budd. He attempts to lend dramatic effect to the trial, and falls flat. The irony is that he criticizes certain publications for 'sensationalizing' the horrific sequence of events, and then does that himself! #epicfailThis book is ridiculous. I wish at least a few cents from the $10.99 I paid for this tripe had gone to the editor. (Were the editors of this book being paid less than minimum wage?) There are spelling errors, grammar errors, and many sentences run way longer than they should.In a nutshell, Fish was a criminal. He pleaded insanity. The jurors sent him for a date with Old Sparky in Sing Sing, even though they thought he might have been insane. Now that I've (hopefully) saved you some money, do a good deed and send me some love.Or, if you are a writer, please, please, PLEASE, invest in a better editor!
What do You think about Deranged (1998)?
I don't know if it's age or motherhood, but I feel an urge to bathe to "cleanse" myself after having read the book. Perhaps I no longer have the stomach to read true crime books of this nature, especially ones dealing with such atrocities committed toward children. I tend to agree with the defense attorney that Albert Fish must have been insane, for I cannot imagine how a sane person would have had committed so many depravities as he had done. In fact, in their own words, most of the jurors had also agreed that he had been insane!As for the book, Harold Schecter did a good of writing it, though I was slightly annoyed with the various quotes at the beginning of each chapter. I appreciated his writing style -- simple and journalistic. He presented the facts and did not embellish the details, though with the facts of this case, which were so gruesome, I imagine that there was not a need. I did leave the book with the gnawing question of "Why?" Perhaps a little more exploration on Albert Fish's childhood would have helped answered that. On the other hand, perhaps there was nothing to be answered; perhaps Fish had been really insane and we as the reader are supposed to have been left with that question.You probably could read the entry about Albert Fish on the truTV crime library and not have to pick up this book. Most of the important facts are presented there.
—Chick_Flick
I've always been fascinated by Albert Fish, and I thought I knew all about him. I was wrong. Schechter has a way of making you feel like you're there, and you can see it all perfectly clear. I knew Fish was incredibly depraved and disturbed, but the extent of the horrors he inflicted on innocent children was far beyond anything I thought I knew. It takes a lot to creep me out. Fish creeps me out. This book creeps me out. It's well-written and the facts are solid. Anyone who is interested in true crime, particularly the psychology of serial killers, although Fish wasn't exactly a typical case, should read this book.
—Hannah
The acts that Fish committed were the stuff that no fictional artist could imagine. It takes a specific kind of individual to even come close to thinking of the things that Fish practiced his whole life. I am not a person that thrives on the lowest of humanity or on being able to stomach the horrific. Still, I chose to read a book, this book, which includes all of the above and more. I could not put it down – I read it whenever I could and was captured from the very first words: “Every period is known not only by its heroes but by its killers as well.” The author, Schechter, is an author with true talent. It is a given that you will be shocked when reading Deranged – Fish, the person written about, was TRULY deranged – but it takes skill to write a book about such a murderous villain and have the book be more about the people he affected than about the murderer himself, even though the depravity was written about in detail. Deranged read like a mystery, and even though I knew who and what the book was about having learned and read of Fish on the internet, I was continually enthralled with finding out when and how this man would get caught and just how sick this man actually was. In the beginning, we are introduced to the Budd family whose humble living and innocence makes them a prime target for Fish, and learn of their eventual regret in allowing a predator to take their child away. We move forward to other families that suffer similar losses and actually feel their pain as their babies are led into the woods of the never-again-seen-alive. The book in its finality gives us the depths of this man, Albert Fish, and makes no excuses for him though the author makes it a point to tell what Fish felt were catalysts to his bad behavior. I know that it takes quite a bit to read about a person like this and not hate them and judge them as I read. It appears, though, that the author has as little judgment as humanly possible as he writes this monstrous tale. That in itself is a feat. It was enjoyable to read because of these facts – not because a person of unseen proportions of degeneracy was on display. So, I would suggest this book to anyone who’d like to try and gain a better understanding of humanity, because when you can face the lowest of humanity without running away or closing a book then you can face the greatest of humanity with even greater understanding. I cannot recall reading a book this well written. The book of the year for me – and I have read almost 30 books this year alone!
—Juanita
