What do You think about I: The Creation Of A Serial Killer (2015)?
A four-star book that continuously pisses me off in memory for Jack Olsen's insertion of himself as a personality into the telling. Keith Hunter Jesperson was no one's idea of a genius while Jack certainly was, and here would be the place to mention that I loved Jack Olsen's "The Rape of the Town of Lovell", "The Misbegotten Son" (about another serial killer) and "Son" (about a serial rapist). But having made a long and illustrious career out of true crime writing, he was surprisingly useless in his unfamiliar role as an expert on the subject of crime. At no time could he tell Jesperson's life story better than Jesperson himself, yet he only sporadically got the hell out of the way.There has never been a title based more in an author's hubris, Olsen having imagined that he had distilled a small universe down to a single letter, and to understand this choice of a main title is to know where this book misses. So clearly can I see it in my mind, Jack placing a tape recorder down in front of Keith and asking him a bunch of questions about himself. Naturally, in answer, Keith uses the word "I". He uses it over and over because he's continuously being asked to talk about his life, and at some point Jack just gets fed up with what he asked to hear. This 'I' starts to stick like a ringing in his ears that he winds up blaming Keith for, and it ends up becoming his title.
—Tommy Walker
This is definitely one of the better true crime books out there. The murders themselves are perhaps not so noteworthy as far as serial killers go. They are not complex torture scenarios with knives and acids. They are the simple games played by a man fascinated by the pain inflicted through murder, and Olsen's writing captures the gritty struggle of ending a life.Perhaps most important to note about this book is contained in the title. All of the murdering and generally sick behaviour is written in the first person. This cold perspective is a haunting experience that stays with you after putting down the book.A must read for anyone who enjoys learning of the agonizing moments victims feel or the vacuous soul expressed through a murderer's recollection.
—Paulie Dude
Keith is a killer who wants attention. His audacity and arrogance were his weapons and he loved what he did.A No remorse narcissistic waste of oxygen.It always amazes me with every book i read on serial killers that the common denominator is charm.Serial killers can turn it on and turn it off at will fooling even those closets to them. A lot of people a truly beautiful on the inside and serial killers are hideous creatures on the inside. I'ts a pity they don't look like their inner self as we wood be able to recognize them what they truly are.A monster!
—Troy Cook
