I have always had a fascination about serial killers and the reasons and psychology behind their actions. This book has satisfied my curiousity on this topic since it covers serial killer cases from all over the world. It provides the readers with the background story of the killers and the horrific crimes they have commited. It's a very comprehensive and binge-wothy book, especially recommended if you are into true crime or serial killers.

I enjoyed reading about the variety of murderers throughout the ages, not just in the States. Some were familiar to me while others I never heard about. I was really excited for this book because I enjoy true crime. It let me down though because it gave me just a taste before pulling back.

What happened to the victims? Where are they today? What were the possible triggers?

For me this was written like an overenthusiastic teen writing as much as he could fit, but then going onto the next murderer without a proper transition. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book just not as much with the missing facets.

Overall this was a fairly decent compilation of some of the worlds most evil serial killers. I enjoyed the fact that the book was not just restricted to the United States. At times the writing was a little bit choppy and some sentences were either repeated or left incomplete.

The chapters did a decent job in giving background on the various individuals and their crimes. I was shocked that certain killers didnt make the cut. I would have liked to see Jeffrey Dahmer, Edmund Kemper, Gary Ridgeway, the Zodiac killer and John Duffy make appearances as well.

I will definitely be looking to read more of the true crime books written by Blundell in the future . If you are interested in reading some true crime but arent the type to commit to a book strictly on one killer and their crimes in detail...This might be a more applicable book for you. While the details are there this is a fairly mild read.


I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
Why are people so fascinated with serial killers?It feels wrong, but I think it's important to learn more about mental illness and deviance and I also think it is important to pay some kind of tribute to the victims, while hopefully not sensationalizing their deaths. This book is very straightforward and gives facts.

Interesting, but it didn’t hold my attention for long. There was a few serial killers in there I haven’t heard of, so it was interesting to read about them. Well written.

While this book was rushed and there were a few errors such as leaving out the ages and just calling them “years old” or incomplete sentences, I really enjoyed the way the author really summarized the serial killers in a clear and concise way. Not giving you more information than you need but also not leaving out anything important. I saw a review saying “I already knew about these cases” but these books aren’t written for people who already are true crime junkies like me. I really liked what I learned and I also appreciated a look at serial killers around the world.

The world is full of some sick and twisted people and within these pages Nigel Blundell has collected some of the very worst.
Well written without playing to the subjects ego's so as to limit the notoriety most of these killers strive for, it is an interesting look at some of the most heinous crimes and the perpetrators the world has ever produced and seen the likes of such depravity.

This was a great book about serial killers. It goes into awesome details about their crimes. I love the different types of serial killers in this book.

Serial Killers: The World's Most Evil by Nigel Blunder.
This book summarises and retells the stories of some of the most evil serial killers in history. Using Dr Michael Stone's scale of evil as a referencing point as to why Blundell selected certain killers to be in his book, each serial killer is discussed from early life to eventual capture. Opening with the notorious "Toy Box" killer David Parker Ray and ending with killer doctors such as Dr Harold Shipman, known as "Britain's biggest-ever serial killer with an official toll of 215 victims". Blundell's book is gripping and fast paced, making it very easy to read "just one more section" and finding yourself at 2am wondering where the time has gone.
There are some errors with repeated sentences or spelling mistakes, however, this is easily fixed with editing and I doubt would make it to the final publication. If you enjoy watching true crime documentaries or listening to true crime podcasts I do feel like this book would be enjoyable for you.
Serial Killers: The World's Most Evil will be published on 30th May 2020.

Well if you have followed me for a while you will know I enjoy true crime - be it book, podcast or TV show. I actually read one of Nigel Blundell's previous books in this series and you can read the review in my March 2020 Book Reviews.


Again, this is not one for the faint at heart. Using the axis of evil, Nigel has picked out some of the most abhorrent murderers. As a student of psychology, my interest is always in what drives a person, which I think is why I like to read these books. Quite a few of these monsters I had previously heard about but there were some I hadn't.

This book isn't for everyone but if you are interested in the genre, I would definitely recommend a read. I think Nigel does a great job putting these together and this is the second book of his I have enjoyed reading.

Serial Killers: The World's Most Evil is a dark collection of famous serial killers from all over the world. For someone who is fascinated with this genre, I find the book quite well written however there are some parts that doesn't seem to flow seamlessly. This book is informative and for I believed it is an update from the previously published book. A must for fans who likes reading about serial killers.

I was gifted a copy by NetGalley, however the views here are of my own.

The book was very informative and interesting. I know alot about the serial killers in The United States, but I knew very little about serial killers from other countries. It was nice to learn some new facts that I was not aware of until I read the book!!

This book was very informative. Because I do not know a lot about serial killers, I learned a lot from it. I also learned a lot about serial killers from around the world, as the media tend to focus on American serial killers. But from the serial killers that I did know things about, nothing was new information. I would have liked if the book focused on a couple of killers, and went in dept about them. How they became the person they are known for, and why they started killing. The chapters were a bit short in my opinion. I would prefer longer chapters to be honest. But it is a fast read, which I can appreciate.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I was granted my wish for this title I was ecstatic! I have always been interested in things I can't seem to understand, like how someone can be so physically and even mentally cruel to another human being. A part of me feels like if I could just crack the code that I could find a way to better the world, but the more I learn about these individuals the farther away I get from ever reaching an understanding. I cannot wrap my head around the fact that an individual, with a mental malfunction or not, could give such little value to another human being's existence that they seek to snuff it out.

Children are the worst to read about, not only because they've just begun, but because they can't possibly have the mental capacity to understand what is happening to them. It pains me to read about them, but at the same time knowing that the monsters that snatched them up are no longer hiding under anyone else's beds brings a sense of peace.

My problem with this title and why I give it two stars and would not recommend it is simple: it doesn't seek to humanize the victims. They often just read like one long run on sentence with names, ages, and locations. These victims feel like just how the killer saw them, just another name. I wish rather than spending so much time on going into the trials of all these killers that it gave us more about the victims. If they lived/escaped what became of them? Who were they survived by? Where was that something that allowed me to grieve their passing because I felt like I knew them? In my opinion, the author used up these individuals for facts and discarded them without glancing back, leaving those yet to be found just as lost and hopeless as they once were.

Nigel Blundell’s "Serial Killers: The World’s Most Evil" continues his ‘World’s Most’ series. In itself, the volume is a made up of chapters, each one dedicated to a serial killer/pair of serial killers whose cruelty, as ranked by Dr Michael Stone’s “Scale of Evil”. However, the author only refers to either Dr Stone or his work in a couple of instances. There is also a very summary review of what are the measuring factors to the scale, making it nigh on irrelevant pseudo-justification. It makes one wonder: is this collection really a representation of the Most, as per the ranking; or is the ranking a mere excuse, and most of the cases are dealt with to meet Blundell’s fancy? Similarly, the cases only represent a range of countries, without in-depth research beyond the most accessible cases (US, UK, Canada Australia, and some continental European) – hardly ‘the world’.

The rationale behind the order of these best-known cases of serial killers is, as far as I have been able to discern, absent (maybe the Scale of Evil does stand behind it, but it is not clear). The chapters are short, and they attempt to present as factual a tale as possible. That, of course, is not always achieved despite the sparsity of detail on the victims and their specific cases. There is also a focus on the family background that smacks of hidden psychoanalysis, but won’t openly address it – it merely hints at it being the cause for the aberrant behaviours.

In short, this is a short compilation of the monsters that fascinate and horrify many social histories. There is nothing new or compelling, let alone current, but it is a quick read for dark moods (or after having watched a film/series on the subject).

Who would enjoy this
"Serial Killers: The World’s Most Evil" is a book for simple reference, and as such it would be a good read for people with a general curiosity about the subject, yet who don’t want to get too involved in details. Also, given that it is a very easy read, despite the subject matter, it suits a period of ‘in between books’ for readers of crime fiction and murder mysteries.

Who should give this a pass
Mr Blundell’s book is too superficial for a reader who has a keen interest in history, or who looks to understand the psychology of people the book talks about. I would therefore discourage serious crime and history readers from spending time on this – bar as an introductory overview, if they have interest to get a general view of the subject.

Additionally, this is not a book for thrill-seekers – it does not have enough detail and/or gore to entertain such readers. It is more like up update, than an up-to-date narrative.

Conclusions and suggestions
I was rather surprised that Nigel Blundell, an experienced journalist with many (and a few quite popular) titles to his name would produce what I can only see as lazy work. The information in "Serial Killers: The World’s Most Evil" is so accessible, the style so unremarkable, that it rather appears to be amateur, apprenticed ghost-writing.

I picked up the volume expecting to learn much, both morbidly and intellectually picked by the subject matter. Since I had nigh on no knowledge on serial killers to begin with, I did learn a bit. Mostly, how repetitive and gratuitously aggressive these people were. That was about it, really. In fact, I took to search the net for information supplementing that I had read in each chapter. That seemed more productive than the mere reading. Also, I realised how unreliable a supposed research text is, when it offers no source material referencing. This may be an offshoot of my academic background, but it gained in weight the further I progressed.

I have a little obsession with true crime and serial killers but it mainly those in the US. I loved reading about other serial killers from the different countries. This is a dark book and it might not be from some people but if you are like me then you will enjoy this book. There were a few killers that I thought would have been if the in this book but if the author put in ever killer then the book would be very long. I would be reading more from Nigel Blundell in the future.

Wow! What a book! I learned way more than I ever wanted to about serial killers! That being said, this book is really good. Insightful and well written. I'm definitely going to check out the author's other books

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a high level view of a number of serial killers, devoting a short chapter to each with a synopsis of their crimes and how they were caught and punished. The author has made loose attempts to link this back to a ‘Scale of Evil’ that was developed by a psychologist working in this field, but I felt like this almost got forgotten about quite a lot, and only really got mentioned when a serial killer was noted as being on the highest tier of the scale - is, deemed one of the most evil killers, due to a lack of empathy / remorse for their crimes.

It was a decent read and a good entry point into this genre. As noted, it was relatively high level so there was no great depth of discussion regarding each case, but it was a good jumping off point for finding out about cases that you may wish to explore further. I have read a lot in this genre and there were several cases noted that I hadn’t heard about previously. There were also updates for cases right up until the end of 2019 which was good, it contained a good mix of older and more recent cases.

There were a number of significant formatting issues with the book, but I would assume that these will be remedied before the book goes on general release.

In summary, this is a decent read for someone starting to ready widely in this genre.

This book had some very interesting takes on serial killers from around the world. I found it interesting to read about serial killers outside of the United States. This is obviously a dark topic and not everyone will be in the mood to read such a novel. I found the writing a little bit choppy and sometimes the story is hard to follow. It was also interesting to me that Jeffrey Dahmer was not included in this book of serial killers. Overall there were some interesting facts that I learned from this book but it just didn’t flow as well as I would’ve hoped.

I had a fascination about serial killers’ stories.
I want to know how they think. And what drove them to commit such unthinkable acts.

It was a fast and easy read.
Most of the stories in it, I already know.
The way it was written was a bit hurried I believe.
The author wants to dump all the information in a few paragraphs so it felt forced.
But it’s an interesting read all in all. .

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a copy.