REVIEW: Monster by Steve Jackson

Monster by Steve Jackson
Genre: True Crime
Read: 17th December 2013
0786032537 (ISBN13: 9780786032532)
Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon

★★★★ 4 stars

Absolutely enthralling from start to finish. I'd never heard of Tom Luther but the byline which described him as charming and as deadly as Bundy got me interested. I'd read Ann Rule's "The Stranger Beside Me" directly before this though Ted Bundy was far more widely known internationally and I'd always known about him, but not some of the other monsters out there just as deadly.

I have to say Luther's entire account of the disappearance and subsequent murder of Cher Elder seriously was unbelievable. I mean he couldn't remember which lie he had told, and they all conflicted each other. There was no doubt in my mind that he was guilty of her murder, and many others which still remain open and unsoiled. But Luther is a sociopath. He has no conscience. Nor does he care in the slightest that those families do not have the closure they so wish to have. As the killer, and a sociopath, he has the ultimate power in taking those secrets with him to the grave. He will never confess. He will tell the truth. It has always been someone else's fault and never Tom Luther's. He is a true monster. In fact I don't see him the same as Ted Bundy. Bundy was more charismatic, more charming, more believable. He could live two different lives and be different people as the circumstances took him. Luther is just a narcissistic sociopath who is neither charming or charismatic, and most definitely not believable. And he belongs on death row, instead of wasting tax payers money keeping him in free accommodation, free meals, free gym membership and all the things he has robbed his victims of (the ones he killed). As for the survivors of his most brutal and horrifying attacks, nothing could ever compensate for what he did to them or what he took from them. He is a monster in the truest sense of the word.

Don't get me wrong, this is a fascinating and captivating read and thoroughly riveting. I cannot say enjoyable, as that seems a bit of an oxymoron in this case. I truly enjoyed reading this book, as it gives us a peek into the lives of all involved and how it each affected them. No one is left untouched. But above all, Scott Richardson's tenacity and the heartbreak felt by his victims and even his confused and torn girlfriend, touches your heart. But sadly, as is always the case in real life, justice is never truly served...not always. And for some, death is the only thing they do deserve. And that is why there is a place called hell. May he rot there gripped in the torment he inflicted on his innocent victims, a thousand-fold over.

And the next time someone scoffs at the notion of monsters, remember this:
Tom Luther is living proof that monsters are real!