Angel of Darkness

The True Story of Randy Kraft and the Most Heinous Murder Spree of the Century

By: Dennis McDougal

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Randy Kraft was highly intelligent, politically active, loyal to his friends, committed to his work - and the killer of 67 people - more than any other serial killer known. This book offers a glimpse into the dark mind of a living monster.

"To open this book is to open a peephole into hell". (Associated Press)

©1991 Dennis McDougal (P)2020 Tantor

Crime Thriller Fans Must Get This Book

Awesome book. I really enjoyed this book. Cringed a lot while listening to this book. Narrator did an excellent job. Had no idea someone could get away with these kinds of crimes as long as this guy did.

3 men, 100+ murders, and one Krafty demon.

Topline thoughts: Excellent story, well told and narrated, and incredibly graphic and gory. I absolutely recommend this book if you can handle descriptions of intense torture and homophobia (not from the author but the people involved), but if hearing occasional slurs and descriptions of mutilated people doesn't sound endurable, absolutely do not get this book.

While the book focuses mainly on the Scorecard Killer Randy Kraft, as other reviews mention there are also a few chapters dedicated to other serial killers. However, their inclusion is necessary, and highly interesting in their own right. Three separate gay male serial killers, all operating on the freeways of Southern California in the 70s and 80s: Patrick Kearney, William Bonin, and Randy Kraft, each claiming *at least* 20+ victims, with Kraft's scorecard suggesting upwards of 65+. The amount of carnage is inconceivable and so tightly focused in a single region and demographic, it's almost impossible to write this story and not mention the other dozens of cases that made finding Kraft more complicated.

That said, there aren't very good separations between, well, any of the sections, so if your attention shifts you may find yourself confused. The author also repeats things, sometimes almost word for word, although usually in different contexts and locations in the book - which is fine, but it had a tendency to make me worry I'd changed chapters somehow. The narrator is good, but if I had to pick one negative, he very occasionally decides to put emotion and such into quotes, but not always, so sometimes he's just reading a statement and sometimes he's acting it out. I didn't mind, but it was odd.

Storywise, this author did a lot of research and the information covered is often directly from police and court sources and media from the time, which is amazing. The author definitely tries to be an enlightened voice about gay men, being sure to dedicate time to the realities and struggles of gay men during the 70s and 80s and the AIDS crisis.

There are a few times where homophobic slurs are used, though they're mostly in the context of quotes from police, and really go to demonstrate how homosexuality made these men a part of the "less dead" class of victims. While discussing Patrick Kearney, who left victims in trash bags, it's relayed that the investigators openly referred to those cases as "*** in a bag" cases, which is absolutely sickening, and from some further research, never received any pushback at the time like the Dahmer case got.

As I said, it is incredibly graphic and gory, the author makes sure to mention during the trial phase that male jurors were particularly uncomfortable with descriptions of the violence, which hopefully gives an indication of the kind of gore and graphic detail that's mentioned. The personal history of Kraft is well researched, the case is well laid out, and the victims largely all got at least 10 or 15 minutes of backstory and family recollections which is often missing from true crime books.

Overall, none of the flaws of this book affect the 5 star rating that the successes of this book merited. I hope if this kind of thing is something that interests you and you have the stomach for, makes its way into your library. You will really appreciate this trip to a different time and place, with all the ambience and historical context that makes a story, even a true story, come to life - all while honoring victims and their sexualities, as well as telling the full story, as gruesome and bizarre as it is, of the vicious psychopaths who terrorized the gay community in Southern California all those years ago.

Good Listen

A well read book and the story is interesting. Surprisingly, I found my self comparing the life of the 70’s and 80’s to life today.

Good Story/Bad Narration

while the story its self was interesting, I found it difficult to say concentrated on anything beyond trying to not get irritated at the voice telling the story. He read it like you would read stereo instructions. With no emotion nor personality to his voice. It was like hearing the voice of alexa relay a story about a heinous murderer. It just didn't match.

Well Done True Crime

This is a story that needed to be told. Excellent reporting with well -researched background. The narrative, the timeline, and the characters were easy to follow. The scope and depravity of this serial killer is a fascinating study of evil.

Exhausting

Great book about a terrible topic. Also covers the other two Freeway Killers. Gruesome stuff, but informative.

Is the death penalty REALLY so wrong?

(As posted in Goodreads)
Ughh! I have long and a strident "anti-death penalty" proponent, listening to the actions described here makes me shake my head in disbelief that anyone could actually do that, and in question of whether I actually stand on the right side of the death penalty debate…
Shiver!
(Yeah, I'm still anti-deathpenalty, but I can see where those on the other side are coming from…)

Excellent, but too long

I think that there are too many long, drawn out details of the victim’s earlier lives and relationships. While it’s important for their stories be told, the book is too long.

A very good listen

The book was very descriptive and easy to follow, the reader was clear and concise. Not for the squeamish.

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not very good, just a little too much for me, trust me, B Fuller