Dead Ends

The Pursuit, Conviction, and Execution of Serial Killer Aileen Wuornos

By: Joseph Michael Reynolds

Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

When police in Florida's Volusia County were called to investigate the murder of Richard Mallory, whose gunshot-ridden body had been found in the woods just north of Daytona Beach in December 1989, their search led them to a string of dead ends before the trail went cold six months later. During the spring and summer of 1990, the bodies of six more middle-aged white men were discovered.

The police speculated that the murders were connected, but they never anticipated what they'd soon discover: The killings were the work of a single culprit, Aileen Wuornos, one of the first women to ever fit the profile of a serial killer. With the cooperation of her former lover and accomplice, Tyria Moore, the police were able to solicit a confession from Wuornos about her months-long killing spree along Florida's interstate highways. The nation was quickly swept up in the drama of her trial and the media dubbed her the "Damsel of Death" as horrifying details of her past as a prostitute and drifter emerged.

Written by the Reuters reporter who initially broke the story, Dead Ends is a thrilling firsthand account of Wuornos' capture, trial, and ultimate sentencing to death by lethal injection that goes beyond the media frenzy to reveal the even more disturbing truth.

©1992 Michael Reynolds (P)2019 Tantor

Not the best performance nor the best researched

Found this to be a shallow read that relied heavily on law enforcement transcripts and missed some of the issues with the case and investigation. Combine this with some weak narration choices and let’s just say I am glad it was included in my membership and I did not waste credits.

Misogynist fantasy

The author isn't shy about making things up for dramatic effect, narrating at length the dying thoughts of several men and the thoughts and motivations of Wuornos herself. He sprinkled these fictionalized accounts with misogynist slurs and made numerous offhand remarks about Wuornos' history of sex work contradicting her claims of being ashamed to be seen naked in front of customers that stop just short of implying as a sex worker she couldn't complain of rape. He passed up every opportunity to humanize her, including when she turned herself in to protect her girlfriend. The real Wuornos, whoever she was, gets substituted for a juvenile caricature of senseless evil. The performer exaggerated rather than moderating the effect of this caricature, hamming up the dialogue with his dramatic villain voice or with an irritating whiny voice whenever Wuornos was quoted (or ventriloquized, which the author did frequently, making up thoughts and quotes that couldn't be verified.) I'm glad this book was free and that it's over.

Too boring

I am a fan of true crime with Aileen Wurnos being one of the most interesting crimes. This book is absolutely boring. It jumps around and tells the story so slow. For half the book i didn't even recognize the story. Aileen Wurnos isn't even mentioned until about halfway through the book. If you like a boring story about people just finding her victims. No information on the investigation just how victims kept being found. 👎👎

I could not get through it.

I’m disappointed. The book is poorly written. The narrator is boring and has horrible voices for people. The story jumps around and goes way off the topic describing people who really don’t have anything to do or add to the story. I was hoping for a book about the killer. Her life and why she killed. The book spends more time focusing on the victims and useless information than doesn’t add anything to the story.

Fabricated details from crime scenes.

Would prefer a non bias report of factual information. Lots of filler, and not enough solid information. I didn’t hear anything that I hadn’t already heard from the media.