The Sex Slave Murders

The True Story of Serial Killers Gerald & Charlene Gallego

By: R. Barri Flowers

Narrated by: Barbara Whitesides

Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

A marriage made in hell....

Barely five feet tall, sweet and innocent looking, Charlene Gallego used all of her charms to beguile pretty teenage girls and young women into the back of a van, where her lethal husband, Gerald, lay waiting. A killer couple bound together by secrets, lies, and sex slave fantasies....

Married multiple times and still in his early 30s, Gerald Gallego found the perfect companion in Charlene. Over a grisly period of 26 months, their bloody and brutal rampage of kidnapping, rape, and murder spanned three states and claimed 11 lives.

In this much-more-frightening-than-fiction tale of domination, depraved lust, substance abuse, violence, and murder, award-winning and best-selling criminologist R. Barri Flowers tells the whole story of a couple's twisted relationship, their ghastly crimes and ability to elude the law, how they were finally captured, and the two riveting trials that ultimately pitted wife against husband, with the stakes higher than either one imagined in their murderous bond.

©1995 R. Barri Flowers (P)2011 R. Barri Flowers

Critic reviews

• Suspense Magazine's Best Books of 2011

"Flowers always relates an engrossing story in a hard-hitting and fast-paced manner." (Robert Scott, author of Shattered Innocence and Driven to Murder)

"R. Barri Flowers has done a tremendous job, and if you are looking for a true-crime read, this book should not be missed." (RAWSISTAZ.com)

"A gripping account of the murders committed by husband-and-wife serial killers Gerald and Charlene Gallego. Top true-crime author and criminologist R. Barri Flowers provides his keen insight and expertise into what made these killing partners tick. Flowers knows his stuff. Compelling reading." (Gary C. King, author of Blood Lust: Portrait of a Serial Sex Killer and Driven to Kill)

difficult. silly writing leads to bad book

i love to read true crime. the point of. wanting to read is the desire to know more then basic summery. this book wasn't that good. im of course familiar with the couple, but thought id get details. the writing was really bad when it came to these fictitious sounding "statements" read like quotes. it sounded like stupid generic statements someone would use in a fiction book. if they were some how direct quotes, it was never explained. just make up dialogue. ruined it and i struggled to the very end but..alas i paid for it so i finished it.

Save Yourself the Time and Watch the Video

I have always believed that the book is always better than the video or in this case the documentary. One of the largest reasons for this is that more information is contained in the book. I have become used to gaining a lot more info in the book. In this book I wanted to find out something new about the murders or murderers. This was not the case for the book. You could Google the same information that is in the book. I was very disappointed in this work.

Killer Couple!

Story 4/5
Narration 3/5

Details the exploits of this killer couple but doesn't get <b>too</b> detailed.

The narrator has a nice voice, but all of her male characters sound constipated. I kid you not! The audio is also somewhat distorted.

quick read

It's a great book. brief history and then goes right into the crimes. interesting straight forward.

Engaging story; narration is good overall

I liked the female narrator's voice, but it is unsettling when she voices gruff Male voices.

Monotone spewing of data

This book proves that story telling is an art. Instead of telling a story, this author just presents information and not even detailed information at that. Instead of describing the crimes, they are listed like this: "he committed an armed robbery". What could have been detailed and interesting was instead dry and boring.

Don't Waste Your Time or Money

What would have made The Sex Slave Murders better?

Actual information about the crimes not a simple recitation of well known facts and outright conjecture.

Has The Sex Slave Murders turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Yes, read too fast in many parts. Voice was not compassionate and in several instances stumbled and tried to catch her breath. Novice attempt.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Sex Slave Murders?

All of it

Any additional comments?

This was the most boring 5 hours of my life! Very disappointed in this book. Will NOT listen to another book by this author or narrator.

Gerald and Charlene Weren’t Really This Boring

Performance: The narration is needlessly dramatic and strangely over-acted. When Whitesides changes into a character voice it’s grating and strange. I had to force myself to listen to the end.

Story: There was a lot of needless repetition and the story isn’t told in a linear fashion. Unfortunately, that artifice did nothing to further the story. One how this book didn’t tell me anything I couldn’t real in six minutes on Murderpedia. There is also a strange amount of sympathy for Charlene. That bias makes the book nearly useless as a resource.

Overall: I wouldn’t bother recommending this to anyone. The is better information presented in a better fashion on the internet. The title of the book is The Aex Slave Murders but literally doesn’t give any detail of anything. The narrative simply says they kidnapped brutally raped and murdered young girls. Nowhere in the book are any of those things detailed. It makes the Gallegos seem like a vaguely irritating couple with strange voices who probably murders somw women. Absolutely awful.