Unholy Messenger: The Life and Crimes of the BTK Serial Killer

This book goes into excruciating detail about issues that hardly relate to the BTK case. I found myself tuning out for large portions of the text, and I found the level of detail about unrelated topics to be frustrating. About 10-20 chapters could have been completely eliminated. Definitely buy the abridged version if there is one - you're not missing anything. The relevant detail on the BTK case was interesting and worth the purchase.

This is an excellent book on the BTK murderer, Dennis Rader.
Living within 2 miles of BTK for many years, my interest in this case goes very deep. This book gives you many more details than the "Nightmare In Wichita" book. This gives the reader a greater sense of who BTK really is. More details on the crimes, the victims, those he killed and the family members left behind. You will also learn more about the over zealous Sedgwick County prosecutor, the detectives who worked these cases for many years. By far, this is the best book on BTK.

If your weak in stomach, or easily haunted, you might want to pass on this book.

Possibly. Depends on the topic I suppose.

No. I am a devoted true-crime listener/reader and have listened to/read the very best, the very worst, and everything in between. I predict I will continue to do so.

Sure. He was just doing his job by reading the material in front of him.

Anger and frustration. Too much sympathy for Rader and his family and a negligible amount for the victims and their families in this side of the story. The almost incessant talk of God and faith became laughable, and then annoying. This man savagely murdered 10 people and ripped apart the hearts and souls of the families involved. Where was God exactly?

Although I don't find Rader the most interesting of the known serial killers, this book could have been so much more than it was.

Yes, if that person was also a true crime reader also.

I really liked the in depth physiological profile that was used in the book. I thought at first that is was only the imagination of the author until you learn about the confession and how Dennis talked non-stop about the murders. Since I was not very familiar with this case, I did not know that he had divulged that much information to the cops.

Alan Sklar is great with these true crime books. He can sound very evil.

For any true crime enthusiast, a good read.

but not as good as Graysmith's ZODIAC. Singular's insinuation that supposedly repressive midwestern Kansas culture and Bible-belt relgiion were partially to blame for Radar's behavior and "inability to seek help" is really too easy and heavy-handed and seriously overlooks the serial killer process and psyche. He puts a lot of thoughts in Radar's head from thirty years ago that seem a bit more than assumed

Others have complained that this book has entirely too much detail and seemingly tangential exposition. As a Kansan familiar with both Kansas culture and the Wichita area, I find these details relevant and fascinating. My only real criticism of the narration is that Mr. Sklar mispronounces several regional names (Arkansas River, Menninger Clinic), which is, I suppose, understandable. Less forgivable is his mispronunciation of the word "synod." Otherwise, the narration is very good.

The book was a bit more interesting to listen to during the beginning first half, but found it to be very tiresome and drawn out towards the later half. The author also needless interjects their liberal political biases to explain why BTK was so twisted. It's a good book to learn more about BTK, but you're almost better off to listen to only half of it and spare yourself the boredom of the rest.

Ugh. How could such a fascinating story be so tedious? I can understand why the reader who lived near BTK found this interesting, but unless you have that kind of connection, you are likely to find this excruciatingly detailed and lacking dramatic intensity. The narrator's delivery was disconcertingly out of tune with the content.