Beyond Cruel

The Chilling True Story of America's Most Sadistic Killer

By: Stephen G. Michaud

Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

Authorities opened the door on one man's hidden life...

Mike DeBardeleben was known as the Mall Passer for the way he passed off fake money at local shopping centers. But when US Secret Service agents finally arrested him, they were met with more than just phony bills. They found that their counterfeiter led a shocking double life....

...only to discover a house of horrors.

DeBardeleben's home was littered with drugs, bondage gear, and a collection of audio tapes in which he recorded the abuse of his countless victims. As the evidence mounted, a terrifying profile emerged of a man who forced women to be his accomplices, practiced sadism, even dressed up in women's clothes - a serial killer whose depraved fantasies led to a spree of violence that would last as long as 18 years...and would end in a sentence of almost 400 years in prison. As terrifying as it is true, this is the story of a man who proved to be, beyond the shadow of a doubt, beyond cruel.

©1994 Stephen G. Michaud (P)2020 Tantor

meh!

Oh my goodness does book was dull! The story just kept repeating itself and had very poor continuity of time line.

Boring as all get out

The story is interesting, but the way it is told is a snore fest. The narrator sounds like a robot and the story jumps around too much for me to have been able to keep interested.

This narrator is TERRIBLE.

I listen to a lot of true crime. A lot. I've never heard of this guy before, so I thought it would be super interesting and new for me. The narrator is SO BAD. Mechanical, boring, lacks complete emotion/emphasis. The book itself could have been good, but the narrator was so bad that the majority of the time I ended up zoning out on the monotone.

Dark, but a most interesting glimpse into a sick mans mind.

Overall story was. Compelling and well told. The narrator leaves a lot to be desired. The book is read in clipped diction, and very dry.

rape and funny money

this was absolutely the most boring serial killer audiobook I have ever listened to in my entire life. there was more time spent talking about counterfeiting money than the sadistic and gruesome tortures as advertised on the front cover of the book. in the book He's compared to Jeffrey Dahmer and a few other serial killers. 5 hours into it and I was so bored it was ridiculous. shame on the author.

Gripping

This story is disturbing to say the least. I believe what makes it so disturbing is the fact that it is all true! It's unfathomable that there are people like this in the world. I think I will be just a bit more watchful and protective of my children going forward. I adamantly oppose the death penalty, but in these cases, I would have said, "Light him up like a Christmas tree!"

Gruesome, also the man next door.

The evil that men do never ceases to terrify me. To think, we were all babies once.

Good material but bad execution

I enjoyed it as to the type of book it is but I could not follow one chapter to another through the book, it’s all over the place, terribly ordered

The most notorious unknown serial killer

This story is insane. You will learn about one of the most insane and notorious serial killers that have ever lived. I had never heard of Mike Debardeleben before this book. Now I tell all my true crime friends about him! The guy doing the reading is a little annoying at first but you will get used to him. What a great audiobook though!

Story was good, Narrator not so much

While I enjoyed the story and how it was written, I struggled very much to finish this due to the narrator's clipped speech, over-enunciation, and monotonous tone moderation.

As much as a good story can carry itself, whoever reads through the material can impact the experience just as much as a poorly written and prepared book. I won't be able to push through another one of these narrator's books. It was just too much for me.

Reading the book would be viable as it's a good story.

4 stars

Good book on a lesser known serial killer who is as sadistic as any in history. In fact it might be the only book on audible about debardelaben.