Killer Clown

The John Wayne Gacy Murders

By: Terry Sullivan, Peter T. Maiken

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

He was a model citizen. A hospital volunteer. And one of the most sadistic serial killers of all time. But few people could see the cruel monster beneath the colorful clown makeup that John Gacy wore to entertain children in his Chicago suburb. Few could imagine what lay buried beneath his house of horrors—until a teenage boy disappeared before Christmas in 1978, leading prosecutor Terry Sullivan on the greatest manhunt of his career.

Reconstructing the investigation—from records of violence in Gacy's past, to the gruesome discovery of 29 corpses of abused boys in Gacy's crawlspace and four others found in the nearby river—Sullivan's shocking eyewitness account takes you where few true crime books ever go: inside the heart of a serial murder investigation and trial.

©2013 Terry Sullivan and Peter T. Maiken (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Gripping." (Publishers Weekly)

Horrible, Fascinating True Crime

Narration: Excellent...Deep resonance appropriate for subject matter....pace facilitates comprehension....serious tone obviously appropriate for subject matter.

Story: Fascinating and horrible. Detailed and informative. Completely shocking.


Highly recommended.

Insightful and informative

I hate to say it is entertaining because the subject matter is so horrific. This case broke when I was a child and it’s probably the reason am so fascinated by true crime. In addition, the crimes took place in the Chicagoland area, not too far from where I grew up and still live.

Terry Sullivan offers a unique insight into the crimes and the investigation. Seeing the process through the eyes of law enforcement is very interesting. The detail, though it seemed extreme at times, was crucial to the “story”. Perhaps my favorite part of the book is the epilogue, where the author details his long term effects from the case and how it changes him as a person.

If you have interest in this case, this book is one worth reading. It’s not sensationalized, but told from a humanistic perspective.

good book not mind blowing

it's a good book from child 33 backwards so you dont get the drama of kids coming up missing. no build up of fear.

A chilling story

I still remember the day my sister came home from work(she worked at one of the drugstores that John Gacy remodeled) and the news was on showing him being arrested. She said”I know that man” then my mom pipes up “he’s being arrested”! My sister says “what for he so nice”! Then my mom says “ for killing a bunch of boys” . My sister was in total shock. I’m just thankful that at the time she was a girl and not a boy. I would highly recommend this book to anyone but especially to those whom live through the Gacy years.

unlistenable.

I couldn't get over the narrator. it's an old man with a lisp that's really hard to understand.