The Last Victim

A True-Life Journey into the Mind of a Serial Killer

By: Jason Moss, Jeffrey Kottler

Narrated by: Thomas Fawley

Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Dear Mr. Manson....

It started with a college course assignment, then escalated into a dangerous obsession. Eighteen-year-old honor student Jason Moss wrote to men whose body counts had made criminal history: men named Dahmer, Manson, Ramirez, and Gacy.

Dear Mr. Dahmer....

Posing as their ideal victim, Jason seduced them with his words. One by one they wrote him back, showering him with their madness and violent fantasies. Then the game spun out of control. John Wayne Gacy revealed all to Jason - and invited his pen pal to visit him in prison....

Dear Mr. Gacy....

It was an offer Jason couldn't turn down. Even if it made him....

The book that has riveted the attention of the national media, this may be the most revealing look at serial killers ever recorded and the most illuminating study of the dark places of the human mind ever attempted.

©1999 Jason Moss and Jeffrey Kottler (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Someone should have Intervened

As I was listening to this story, I became more and more disturbed that no one in this young man's inner circle noticed how unstable he was. The fact that he was living with his parents and younger brother should have made it much more difficult for him to continue his bizarre obsession. But it didn't seem to impede his intentions at all. In fact, this author indicated, on multiple times in this book , that his mother (and other people he knew) seemed to be in awe of him because of his interactions with these serial killers. Of course, that was only the opinion of the author and I know from reading this book that his reality was quite distorted. The fact of the matter is that this was a young man just out of high school in his first semester of introductory psychology. He had no training . He was quite grandiose and, even though he had no qualifications, called himself a "good behavioral psychologist". He claimed that all of his actions were for a psychology assignment. I am surprised if he had actually consulted with his professor about his ongoing sexually-charged conversations with John Wayne Gacy and his intentions to meet him in person, why the professor (who presumably is a licensed clinician) would not have advised him of how unwise and unsafe his plans were. These plans were not only unsafe for the author but for his entire family. This author was giving out his home address to multiple serial killers and pretending to have the same goals and mindsets as the various serial killers. He spoke on the phone and, eventually, in person to John Wayne Gacy. The author was leading him on as if he wanted to be his boyfriend.The author told J.W.G that he (the author) was molesting his own 14 year old brother in an attempt to "gain his trust". He accepted money and gifts from John Wayne Gacy. In fact, John Wayne Gacy paid for him to come visit him in prison. A fact that the author claims his parents knew about and were ok with. Then he acted surprised when he went to the prison and J.W.G. tried to kiss him and fondle him. I am not sure how any of this could have actually been for any type of college assignment let alone one for a first semester psychology student.
This young man appeared to be slipping into his own mental illness and no one seemed to notice.When the entire story is reviewed, it is clear that there was no clinical point to any of this. What did he learn? That John Wayne Gacy was a bad man? ...that Richard Ramirez was dangerous and creepy? That Charles Manson is a mad man? Everything he learned from his so called "research" was already well known.
I ended up googling this author before the book was finished because I thought I would find that he had ended up psychiatrically hospitalized... instead I found out that he had killed himself 10 years ago. How sad. He really was a disturbed and troubled young man and this erratic behavior was a crystal clear indication of his mental status. This book is an unsettling story of this young man's descent into mental illness. It really is difficult to listen to.

Pulling the Covers back and Exposing True Evil

It is a true story of the autobiographical story of Jason Moss who wrote to serial killers and got into their psyche while doing so by intentionally fabricating stories to tap into their brain to get some insight that could explain their murders. Riveting, Scary and thought provoking. What this book uncovers is the the devils work in a personal setting. There is true evil out there and this book uncovers the shadows of the blackness that truly exist in not just the most commonly known serial killers, but from everyday people who walk down the sidewalk in front of your house.

John Wayne Gacy we all know from what we have heard and read was a terrible person and a psychotic killer. But this book puts you in the same room with John Waynce Gacy and locks the doors. Gacy is a monster. But this book exposes him for the true monster that he really is and help seperates him from any prior thoughts you may a have a had about him. Yeah he is a serial killer, and we know he killed 30 something people and buried them under his house, thats common knowledge. But that really doesn't seperate him from the others right?? Well read this and you will change the way you think. This book also covers Richard Ramirez, Dahmer and Manson. Great stuff.....but listen to it with the lights on and whatever you do don't listen it before you go to sleep. You don't want to let these guys into your dreams at night. The only negative is the narrator who is terrible, but not enough to warrant a 5 star rating.

Narrator

What did you love best about The Last Victim?

It was an a creepy, scary and exciting glimpse into the mind of serial killers.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Thomas Fawley?

I don't know, but I did not enjoy his narration. Found his voice very irritating. I almost quit listening, but persisted because of the story.

Terrible book all around

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Protagonist came off as a spoiled arrogant brat. Narrator was awful. Hard to tell which was worse. Definitely do NOT recommend this book.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Bunker Hill

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

None at all

Any additional comments?

Horrible book all around. I generally like true crime and psychology, but I hated Jason Moss and the narrator. I had to force myself to finish the book because I really didn't care what happened to Moss.

Too much gory detail - from a non-prude

The story focuses on the author's voice rather than on Gacey's deviant psychology. It is fascinating to see the 'why' and 'how' the author would set about doing what he did, putting himself in such a vulnerable position and how it as all accomplished. I did expect there would be more in terms of unearthing Gacey's own background. Instead, there's a LOT of lingering on the sexual and violent nature of the murders and not much to shed light on why Gacey might've been the way he was. I'm no prude but there was so much graphic detail that I skipped through much of that, not out of squeamishness but out of boredom. Again the author's story and his mind set is fascinating to read about.

The narrator has a stilted quality but somehow fit the voice of the author and did like the reading quite a lot.

Young fool goes looking for trouble - and finds it

The writer/main character in this book is an ego centric arrogant jerk who goes down a stupid course of action despite being warned by many many people that this could have terrible consequences. Foolishly, and with little regard for the danger he places himself and other people in, he ignores the warnings and it comes back to bite him. Who could have predicted that laying bait for serial killers with a mixture of lies, false compliments and pretending to be their perfect victim type could backfire??? At times interesting, mostly frustrating , this is an immature and foolish young mans story, in his own self righteous and short sighted words. If you read up about the writer after finishing the book you will find he became Gacys last victim in more ways than one.

Horrible

Any additional comments?

The narration is slow to the point that it is painful. While the books premise seemed intriguing, the author drones on and on about his childhood, not getting to the actual plot for quite some time. Try as I like, I just couldn't hang in there.

Great topic, Inventive technique, but lacks...

Would you listen to The Last Victim again? Why?

No, because the story is not inventive, if the storyline stayed true to the great inventive way Moss gathers his information I would have rated 5 stars.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Narration was okay, he does a great job changing his voices so you know who is talking, however the voices could have used some improvement.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just when Moss decides to share the details of the conversation/letters he received Moss would say it is to graphic to repeat... Ummm, I am an adult and isn't that why you wrote the book?

Any additional comments?

Author has a good attempt at writing a book, but he needs some maturity/seasoning on writing. I would recommend solely for the unique and inventive way he gathers the trust and information from his subjects.

Intriguing but I had to listen to it in 3x speed

This book is definitely not for the faint at heart. It is a true portrayal of a young teenage boy getting caught up in a world with John Wayne Gacy. With that comes all the horror of what Gacy was really like. Sadly, Jason Moss committed suicide back in 2006. But I can't say I'm surprised. His ordeal with Gacy would badly scar anyone for life, regardless of their own mental health.

The narrator read painfully slow though. I usually listen to books at 1.5x the regular speed but this one I used 3x speed and still completely understood every word and heard several noticeable pauses.

Great story, odd execution.

I had heard about this story before. I'm not exactly sure where I read about it, it might have been a write up on Reddit or something similar, so I had a vague understanding of the outline but did not know all the details and the actual depth of the situation. Late one night when I had time to spare and had just finished another book. I was fueled for some more true crime. The story I had just read was about Ed Gein, (Another story in which I knew the outline and most of the facts but didn't know all the details.) and while looking for books in the similar wheelhouse I stumbled upon this. I was very hesitant at first because having read so much true crime, and lots of unresolved mysteries and different online write-ups, I felt like I knew everything there was to know about John Wayne Gacey. However, after reading a few reviews I decided that I would give it a shot and worst case scenario return the audiobook if I did not like it. Well, I have to admit that I did enjoy it and I found it to be a very interesting story. There was a lot to this that I did not know about and after having heard the full thing I must admit I was very interested throughout the read and at some points kind of riveted. Granted I was reading it alone at night in my step parents house which is kind of in the middle of nowhere. The atmosphere helped I'm sure.

My biggest complaint is not necessarily with the performance of the reader of the audiobook, it was just how the book was written didn't seem to have that hook that grabs you initially and reels you in. I knew what was coming so I was able to continue on, but I must admit that if I was a complete novice to the story I probably would have just stopped and looked for a different book. So my suggestion to you is listen through the first handful of chapters and by then you should be content enough to finish. It is a very interesting story with lots of questions that get raised. Some of these questions will never have answers but in my mind that is the nature of true crime. So I do recommend this book, I think it's a good read especially for anybody that already thought they were completely familiar with the case. It definitely adds a new layer to the story. It is, in my mind what compels a lot of us to the genre and to the subject matter in general.