I’m not over reacting when I say that Peter Vrosnky’s Sons of Cain is one of the best detailed and entertaining explorations of serial killers I’ve read in a long time. Not only does the book give true accounts of serial killers, it also explains the cultural side of fears we’ve attached to fictional characters. He starts from the beginning of human story telling and goes into explorations of modern times.
Vronsky posits that vampire and werewolf myth were created due to two different types of killers. Vampires are the more methodical, well-planned killers. Traditionally, these were the wealthy. Werewolves are though to be more of the violent disorganized killers. He also goes into how witchcraft trials were used to allow men to use their violent urges against women and how at that time serial killers were harder to find.
One of the strengths of Sons of Cain is that the author sometimes uses older cases and then compares them to the details of more modern cases. For example, he may take a less known killer from Britain and then compare him to Ted Bundy. This definitely brings the concepts into clarity for a modern audience.
Sons of Cain is a great book if you’re looking into the psychology behind killers and their existence since human beings became sentient creatures. I will admit that this book can be a bit much at times, especially in the sections that involve sexual abuse and killing. There were even a few times where I had to walk away and come back to the book.
Sons of Cain is now available from Berkley Publishing Group.
