- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Granta Books (19 Nov 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 186207982X
- ISBN-13: 978-1862079823
- Product Dimensions: 24 x 15.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,189,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Daily Mail, Christopher Hudson
"This book reads so much like a thriller that you must keep reminding yourself it isn't fiction"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Telegraph, Toby Clements
"A classy piece of true crime ... a horribly engrossing study of a horrible damaged human being"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a standout in the true crime genre - very well researched, that is obvious, and very well told.
Jack Unterweger had so many extraordinary facets to his personality that it is hard to even know where to begin. He was, for one thing, a serial sex killer. And he was a journalist who covered his own murders. Jack Unterweger murdered women from California to Austria - when he wasn't busy simply seducing every female who came within hailing distance. The record of his conquests short of murder is in and of itself incredible. Unterweger seemed to have a mesmerist's ability to get a woman to do literally whatever he wanted.
The story is dense, quite detailed, well written, and of such large scope it is bound to be regarded as the definitive book on its subject and a highly regarded entry on the shelf of serial killer literature.
Laura James
Jack Unterweger had so many extraordinary facets to his personality that it is hard to even know where to begin. He was, for one thing, a serial sex killer. And he was a journalist who covered his own murders. Jack Unterweger murdered women from California to Austria - when he wasn't busy simply seducing every female who came within hailing distance. The record of his conquests short of murder is in and of itself incredible. Unterweger seemed to have a mesmerist's ability to get a woman to do literally whatever he wanted.
The story is dense, quite detailed, well written, and of such large scope it is bound to be regarded as the definitive book on its subject and a highly regarded entry on the shelf of serial killer literature.
Laura James
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Vienna Woods killer is a fine exposition of the staggering life and crimes of the Austrian serial killer, Jack Unterweger.
For the uninitiated, Unterweger brutally murdered a young girl in the 1970s and went on to serve a `life' sentence. Whilst in prison he established a reputation as a poet and novelist and, with influential backers among the Austrian intelligentsia, secured his release. Free in the early 1990s, he set himself up as a writer and playwright, also conducting occasional forays into journalism - his subject often centred on prostitution. What nobody knew at the time, was that he secretly went on a killing spree, slaughtering at least another nine women.
Using Unterweger's diaries, interviews, court reports and other primary documents, John Leake does a fine job unravelling the complexities of this case, which at times seems implausible even by Hollywood's standards (ironically one of the backdrops for three of Unteweger's murders). Just as Gordon Burn memorably got inside the heads of Fred and Rosemary West in `Happy Like Murderers' so Leake taps into the psyche of Unterwerger. Particularly good was the final part, which detailed the police investigation and subsequent court case.
Nevertheless, the Vienna Woods Killer falls short on a few counts. Leake gets close to Unterweger, the police and some of his friends; but there isn't nearly enough of the victims, their families and those they leave behind.
Second, the prose is often flat and stilted, particularly in the first parts. We have excerpts of conversation whose provenance remains unknown. At times it reads like a bad crime novel, when actually Leake is taking us through an extraordinary real life case. He also never adequately asks just why Jack Unterweger was inspired to carry out such barbaric acts of murder.
But even taking aside Leake's limitations in prose (his research cannot really be criticised), overall this is as gripping a true crime book as I have read in several years and a worthy account of an extraordinary case.
For the uninitiated, Unterweger brutally murdered a young girl in the 1970s and went on to serve a `life' sentence. Whilst in prison he established a reputation as a poet and novelist and, with influential backers among the Austrian intelligentsia, secured his release. Free in the early 1990s, he set himself up as a writer and playwright, also conducting occasional forays into journalism - his subject often centred on prostitution. What nobody knew at the time, was that he secretly went on a killing spree, slaughtering at least another nine women.
Using Unterweger's diaries, interviews, court reports and other primary documents, John Leake does a fine job unravelling the complexities of this case, which at times seems implausible even by Hollywood's standards (ironically one of the backdrops for three of Unteweger's murders). Just as Gordon Burn memorably got inside the heads of Fred and Rosemary West in `Happy Like Murderers' so Leake taps into the psyche of Unterwerger. Particularly good was the final part, which detailed the police investigation and subsequent court case.
Nevertheless, the Vienna Woods Killer falls short on a few counts. Leake gets close to Unterweger, the police and some of his friends; but there isn't nearly enough of the victims, their families and those they leave behind.
Second, the prose is often flat and stilted, particularly in the first parts. We have excerpts of conversation whose provenance remains unknown. At times it reads like a bad crime novel, when actually Leake is taking us through an extraordinary real life case. He also never adequately asks just why Jack Unterweger was inspired to carry out such barbaric acts of murder.
But even taking aside Leake's limitations in prose (his research cannot really be criticised), overall this is as gripping a true crime book as I have read in several years and a worthy account of an extraordinary case.
Format:Hardcover
This true crime book reads just like a novel and this is a great tribute to the author's skills as a writer. It is also well researched with many interviews with the key players in the book, and there is also plenty of material from the chief protagonist. I am afraid I cheated by looking elsewhere for the conclusion before reading to the very end.
A few points make the book less than perfect. An index would have been useful, as would more information about the victims, and perhaps about the killer's background. Police files would probably have given information on these points and it did seem that the author had access to these, despite the relative modernity of the case. Victims do tend to be overlooked in comparison with the killer in books on murder and this is no exception. The politics around the release of the killer could also have been explored a little more than it was.
Overall, though, a very gripping read, informative and educational.
A few points make the book less than perfect. An index would have been useful, as would more information about the victims, and perhaps about the killer's background. Police files would probably have given information on these points and it did seem that the author had access to these, despite the relative modernity of the case. Victims do tend to be overlooked in comparison with the killer in books on murder and this is no exception. The politics around the release of the killer could also have been explored a little more than it was.
Overall, though, a very gripping read, informative and educational.
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