Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Good book of crimes committed against other human beings. This book is well written, but not for the faint of heart or squeamish people. I went and read more books from this author. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving this book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

I love true Crime books and this book really scared me, it was chilling reading about these killers it was scary that these things can happen that people can do such horrible crazy things,
This book was very well written and researched.. with a lot of in-depth knowledge and understanding of the killers.

I just couldn't believe what was going on its like how can this happen what make a them kill. I highly recommend this book

I found this book to be very informative and enjoyed reading it. Not only does the book describe the actions of the killers in fantastic detail, it also gives a glimpse into the psyche of these killers and possible motives for them to have committed these crimes. Cannibalism is seen as one of the few crimes that is even more despicable than murder, though this may be because cannibalism is just murder with extra steps, so being able to get into the minds of these people and motives behind these brutal slayings was something that I found greatly enjoyable, as macabre as that sounds. Besides the content itself, Blundell has a way of weaving the facts into a narrative web that keeps the reading from feeling like less of a book and more of an academic paper. Overall, I found the book very enjoyable, and may even buy a physical copy for myself in the future.

A series of short biographies of some of the most heinous killers in history. Obviously not a masterpiece of literature, but an excellent source of information for those who write books on the subject.

A great book with a lot of information and detail about some of the world's worst cannibals/butchers. It was very informative and well written and one I would highly recommend.

'Serial Killers: Butchers and Cannibals' is not exactly a fun read, but it is thrilling. Blundell collects a whole range of disturbed and violent characters in this book, many of which have been infamous for years. What I did appreciate is that Blundell's book looks further than just the US, bringing us the 'Terminator' and 'The Vampire of Hanover'.

Blundell usually plunges you right into the action, whether that action is in the middle of a murder or during their trial, before retracing the killers' origins. There is, of course, a lot of trauma in this book, but for those interested in True Crime it is a useful reference book.

This was a worthy effort, but I didn't enjoy it. This is one of those kinds of books that needs to be more sensational

A gory tale of Murder and Mayhem! Perfectly crafted for the lover of true crime and serial killers!

This in-depth book covers serial killers who are well known and some that you may not be familiar with. The entire book is a gore-fest, filled with facts, the details of the crimes, and what made these serial killers tick. This book was beyond amazing and completely went above and beyond the expectations that I had for it.

I have never read anything by Nigel Blundell, but this won't be the last! I enjoyed his writing style, the blunt honesty and the information that was provided. This book will be a hit!

Review for 'Serial Killers: Butchers and Cannibals ' by Nigel Blundell

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Pen & Sword True Crime.

This is the first book that I have read by this author. I would definitely read more of his work.

This book looks into some of the most famous serial killers such as Jack the Ripper, Albert Fish, Edward Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer as well as those not as well heard of, 28 in all.

I was surprised that I've never heard of some of these serial killers and found it interesting that Jack the ripper is so infamous although he "only" murdered 5 people, yet I had never heard of Berdella who was extremely violent in his murders or Chikatilo who murdered 53 people and I'm only 15% of the way in (I write reviews as I read).

This book gives just the right amount of information on the killers past to show how their murderous instincts may have developed but not too much to bore the reader as some books do.

About half way through the book several sentences were repeated which made me really struggle reading it, especially when reading about Anatoly Onoprienko and Richard Ramirez. Unfortunately as this made me struggle to read these parts the book lost a rating for me.

Excellent addition of the photos at the end although they would have been better placed next to the chapters they related to while each story was fresh in the mind. I found the photos and descriptions to not match. For example, the same photo was named as 2 different people.

I find it disturbing that even when these serial Killers admitted to killing, for example, 20 people they may only get charged with the murder of 5!!

Overall a well written book, very descriptive and I can tell quite a lot of research went into it. The descriptions were excellent and also very gory as you would expect.

I would recommend this book to fans of horror and true crime.

176 pages

£8.32 to purchase on kindle. I think this is quite an expensive price for a kindle version of this book.

Rated 4/5 (I enjoyed it) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon.Com and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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Thank you Netgally and the author for the gifted copy. All thoughts are completely my own.

This book was extremely well researched. Also very descriptive. If you don't want to read about gore this is not the book for you. It's very detailed, I really appreciate all the research that went into this.

4 ****

I love true crime books like this. I love to read everything a out serial killers.
This is one of the good ones if read

This book gives a history of serial killers who are also cannibals throughout history. Most of them have been either abused, abandoned by their biological parents, or experienced death early on in life and became obsessed with it. A lot of them were men who discovered they were gay, so a lot of these were perverted pedeophiles, who got aroused watching their victims die. Quite a few others picked up prostitites because they did not otherwise have good luck with women.

I was particularly disturbed with the ones who would break into people's homes and take their kids, some as young as 5 years old, which happens to be the age of my daughter. Quite a few of them had a burial ground located inside their house or close to it. I can only imagine what a grisly site these police officer's discovered realizing these killers were cooking their victims and eating them when they went to investigate the crime scene. One of them admitted they liked "young flesh" the best, after the police discovered a little girl's hand cooking on the kitchen stove. It's enough to give you goosebumps.

Being a fan of true crime novels, I liked the fact this book covered several and not just one well known case. This was quite an intriguing read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in this genre.

I have always had a fascination of true crime. This book is for any true crime enthusiasts. But I will be honest sometimes the detail is a little to gory.
It’s certainly well thought out and researched.
Thank you to both NetGalley and publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Nigel Blundell for an ARC of this title in return for an honest review.

When I was in my teens and twenties, I had a fascination with serial killers. I wanted to know how their minds worked. Why they were able to commit such heinous acts without remorse.

This book was very informative. I did have to put the book down multiple times. Violence personified, put me on overload if I did not take a breather.

I no longer have that fascination with serial killers, but I am still very much fascinated with the human mind. All in all, I like the book, informative and straight to the point.

What I did not like were the repetitive sentences that showed up midway through the book and continued to the end. Made it difficult to read. Frustrating. Typos I can handle. Multiple sentences repeated over and over again, no.

Still, if any have interest in this genre, and you can handle some editing/downloading issues. Give it a shot. You will not be disappointed in the content.

Even though I am a fan of true crime and have read quite a bit in the genre, this book included stories that I had never heard of. It was very well researched and filled with facts....perhaps a few too many, it tipped into a bit too gory. A well written, quick read it is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Awesome book for people who like these types of things, could be disturbing for some but not the kind of people who are going to pick this book up. Loved that their was some stories I have never head of before.

I love true crime and especially devour books on serial killers, but this had to be the most graphic in descriptions of the crimes and the cannibalism.

I did read about cases I had never heard of before which was entertaining. It’s very well researched but not for the faint of heart. Just be prepared and don’t read when you are alone at night.

I’ve read many accounts on serial killers and their crimes, however this is probably the most graphic, toe curling, hair raising one of them all. Although the title and description lets you know what you’re in for, I would still advise to proceed with caution. I’ve also read lots of case studies on Jack The Ripper but this covered aspects I’ve never heard before which was interesting when revisiting the case. This also introduced me to a number of serial killers I hadn’t come across before which surprised me. The writing style is very enjoyable and the cases are easy to follow. There are grammatical errors and some spelling mistakes but I’m sure these will be rectified before publication. There is also some formatting issues when reading on kindle but I’m sure these will be amended. All in all, a great read for any true crime fan.

Definitely not a book for squeamish types. Some of the descriptions are very graphic so beware. If you're interested in true crime novels you'll find Serial Killers: Butchers and Cannibals a solid informative read.