The Boston Strangler

By: Gerold Frank

Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen

New York Times Bestseller and Winner of the Edgar Award: The definitive account of a serial killer's rampage - and the manhunt that stopped him.

On June 14, 1962, twenty-five-year-old Juris Slesers arrived at his mother's apartment to drive her to church. But there was no answer at the door. When he pushed his way inside, Juris found Anna Slesers dead on the kitchen floor, the cord of her housecoat knotted tightly around her neck.

Over the next two years, twelve more bodies were discovered in and around Boston: all women, all sexually assaulted, and all strangled. None of the victims exhibited any signs of struggle, nothing was stolen from their homes, and there were no signs of forcible entry. The police could find no discernable motive or clues. Who was this madman? How was he entering women's homes? And what insanity was driving him?

Drawn from hundreds of hours of personal interviews, as well as police, medical, and court documentation, this is a grisly, horrifying, and meticulously researched account of Albert DeSalvo - an American serial killer on par with Jack the Ripper.

©1966 Gerold Frank (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

not a great performance

The tone and cadence of the narrator distracts from the story/content. feels like his voice is better suited for children stories and not true crime.

the story itself is pretty interesting.

"A criminal research project without parallel."

I first heard of the Boston Strangler when, in my twenties, I saw the newly released 1969 film in which Tony Curtis played deSalvo, the petty thief who became both rapist and murderer, condemned to live out his life, without trial, in a mental institution, and i was both horrified and touched. Now, decades later, this book has reignited those feelings.
Well written, the author, Harold Frank, rehearses the sequence of the attacks, the timeline and content, thumbnail sketches of each victim, the police investigations and the investigators themselves, the panic of the city and, of course, the nature of deSilva himself showing everything from different perspectives. It is thorough and, as far as it can be, presented unemotionally but still with feeling. The narration by Steven Jay Cohen continues this approach, his delivery well paced and modulated - a fine performance.

At nearly eighteen hkurs, this is quite a long book and could easily have become tedious or devolve into an hysterically gratuitous story of murder. But instead, this book held my attention throughout and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone with an interest in true crime of murder mysteries in vs eral. It is a case unlike any other and one which should not be able to occur again now.

Incomplete

Seeing as this was a new release on Audible You would hope that some sort of update would be added at the end like they do with so many other books about serial killers. The book was published in 1966 and Albert De Salvo was murdered in 1973. DNA evidence has come forward in more recent years linking him to one of the murders and so many other theories on who the Boston Strangler is have emerged. This book needs an afterword.

The story never really reached a crescendo, even when it was going through De Salvo's confessions, it seemed to just skate along at the same kind of pace and slight build. It is full of cold hard facts which I appreciated. I am fine with this type of story telling, but someone else may want to find another book if they want something engaging.

I was not a fan of the narration. The narrators voice is very slow and soft. I was practically put to sleep in the beginning and then I realized that it kind of sounded like the narrator was trying to seduce someone which was stuck in my head thereafter. Luckily the end of the book is largely in De Salvo's words so the accent the narrator takes on eliminates the bedroom voice.

Narration Speed Important!

I found this book fascinating. For sure it’s dated in the way any crime book from this era will be dated. But that’s part of its charm. But increase the narration speed to x1.2 and all listening problems disappear.

Narration Not Good

All things considered, the book is what it is, but the narration is just not good. It's like listening to someone reading a eulogy. Very dull. I couldn't finish it.