This was an interesting read as I had never heard of John George Haigh before I picked up this book.

John George Haigh was considered a serial killer even though he didn't commit quite as many crimes as some prolific serial killers from the past. He did kill six people, but what is interesting about his crimes is how he tried to get rid of the evidence. He thought by using sulfuric acid that he would be able to get by with murder as he thought that the acid would melt the bones of his victims. Also he did not commit the crimes because he loved to kill, he committed the crimes so that he could wipe out the victims bank accounts and then use their money to live the good life.

I was impressed how the authorities went about investigating him and how they were able to catch him in the end. The author, Jack Rosewood, once again lays everything out on the table and lets us readers sift through it. Three stars for this one. ( )

Jack Rosewood has done it again. He has managed to keep me on the edge of my seat as I read The Acid Bath Murderer. This gruesome individual killed people that he befriended just for their money. These were people he called his friends! It makes my skin crawl.
I was provided a copy of this book for my honest review. ( )

Review: The Acid Bath Murderer by Jack Rosewood.

Jack Rosewood in fascinated with serial killers and as a journalist he covers grim crimes and writes about their development psychologically, their planning for their life of crime, and details of how they made their gruesome marks on society. In this book he gives the reader a couple of stories and some other mentions of other serial killers. His writing was good and he never overdeveloped his scenes throughout his researched stories

The first story is only 86 pages very disturbing but also interesting. John George Haigh of Great Britain enjoyed killing. He didn’t kill for love or revenge; it was for money and the lust of blood as if it was a fine wine. He had killed six people before he was caught in 1949. However, his killing spree was far and in-between because he would live off the money of rich people until it was almost gone and then move on to the next victim. He was a solitary killer who wanted the money he felt he was entitle too.

Rosewood gave the reader some background on this serial killer that Britain was calling “The Acid Bath Killer” because that’s how he got rid of his victims and left very little evidence to be discovered until the day he started getting sloppy. John was a child of a strict religious family where the weakness of sinning was repeated into him day after day. He wasn’t allowed to associate with the public and his parents kept him behind a high cement wall constructed by his father to protect the family from the outside world.

The second story was about Herbert Mullin living in California who in four short months killed thirteen people using a range of weapons at random. In fact, there were two other serial killers also committing a killing rampage across California at the same time. They were Edmund Kemper III and John Linley Frazier. However, Herbert Mullin had mental illness problems and addictions issues but they never determined if that boosted his killing spree or not. Mullin’s beliefs that killing innocent people would prevent a major earthquake from occurring which, indicated his brain function wasn’t normal. Among Mullin’s victims there was a priest, a homeless man, small children, and a drug dealer, supposedly his victims were random, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time….

Rosewood also wrote about a few other serial killers and just wrote a short entry about them. I didn’t want to get into any details but I will say there were some graphic details thought-out these stories. I read them out of interest and curiosity and the author; even though he used some graphic scenes he did it with just refinement…. ( )

As a fan of true crime, I found this interesting and informative because I had never heard of John Haigh before. The book covers Haigh's background and crimes, and also looks into why he committed these atrocities. It is very direct and to-the-point, and at times can be a little repetitive. Those who prefer more of a narrative may be disappointed, but this was still a good read.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

What an amazing book to read! I found it completely fascinating, as I absolutely love learning more about true crime. I once wanted to get into law, but life took me in a different direction, so now I fill that fascination with books and TV shows.

This book is very well written, and very informative. If you enjoy reading about true crime, I would highly recommend this book! ( )