There but for the Grace of God: Survivors of the 20th Century's Infamous Serial Killers

There but for the Grace of God: Survivors of the 20th Century's Infamous Serial Killers

by Fred Rosen

Harper, HK$125

'When you feel the cold barrel of a gun to your left temple, you tend to kind of work with the person,' says Lisa McVey. A survivor of serial killer Bobby Joe Long, who murdered nine women in Florida in 1984, McVey lived by appealing to what pity he had. She conned him, saying she had a sick father who needed looking after. Long let her go.

Apparently determined to lock up the likes of Long, McVey is now a deputy sheriff, as Fred Rosen discovers. In There but for the Grace of God, the former New York Times columnist, who has now chalked up a dozen true-crime books, speaks to the survivors of six other serial killers: Derrick Todd Lee, Dennis Rader (Bind Torture Kill), Ted Bundy, Richard Speck, Jeffrey Dahmer, and David 'Son of Sam' Berkowitz (above).

Rosen's identity parade of those who managed to slip their clutches helps counter the 'almost supernatural reputation' serial killers have developed. Underlining the killers' mortality, Rosen asks: 'If they are so efficient, how come they always get caught?'

Through detective work he undertook for an earlier true-crime book, Lobster Boy, Rosen himself supposedly contributed to a killer's capture. Meanwhile, he operates as a professor of criminal justice at New York's Ulster County Community College. His professional clout helps prevent this non-fiction thriller degenerating into sensationalism. Among other insights, Rosen reveals that, in many serial killer trials, the threat of the death penalty only serves to complicate matters.