Fiend: The Shocking True Story Of America's Youngest Serial Killer

Story – 4.5/5Narration – 4.0/5“Fiend” by Harold Schechter is “The Shocking True Story of America’s Youngest Serial Killer”, Jesse Pomeroy.Excellent portrait of a precocious sexual sociopath. Includes many quotes, newspaper ,and info from the records that paint a chilling picture of a psychopathic killer… a twelve (12) year old psychopathic killer.My main takeaway from this book is the glimpse it gives into a sociopath’s mind. The quotes are where it’s at, in this one.The narration was for the most part good, but the quotes from the title character were unnecessarily given a negative tone at times.Recommendation – you’ll like this if you’re interested in serial killers or psychopathy.

In another of Harold Schechter scholarly but so very readable books about serial killer, he points out that the good old days were not particularly beautiful, clean and pure, and free of violent serial killers, Jack the Ripper being an exception. With sewage and industrial waste dumped in rivers, lakes, and the ocean; the incredible amount of manure produced by horse-driven transport; the deplorable conditions found in 'the little red schoolhouse,' where the student-teacher ratio in large city school systems would cause current teachers to seek a different profession even it was flipping burgers; no sane person not blinded by nostalgia would consider 'the good old days' particularly good. Whatever problems plague us today--drugs, gangs, massacres of the innocent by the deranged, sensationalism in the media, corruption in our government--existed in the past. And that includes the serial killer, especially "Killer Kids." Murderous juveniles didn't suddenly appear with Columbine; like the poor, they have always been with us.Schechter recounts the life of one such "killer kid:" Jesse Pomeroy, called by the Boston press in 1872 the "Boy Torturer" among other names. He had tortured over a half-dozen children and butchered two more by the time he was fourteen. By the time he was captured Jesse Pomeroy was to become known as the "Boston Boy Fiend." And fiend he was as Schechter aptly proves in this tale of Jesse's reign of terror in 1870s Boston. As with all of Schechter's books about true crime, I recommend this one for it's fine writing, detailed psychological insights, and the strong sense of place that the author always evokes.

I'm from the Boston area, and while my whole family is in Chelsea (the site of much of the action) I had only heard about Jesse Pomeroy while reading The Alienist by Caleb Carr. I was quite excited to find out about Schechter's new book (thanks Amazon!). I actually became interested in true crime after the Columbine shootings, and have been reading about children who kill. From Mary Bell to the Liverpool boys who killed a toddler, to the Florida kids who killed the local bully, this subject has been endlessly facinating to me. Ok, so maybe it is a bit gruesome too. But I will say that with this book, Schechter hits the nail on the head. Children who kill other children have been with us for a long time, and we continue to give the same lame excuses: the media (for Jesse that was dime novels, for our recent murders its the movies and video games that are blamed), single mothers, and just plain evil.This book does not answer the question of why, but we get a glimpse into the mind of one of these child killers. It is quite chilling. Schechter's research is awesome and his writing style is engaging and his message is clear (and frightening) the next fiend could be living next door, playing in the sandbox!If this book and subject matter are of interest to you, I also highly recommend Cries Unheard: Why Children Kill; The Story of Mary Bell.

Quick delivery. Book is great

This is a great book. Its a page turner, for sure. Will still lead some to believe that Holmes is/was the infamous "Jack The Ripper". The timing is just.....unquestionable. I myself, have always thought that he was "The Ripper" anyway, even after buying and reading Portrait Of A Killer, by Patricia Cornwell. Its a "Must have", as well, but this is a great book to have. Their are others that I have, as well. The Devil In The White City, is also a great book about Holmes, to have. There are others about him, but some of them are extremely expensive. If you love the history of the unknown and the thrill of the seriallistic ways of human nature, then these books are for you. Harold Schechter is a great author, with plenty of great books to own. If you love books like I do, then this is definitely one for the collection.

I found the book pretty engaging. The author kept the content matter interesting for the most part. There were a few sports that seemed slow, or seemed like filler to make the book longer (only tenuously related historical anecdotes, which were mostly interesting to be sure, but also made me wonder "...and how does this relate to the subject matter?"). There was also some small redundancies as well, which also somewhat felt like trying to stretch the book out just a little bit. But overall, I found it very interesting and will read more of this author's books.

i read the true story of the psycho in the 1950's by the same author. these crimes happened in the 1870s. if there is one thing history teaches us, is that there where a lot of un reported crimes happening in those days. people just disappeared.i believe there where probably several people miss treated growing up and becoming killers as they aged.good thing today we have forensics. i recommend this book on history education alone.

Author of this book is one of my favorite true crime authors however this book was a little hard for me to read maybe it's cuz of the subject matter and the time and date. These crimes occurred but still very well written and I'm very happy that I got to read it because he is my favorite true crime author

Not as good as the last book I read by this author, as there is a lot of newspaper pieces from the time, which I guess is good research but makes for more boring reading! This book is about a very young serial abuser/killer, Jesse is not someone I had heard of before but the story is interesting and as before the writer tries to show you a whole picture of the time and what else was going on.

I enjoyed this book. Once again the author offers a clear, engaging narrative, a page turner. I thought I knew most of what was worth knowing about Jesse Pomeroy but that proved not to be anywhere near the case. My only complaint is the Kindle addition has no illustrations.

good story

This book was fairly good. However, I am still left wondering how murdering two people makes Jesse Pomeroy a serial killer? I thought the book was going to focus more so on his offending, rather than his time serving out his sentence in prison. As well, it did not take long for police to link Jesse to the murders he committed, once again I guess I expected a much more complicated and drawn out case. The author's writing style was excellent, the reality is this is a true account and is not fiction. I think that with the details of this case, the author did the best he could.