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Bind, Torture, Kill cover art

Bind, Torture, Kill

Written by: Roy Wenzl, Tim Potter, L. Kelly, Hurst Laviana
Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
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Publisher's Summary

For 31 years, a monster terrorized the residents of Wichita, Kansas. A bloodthirsty serial killer, self-named "BTK" - for "bind them, torture them, kill them" - he slaughtered men, women, and children alike, eluding the police for decades while bragging of his grisly exploits to the media.

The nation was shocked when the fiend who was finally apprehended turned out to be Dennis Rader - a friendly neighbor...a devoted husband...a helpful Boy Scout dad...the respected president of his church.

Written by four award-winning crime reporters who covered the story for more than 20 years, Bind, Torture, Kill is the most intimate and complete account of the BTK nightmare told by the people who were there from the beginning. With newly released documents, evidence, and information - and with the full cooperation, for the very first time, of the Wichita Police Department's BTK Task Force - the authors have put all the pieces of the grisly puzzle into place, thanks to their unparalleled access to the families of the killer and his victims.

Contains mature themes.

©2007 Wichita Eagle and Beacon Publishing Company, care of Mary Tahan (P)2018 Tantor

What listeners say about Bind, Torture, Kill

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Maybe read Wikipedia instead

I'm VERY mixed. It does a good job of explaining how Rader avoided capture and some of his motivations and thoughts before, during, and after the killings. It also never loses sight of the fact that his victims were real people that suffered greatly, and approaches that well

On the other hand it is exhaustingly pro-police, refusing to acknowledge any mistakes that the cops made over Rader's reign of terror. It mentions some (like how they assumed BTK was Hispanic for a decade) but brushes them aside as part of the investigation process.

I wish it was more critical instead of acting like the police were perfect heroes who did nothing wrong and just got unlucky. They have nothing to blame but themselves. I'm not saying it would have been easy, but he should have been caught in the 80's. Rader made so many mistakes during his crimes.

Also the second half of the book focuses mostly on the years where Rader didn't kill anybody and holy cow is it boring. This part is filled out with some of the cop's personal stories and I can't even tell you how little I care about those.

I'd honestly say just go read Rader's wikipedia page if you're curious. This book is fine overall but it's not worth the time. It doesn't provide much more insight than what can be gleaned online about him. The narration is fine, the writing is fine, but there's nothing too remarkable or unmissable about it.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Loved it

I really enjoyed it. I was saving it to listen to on my long commutes but found myself listening at home as well. couldn't put it down. I love that you get so much insight into the police and everything they struggled with both professionally and personally.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very well paced, expertly written

Unlike a lot of other books on serial killers, this one is exceptionally well written with the benefit of hindsight and context. It's written like a story frequently jumping between the life of the killer and what each of the investigators were doing at those particular moments in their lives. It creates this engaging narrative that feels very satisfying when they reveal how they caught him. Overall I highly recommend this book.

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1 person found this helpful

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well written and read

well written and read. I find true crime to be very interesting and this is a very good example.

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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Amy
  • 2022-03-04

Pretty good

Pretty good audiobook. Definitely focuses more on the investigation and media side of things - without highlighting any of their mistakes (which there were plenty...). It was good to have the focus of the story be from the different perspective. It did include bits from Rader's POV, which fleshed out the story more.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

narrator is way too cheerful for such a dark story

really hard to listen to at times. Denis Rader is a monster, but overall good book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Terrifying Crimes Presented Casually

This is a dark topic. But for some reason it's delivered with a light, almost jocular tone. Dennis Rader was a genuine monster. His crimes were shocking. This book is written by a number of the reporters that covered the case, interacted with police, and corresponded with the killer. It is complete - full of crime scene descriptions and colored with details from Rader's confessions.. including mistakes the killer made, his fear of getting caught, and his anger at not getting credit for his "accomplishments", but it presents truly horrifying crimes nonchalantly. The writing by Roy Wenzl, Tim Potter, L. Kelly, and Hurst Laviana is decent, but intentionally written in a narrative format - like a bedtime story. It's way too light for the subject matter.

Keith Sellon-Wright reads the text clearly, but contributes to the light-hearted impression with an oddly emotive reading style. He reminds me of a volunteer Librivox Reader I have heard. Not terribly professional.

Altogether, this is a somewhat disappointing 6/10 book about a fascinating killer.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Excellent book. It gives a full account of everything BTK from all sides. My only complaint was the use of all the different names that came into the investigation, as it got confusing sorting out who was who. But at the same time, that’s real life crime work on a big team.

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