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Sons of Cain
- A History of Serial Killers from the Stone Age to the Present
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
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Sons of Cain
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Publisher's Summary
From the author of Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters comes an in-depth examination of sexual serial killers throughout human history, how they evolved, and why we are drawn to their horrifying crimes.
Before the term was coined in 1981, there were no "serial killers." There were only "monsters" - killers society first understood as werewolves, vampires, ghouls and witches or, later, Hitchcockian psychos.
In Sons of Cain - a book that fills the gap between dry academic studies and sensationalized true crime - investigative historian Peter Vronsky examines our understanding of serial killing from its prehistoric anthropological evolutionary dimensions in the pre-civilization era (c. 15,000 BC) to today. Delving further back into human history and deeper into the human psyche than Serial Killers - Vronsky's 2004 book, which has been called "the definitive history of the phenomenon of serial murder" - he focuses strictly on sexual serial killers: thrill killers who engage in murder, rape, torture, cannibalism and necrophilia, as opposed to for-profit serial killers, including hit men, or "political" serial killers, like terrorists or genocidal murderers.
These sexual serial killers differ from all other serial killers in their motives and their foundations. They are uniquely human and - as popular culture has demonstrated - uniquely fascinating.
What listeners say about Sons of Cain
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Logan
- 2018-09-20
Extremely interesting!
I really enjoyed listening to this book, it has so many fascinating insights into serial killers, definitely worth the listen!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 2022-01-26
Disturbing but Insightful
Quite gruesome but I guess that should be expected given the topic. I liked the Author's theories on where these monsters come from.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Christopher Allen
- 2021-12-21
Very intriguing
It's refreshing because it's not full of any kind of partisan or religious rhetoric but actually exposes it if anything.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Duke
- 2019-03-25
pretty good
well written and interesting although some parts where the author is listing different books and sayings go on way to long for an audio book and had to be skipped. but would recommend to anyone I learned alot
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J.L.N.McM
- 2019-05-08
It made me rethink everything about Salem
Great dictation and fascinating perspectives.
Occasionally a bit too detailed for the faint of heart.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Langer MD
- 2023-01-22
Accessible Desk Reference
Canadian Journalist/Historian Peter Vronsky provides a painstakingly-compiled series of historical serial killer cases from North America & Western Europe - including early purported "werewolf", "vampire", and "witch" episodes undoubtedly misclassified.
He further does a fair - if a little superficial - job discussing causes, classification, profiling principles, and investigative techniques. Vronsky admirably mines forensic records, popular/media accounts, sociology textbooks, anthropology papers, and the psychiatric literature to explore the phenomenon of serial murder (particularly sexual psychopathy) - focussing on a survey of illustrative instances.
The main drawbacks to the book are a tendency to sensationalist descriptions (incongruous for the academic matrix), being too long (the chapter on violence during War could easily have been edited out), and an attempt to cover too much (the exhaustive nature of the book is appreciated.. but leaves readers/listeners with an impression of superficiality).
Still, I enjoyed the repeatedly renewed interesting nature of this thought-provoking book - written for a general audience - thoroughly. The 15 hours went by surprisingly quickly.
Doubtless, above-average reading from Mikael Naramore improved my estimation of the book, too. Naramore is by no means flawless (reading much too slowly, for example) - but exhibits spot-on diction, a timbre & cadence that is comfortable to consume for hours, and the perfect didactic tone for the text.
This 9/10 star encyclopedic review is a great listening choice for those who are casually interested in True Crime. It's a little bit too long - but if you can get it as a 'Plus' selection, 'Sons Of Cain' is well worth the time investment. It is likely even worth a Credit - if you're planning on going deeper into some of the cases discussed.
The book is an excellent starting point for people who are fascinated with the monsters among us known as Serial Killers.
[Incidentally: I very much like Vronsky's term for marginalized/less aggressively investigated victims like prostitutes, the poor, and minorities: somehow "less dead"]
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Thomas
- 2022-01-13
Strange references
It is disturbing that the author referenced John Money several times throughout the book while glossing over his dark side. John Money forced a little boy to transition to a girl, then forced him to commit sexual acts with his brother in the name of research. Both brothers later ended up killing themselves. I'm surprised the author didn't mention that at all. Was there no other person that could have been used in Money's place? It was off-putting. The narrator was great though.
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