Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers

"Until I read this book, I never really thought about why there seemed to be a number of prominent serial killers in the 1970s and ‘80s, especially in the Pacific Northwest. Caroline Fraser, though, has thought a lot about it – and in Murderland she provides a detailed examination of the confluence of smelting, environmental pollution, poor highway design and murder in the region. It’s a miasma of psychopathy on the individual level and greed on the corporate one that makes you wonder whether the definition of “serial killer” ought to be expanded."