This is an excellent book. The premise is fairly simple, the retelling of a 150 year old serial killer story from the southern states, just after the end of the civil war. But it is so much more than that. Essentially a social history of a critical period, the author uncovers the lives of small communities struggling to make their way amid violence, lawlessness and economic hardship, all of which allowed the horrors of the murders to unfold. Wonderfully readable, with punchy, short chapters and told in a very engaging style, this is a terrific glimpse into the underbelly of the USA at a critical point in its history.

This is a brilliantly researched and written volume about the US's first serial killer family, The Benders. It's sometimes a harrowing read, but never less than a fascinating one, and the picture it paints of poverty and the hard lives of the pioneers is so real you can sometimes smell the mud and sweat. Highly recommended.