Description

‘Murderland reads like a true crime thriller’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘Haunting, elegant and fiercely intelligent’ OBSERVER

‘Lyrically luminescent’ NEW YORK TIMES

A terrifying true-crime history of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond – from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Prairie Fires
Caroline Fraser grew up in the shadow of Ted Bundy, the most notorious serial murderer of women in American history, surrounded by his hunting grounds and mountain body dumps, in the brooding landscape of the Pacific Northwest. But in the 1970s and 80s, Bundy was just one perpetrator amid an uncanny explosion of serial rape and murder across the region. Why so many? Why so weirdly and nightmarishly gruesome? Why the senseless rise and then sudden fall of an epidemic of serial killing?

As Murderland indelibly maps the lives and careers of Bundy and his infamous peers in mayhem – the Green River Killer, the I-5 Killer, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, even Charles Manson – Fraser’s Northwestern death trip begins to uncover a deeper mystery and an overlapping pattern of environmental destruction. At ground zero in Ted Bundy’s Tacoma, stood one of the most poisonous lead, copper, and arsenic smelters in the world, but it was only one among many that dotted the area.

As Fraser’s investigation inexorably proceeds, evidence mounts that the plumes of western smelters not only sickened and blighted millions of lives, but also warped young minds, spawning a generation of serial killers. A propulsive non-fiction thriller, Murderland transcends true-crime voyeurism and noir mythology, taking readers on a profound quest into the dark heart of the real American berserk.

‘I highly recommend it’ R. F. KUANG, author of YELLOWFACE, OBSERVER

‘Breathlessly propulsive . . . Fraser’s prose is lyrical, elegiac’ JOYCE CAROL OATES, NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

‘Extraordinarily well-written and genre-defying . . . a moody masterpiece’ NEW YORKER

‘A powerful plea’ FINANCIAL TIMES

‘Compelling, beautifully written . . . at heart, a cry of outrage’ WASHINGTON POST

‘Wonderfully propulsive and hard to put down’ ATLANTIC

‘Brooding and often brave’ BOSTON GLOBE

‘Not to be missed’ CHICAGO TRIBUNE

‘Sharp, incandescent’ SEATTLE TIMES

‘A great writer can make art of the most grotesque material, and Fraser does’ WALL STREET JOURNAL

Publisher Review

[Fraser] makes a case that isn’t merely convincing; it’s downright damning, showing how lead seeped into literally every aspect of life for those who lived near a smelter-and even for those who didn’t-via leaded gas and paint. Fraser follows the exploits of the similarly deadly and devastating serial killers and ASARCO (American Smelting and Refining Company) in a narrative that is gripping, harrowing, and timely — Booklist (starred review) A provocative, eerily lyrical study of the heyday of American serial killers . . . Fraser’s book is an engrossing and disturbing portrait of decades of carnage that required decades to confront. A true-crime story written with compassion, fury, and scientific sense * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) * What makes a murderer? Fraser makes a convincing case for arsenic and lead poisoning as contributing factors in this eyebrow-raising account. Fraser . . . marries a poignant memoir of her Washington State childhood with a vivid catalog of crimes by Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer, and others . . . [Fraser’s] methodical research and lucid storytelling argue persuasively for linking the health of the planet to the safety of its citizens. This is a provocative and page-turning work of true crime * Publishers Weekly (starred review) * Fraser’s true-crime history transcends true-crime voyeurism and noir mythology, exploring the lives and careers of American serial killers . . . But “Fraser’s Northwestern death trip begins to uncover a deeper mystery and an overlapping pattern of environmental destruction.” If she made the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder propulsive, imagine what she can do with serial killers . . . * Lit Hub *