Behold the Monster
Confronting America's Most Prolific Serial Killer
-
-
4.0 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $23.99
Publisher Description
Jillian Lauren had no idea what she was getting into when she wrote her first letter to prolific serial killer Samuel Little. All she knew was her research had led her to believe he was good for far more murders than the three for which he had been convicted. While the two exchanged dozens of letters and embarked on hundreds of hours of interviews, Lauren gained the trust of a monster. After maintaining his innocence for decades, Little confessed to the murders of ninety-three women, often drawing his victims in haunting detail as he spoke. How could one man evade justice, manipulating the system for over four decades?
As the FBI, the DOJ, the LAPD, and countless law enforcement officials across the country worked to connect their cold cases with the confessions, Lauren’s coverage of the investigations and obsession with Little’s victims only escalated.
New York Times bestselling author and lead of the Starz docuseries Confronting a Serial Killer Jillian Lauren delivers the harrowing report of her unusual relationship with a psychopath. But this is more than a deep dive into the actions of Samuel Little. Lauren’s riveting and emotional accounts reveal the women who were lost to cold files, giving Little’s victims a chance to have their stories heard for the first time.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Behold the Monster takes you deep into the deranged mind of a notorious psychopath in a way that’s very different from the typical true-crime book. Rather than relying on trial evidence or newspaper reports, crime journalist Jillian Lauren contacted convicted murderer Sam Little directly. She was convinced that he was guilty of more than the three murders he had been imprisoned for, and in a lengthy series of phone calls and in-person prison visits, Lauren gained Little’s confidence, resulting in his confession—on tape—to 90 other murders. Little’s victims were mostly Black sex workers and drug users, women living on the margins with few family ties, and Lauren recreates their final moments with a compassionate touch. She also presents graphic accounts of the murders and calls out law enforcement for their failures to solve—and sometimes even investigate—these cases. Far from glorifying a killer, Behold the Monster is a condemning account of the society that enabled him.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Lauren (Some Girls) recounts the murders of Samuel Little, America's most prolific serial killer, in this wildly original blend of narrative nonfiction and true crime reporting. At the time of publication, officials had confirmed 60 of Little's 93 jailhouse confessions, many of them told for the first time to Lauren, whose notes helped a national task force led by LAPD, FBI, and Texas Ranger officers close many of the cold cases. Attempting to give voice to Little's victims, Lauren reconstructs their final hours based on her interviews with the killer, whom she first met after writing to him while he was imprisoned in the late 2010s in pursuit of a more traditional feature story. Interspersed between those harrowing episodes, Lauren recounts her time researching and interviewing Little before his death in 2020, at which point the killer named her his next of kin, giving her possession of his ashes and the few trinkets he still held onto. In vivid prose ("In Jungian terms, Sam wasn't all shadow, but his shadow was definitely in the driver's seat"), Lauren convincingly sketches Little, his victims, his relatives, and the lawmen and women who dedicated their lives to catching him. True crime fans will find this a unique and disturbing thrill ride.
