Son of Sam

40th ANNIVERSARY OF THE CASE THAT ROCKED THE NATION

Discover the harrowing true story of the notorious serial killer who terrorized New York City forty years ago during the summer of 1977—David Berkowitz, otherwise known as Son of Sam—for true crime fans and viewers of The Lost Tapes: Son of Sam documentary now on the Smithsonian Channel.

Son of Sam recounts the incredible, “can’t miss” (Kirkus Reviews) story of how a single man killed six innocent people, wounded several others, and sent millions of New Yorkers into a panic from July 1976 through August 1977.

It is also the story of the greatest manhunt in the history of the New York Police Department—the intimate narrative of the men assigned to tracking down a lone killer who prowled supposedly safe neighborhoods and randomly shot pretty young women with his .44-caliber revolver. The police task force investigated more than 3,000 suspects while politicians watched a city fall into panic. Yet the interest didn’t fade after an arrest was made, and the criminal justice system showed itself incapable of coping with the man who committed such horrendous crimes.

Now, based on more than three hundred recorded conversations between David Berkowitz and psychiatrists, police, district attorneys, and his defense counsel, along with his own handwritten notes and diaries, as well as the accounts of the survivors and the families of victims, this chilling book thoroughly explores the full horror of Son of Sam.