SPREE KILLERS The Madness Behind the Murders

Paperback. From the top of a tower at the University of Texas, sniper Charles Whitman gunned down 14 people and wounded 31. James Dean lookalike Charles Starkweather went on a 3-day killing spree across Nebraska. James Huberty massacred 21 in a California McDonald's - a record until George Hennard killed 23 at a lunchcounter in Texas. Teenager Julian Knight went beserk with a rifle in a Melbourne street. And in 1987 Michael Ryan stalked the picturesque village of Hungerford with an AK47 assault rifle, killing 16. The author examines the personalities behind the gunsights. What makes seemingly ordinary people explode in an orgy of random violence? We cannot find out from the killers themselves - either they turn the gun on themselves or die in a hail of police bullets. Survivors seldom give reasons for their murderous rage. Schoolgirl Brenda Spencer said she gunned down her classmates because she didn't like Mondays, while killer-of-12 Howard Unruh said he would have killed thousands if he had had enough bullers. Like the other spree killers, he had simply declared war on the world. Illus. 321pp. mass market p/back. From the library of true-crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. V. lightly browned pp. o/w Nr. F. with no creasing to covers.