| Product: |
Lone Wolf: True Stories of Spree Killers - Pan Pantziarka |
| Date: |
06/05/02 (90 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Good research, Interesting subjects
Disadvantages: Slightly muddling
Do you remember what you were doing on the 13th March 1996? I do, only too vividly. I was picking my 5 year old up from school. That day the hugs we gave our kids were extra special, they couldnt understand our tears but we did. We had watched with horror the news that Thomas Hamilton had walked into Dunblane Primary School and shot dead 16 children and 1 adult, another 17 were injured.
Pan Pantziarka (hereafter referred to as Pan), discussed not only Thomas Hamilton but also notorious other spree killers such as Michael Ryan, Martin Bryant, Benjamin Smith and others.
Pan devotes a whole chapter to 7 of the most notorious spree killers starting with Michael Ryan who rampaged through Hungerford in 1987.
He gives a step-by-step picture of the actions of Ryan, as does with the other killers featured. It is interspersed with quotes and reports from those actually involved in the incidents. Through this we are able to see the full actions and horrors of what Michael Ryan did which left 15 people dead.
The lack of sentimentality that Pan puts in to description may shock some people, however this lack allows us to look at the actions in a more objective manner. Pan gives it to us straight, a kind of 'this is what he did', no skirting the subject or romanticising it at all. This would be a criticism I have of writers like Ann Rule who attempt to soften the murders and the killings.
And the end of each chapter Pan looks at each of the killers lives and the circumstances surrounding the killers spree. In a refreshing manner Pan does not allude to know the answers, nor does he attempt to do so, but leaves us with more questions. I don't know about you but I find reading 2nd rate 'psychologists' who attempt to tell us that Michael Ryan killed 15 innocent people because his dog dies when he was seven, or his cereal was the wrong colour that morning!
One of the most interesting chapters in the book is the case of Ma
rtin Bryant, he was eventually charged with 35 counts of murder, 19 charges of attempted murder, and numerous accounts of GBH, wounding, aggravated assault and 2 cases of arson after going on the rampage in a tourist resort in Tasmania. What makes this interesting is that Bryant at first pleaded not guilty to every single one at first, admittedly only to setting his own car on fire. Even Pan has his doubts as many others have noted the killing had to have been undertaken by someone very skilled with a gun, Bryant was a notorious 'bad shot' and with an IQ of only 66 it is suspected that he did not have the intelligence to plan an action of this kind.
Towards the end of the book Pan looks at other spree killers, discusses the profile of a spree killers and debates the effect they have on society. We learn the difference between a spree killer and a serial killer,a spree killer kills his victims usually during one incident and within a short space of time, they intend to kill as many people as possible, they do not try to escape and they are always male.
Unusually and against popular opinion, Pan discusses that the father, not the mother is the driving influence behind all these killers, but then discusses how neither is the influence. He also discusses the fascination with guns, fundamentalism, (particularly in the case of Benjamin Smith), etc. But Pan believes what links all these killers is a sense of grievance, everyone felt that someone or something was against them, that they deserved something better. But whilst Pan perceives that there are links he also agrees that there are specific differences between them. This then can make the reading somewhat confusing and sometimes even contradictory.
The last chapter discusses spree killers and society, their effect upon and how society may be attributed to the rise of spree killers. Interestingly he discusses the effects of media violence including videos and the Internet and whether
censoring these could have affected the killers and whether gun laws are adequate and the effect of the law in general. This was undoubtedly my least favourite chapter of the book. Perhaps its because I'm a bit of an academic and tend to get critical when a writer say something like 'some psychologists...'. I like to know who these psychologists are, or perhaps a reference to them. But for the ordinary reader the information given is probably adequate (God, that makes me sound like a snob!!)
In conclusion therefore, a well written book particularly the profiles of the killers, I admire highly the amount of research that Pan has put into the book, it really helps you to see the true picture. The fact that Pan doesn't try to analyse each of the killers actions, as I said earlier that was quite refreshing. I was however slightly disappointed with the final chapters, so of what he wrote was slightly muddled and I would have preferred him to say that it was his own opinions rather than 'some psychologists'. However for those of you who are interested in spree killers and do not have the morbid fascination that I do, this book would be an excellent starting point.
Summary:
|
|
