Book Review: All That is Wicked by Kate Winkler Dawson (True Crime/Non-Fiction)

Title: All That is Wicked
Author: Kate Winkler Dawson
Publisher: Icon Books
Publication Date: 6 October 2022
Pages: 302
Format: eBook - PDF
Genre: True Crime/Non-Fiction
Source: ARC via NetGalley

Acclaimed crime historian, podcaster, and author of American Sherlock Kate Winkler Dawson tells the thrilling story of Edward Rulloff--a serial murderer who was called "too intelligent to be killed"--and the array of 19th century investigators who were convinced his brain held the key to finally understanding the criminal mind.

Edward Rulloff was a brilliant yet utterly amoral murderer--some have called him a "Victorian-era Hannibal Lecter"--whose crimes spanned decades and whose victims were chosen out of revenge, out of envy, and sometimes out of necessity. From his humble beginnings in upstate New York to the dazzling salons and social life he established in New York City, at every turn Rulloff used his intelligence and regal bearing to evade detection and avoid punishment. He could talk his way out of any crime...until one day, Rulloff's luck ran out.

By 1871 Rulloff sat chained in his cell--a psychopath holding court while curious 19th-century mindhunters tried to understand what made him tick. From alienists (early psychiatrists who tried to analyze the source of his madness) to neurologists (who wanted to dissect his brain) to phrenologists (who analyzed the bumps on his head to determine his character), each one thought he held the key to understanding the essential question: is evil born or made? Eventually, Rulloff's brain would be placed in a jar at Cornell University as the prize specimen of their anatomy collection...where it still sits today, slowly moldering in a dusty jar. But his story--and its implications for the emerging field of criminal psychology--were just beginning.

Expanded from season one of her hit podcast on the Exactly Right network (7 million downloads and growing), in All That Is Wicked Kate Winkler Dawson draws on hundreds of source materials and never-before-shared historical documents to present one of the first glimpses into the mind of a serial killer--a century before the term was coined--through the scientists whose work would come to influence criminal justice for decades to come.

 

Until I came across this book on NetGalley, I had never heard of Edward Rulloff, but the Hannibal Lecter hook in the blurb caught my attention and so, while true crime is not a genre I usually read a lot in, I decided to give it a try. Overall, it was an interesting read. Rulloff was certainly an intriguing figure, and it was also fascinating to hear about the ways different 'experts' of the time attempted to explain him, as a precursor to modern forensic psychiatry and profiling. The story was told in an entertaining way, mingling Rulloff's history with the background and thoughts of those who met and tried to assess him, and when I finished I felt a desire to know more about criminal psychology, so I might check out a few of the books in the bibliography. It gets a solid 4 stars for me and I recommend it to both fans of true crime and those interested in criminal psychology.

I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.