I usually try to steer clear of serial killer true crime for obvious reasons. I even feel the need to preface this review by insisting this point. William Dorsch has written an excellent book about John Wayne Gacy and he does so without gratifying the usual grotesque appetites of the usual suspects.
In light of the recent Epstein scandal I do feel this is a book far more important than the usual true crime slop which you see so often online.
I'm not sure how much the everyday person knows about Gacy. Certainly, many have seen his image as the killer clown which has captured the popular imagination. Put into simple terms, this book dispels the idea that Gacy was some isolated case of psychopathy, acting alone as a unique evil, but rather (and allegedly) part of a much wider ring of child abuse.
Dorsch was a retired Chicago police detective during the time when Gacy was active. Although he was not involved with the investigation, he did coincidentally meet with Gacy at his home and spoke to him on several occasions.
The start of his involvement began after he made a police report that he once saw Gacy loitering around an apartment complex with a shovel. Since the news that Gacy had almost thirty bodies buried under his house, Dorsch felt this information important and told the police but the lead was never followed up on.
This started at the thread which Dorsch follows in this book detailing an incredible amount of discrepancies in the police investigation.
