Murderland by Caroline Fraser

 

This book is part memoir, part researched examination of the cluster (in epidemiological terms) of serial killers in the Seattle area, starting in the late 1960s. Her thesis--that it's the damage lead and other metals do to human neurology, writ large really close to big smelters operating in the days before there were real pollution laws--takes her to Kansas and Texas as well, and eventually Ciudad Juarez. The memoir stuff, about growing up in the Seattle area, about the floating bridge on I-90, about growing up Christian Scientist and eventually rejecting that, is interesting and well-written; as is the stuff about the serial killers (the focus is on Bundy, but there are others represented). The narrative style here is digressive almost to (or maybe just past) the point of being scattershot. It's an interesting read, and kinda informative--even if like me you have more brainspace dedicated to the Classic Serial Killers than you want to admit to anyone, probably even yourself--though it's a grim and kinda depressing read, as much for the pollution/environmental stuff as anything else.