Buried Dreams

Buried Dreams by Tim Cahill 353 pp.

The full title of this book is Buried Dreams: Inside The Mind of a Serial Killer. Tim Cahill effectively writes from the point of view of John Wayne Gacy, in his own way. The book is written from a third-person perspective, but is often interjected with Gacy's own thoughts and comments about whatever is being discussed, due to Cahill drawing on interviews with the Killer Clown to write the book. Cahill walks the reader through every step of Gacy's life and each one of his 29 killings in detail, which is often gruesome and occasionally hard to get through without a few winces. Probably the hardest thing about the novel is reading about Gacy's life when he wasn't actively killing, instead blending in with society with ease. Cahill shows the love Gacy had for his community, and vice-versa, which can make the book a bit hard to get through and will probably put you on edge for a while. The book is scary, though not in a Stephen King or Dean Koontz way. The book is scary in the sense that Gacy, a monster in every sense of the word, was able to so easily conceal his killings and hide his evil habits from society. The book is not light reading, and I definitely do not recommend reading it at night, but for anyone interested in true crime, this book should not be missed. The amazing use of Gacy's own thoughts really give you the idea that you are speaking to the man himself, instead of reading a book about him. Overall, I enjoyed the book, though it drags for a stretch in the middle when nothing is happening in Gacy's life other than killing and Cahill jumps from murder to murder without touching on anything else. The first and last thirds of the book are excellent, though, and even the middle section can be pushed through in a few days with some perseverance. Four stars out of five.

Additional reading: Defending A Monster by Sam L. Amirante