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The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer
Charles Manson. Jeffrey Dahmer. John Wayne Gacy. Richard Ramirez. Serial killers; arguably the most terrifying criminals in the world. Jason Moss -- a brilliant 18-year-old student -- contacted these killers and mimicked the profiles of their ideal "victims" and disciples in an effort to get them to open up. It worked. Through taped conversations and reams of cor...more
Hardcover, 278 pages
Published
April 1st 1999
by Warner Books
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Paul Jones
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Recommends it for:
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I found this book in the dollar bin at Barnes & Noble while attending Art College, and I read it quite frequently while enjoying my Arby’s in the food court. Almost everything at Arby’s is delicious except for that Market Fresh chicken salad sandwich that has grapes in it.
The author Jason Moss wrote this book when he was around twenty, and he writes a lot about how he works out, and how his parents don’t understand anything. It’s sort of like Catcher in the Rye by a real live douche bag...more
The author Jason Moss wrote this book when he was around twenty, and he writes a lot about how he works out, and how his parents don’t understand anything. It’s sort of like Catcher in the Rye by a real live douche bag...more
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After finishing the book I am surprised that the authorities would allow these types of killers to have any contact with the outside world. Moss's contacts with Gacy were entirely out-of-bounds, and any sane prison official should never have allowed them to happen. I was shocked had how much influence and power that Gacy exerted over his environment. I was also unaware at what a wealthy individual he was, and he obviously still had some control over his finances even while on Death Row for fifte...more
The first person POV and YA-esque prose was kind of annoying, but this book offers some fantastic insight into the minds and behaviour of some of the sickest assholes America has ever produced. I'd put this book on your shelf to keep as resource material once you're done reading it.
The book is also very telling about the mind of the writer himself, as you begin to see the walls break down as Moss is assaulted time and again by guys like John Wayne Gacy. You can see for yourself how eff...more
The book is also very telling about the mind of the writer himself, as you begin to see the walls break down as Moss is assaulted time and again by guys like John Wayne Gacy. You can see for yourself how eff...more
I read this book about a year ago and thought it was really interesting. I think that Jason was a really disturbed guy, not just young and naive. Seeing as how he became a defense attorney who mainly represented murderers, and then killed himself because he couldnt live with the life he had led makes me think there may have been more to the conversations (at least) than he let on in the book. I think he was already a disturbed person prior to his contact with Gacy and the others though. I love r...more
The Last Victim is about an 18-year-old college freshman named Jason Moss, who decides to take up a rather unique project for his senior thesis (apparently he likes to start early). He wants to form a relationship via letters with various infamous serial killers. Of course he uses different fake personas with each killer he writes, trying to write as someone they will want to form a bond with. I don't think Jason could imagine how deep this project would go or what damage it might do to his psyc...more
This is an incredibly disturbing book, published in 1999. Jason Moss, at age 18, as a high school senior, decided to write a bunch of serial killers. He formulated his letters around what he thought the killers would be attracted to so that they would write back. It worked.
He corresponded with many killers including Richard Ramirez, Henry Lee Lucas, Jeffrey Dahmer, and most of all - John Wayne Gacy. Gacy's letters and eventual phone calls lead to a prison visit, which does not go at ...more
He corresponded with many killers including Richard Ramirez, Henry Lee Lucas, Jeffrey Dahmer, and most of all - John Wayne Gacy. Gacy's letters and eventual phone calls lead to a prison visit, which does not go at ...more
During high school, I wanted to communicate with a number of serial killers about their crimes and present my analysis in my final psychology term paper. Mr. Erhardt wisely denied my proposed subject matter as “too dangerous,” and I ended up writing about eating disorders or something equally mundane. Ten years later when I saw this book, I thought – “Hey! Jason Moss stole my idea.” He set out with the same goal, communicating with a number of serial killers with hopes of understanding them,...more
A harmless time-passer, I guess. While the premise, as trashy true crime books go, was good--eighteen-year-old boy befriends John Wayne Gacy and other serial killers, visits Gacy in prison, where he is terrorized--the story was severely hampered by how much I couldn't stand Jason Moss himself. He is simultaneously arrogant and insecure, and most of the book is little more than a resume of his accomplishments, related in such a way that you KNOW you'd hate the guy if you ever met him. Still, t...more
Jason Moss possesses an ill-deserved sense of himself as an uber-mensch, though his writing is amateurish and heavy-handed. Watch as he violates the privacy of his family and friends and then rationalizes it using some third-rate Objectivism! Dazzle as he learns his comeuppance at the hands of master manipulator John Wayne Gacy! Slap your forehead as he doesn't learn a thing from it. Take pause when you learn of his subsequent suicide, but can't allow that to color the fact that this is a lo...more
Jason Moss was an 18-year-old college student when he decided to strike up correspondence with imprisoned serial killers. The book has an interesting angle inasmuch as the author not only documents his correspondence, phone calls, and meetings with imprisoned serial killers (John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez, Andrew Kokoralies), but also speaks in detail about the effects that the contacts with these men had on him. Because I like to know how people think and wha...more
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What an undertaking for such a young man. He was not afraid, as I would have been, to crawl inside the minds of killers. For his age Jason Moss was one unique human being. How his mind worked was as much the story as the adventure he undertook. Was he really conning the Conner's or were they conning him? That question was never answered. It is up to the reader to decide. I do think his life was altered through his experience with depraved minds. I also think that in the end he truly was "Th...more
This was recommended to me by a friend I used to work with. I never followed any of her recommendations after this one.
Posing as the 'perfect victim' to a few serial killers in order to gain credit for college, it seemed as though Jason Moss bit off more than he could chew. It was hard to empathise with him, and his 'insights' in to the serial killers he corresponded with were nothing new. This was my last foray into true crime.
Posing as the 'perfect victim' to a few serial killers in order to gain credit for college, it seemed as though Jason Moss bit off more than he could chew. It was hard to empathise with him, and his 'insights' in to the serial killers he corresponded with were nothing new. This was my last foray into true crime.
This book was written by a young man who lured serial killers into writting to him and expressing their deepest darkest secrets to him. He realized that the only way to get into the minds' of these killers was to become their next victim. These men were already behind bars, but he befriended them by acting like their previous victims. He had to fit the victims' profile.
It was an interesting read, if a bit more superficial than I'd hoped. Would have been better if Moss had been less apologetic and more at ease with his fascination, i.e., didn't keep repeating how horrifying, sickening, etc. it all was, since it came across as a bit hypocritical and sanctimonious. The book was alright, I just couldn't warm up to the author. :)
Having always been morbidly fascinated by the darker side of the human psyche I was thrilled to be introduced to the real life drama of Jason Moss. Reading about serial killers definitely does not come close to giving the kind of insight into their thinking that Moss was able to get through his amazing correspondance. Moss gives us a brand new way of looking at these modern monsters.
I read this book when I was in grade 6, which was a really long time ago (1999). I remember going on a trip somewhere with my class (can't remember where), and I read this book on the bus. I couldn't put it down. It was the best book I read that year.
This book is so interesting and I think I will be reading it again soon. I will post another review of it after I re-read it. I just wanted to have a little review of it before I re-read it to see if I still feel the same way about it as...more
This book is so interesting and I think I will be reading it again soon. I will post another review of it after I re-read it. I just wanted to have a little review of it before I re-read it to see if I still feel the same way about it as...more
I am not easily scared but Jason Moss relates his story as if you are there with him. Whilst reading this book I felt stomach churning, sweat inducing fear, revulsion, anger and total incredulity that someone could(and even be allowed to) place themselves and their loved ones in so much danger.
Once read, never forgotten, definately NOT for the nervous.
Once read, never forgotten, definately NOT for the nervous.
jason moss is totally full of himself. but this is a damn good book.
i couldn't stop reading it, though it's hardly well-written. it's intriguing. terrifying. and disturbing. in many, many ways.
but who hasn't wanted to know what these people are really like? he just had the guts to actually do it.
i'm glad he did. i freakin' loved it.
i couldn't stop reading it, though it's hardly well-written. it's intriguing. terrifying. and disturbing. in many, many ways.
but who hasn't wanted to know what these people are really like? he just had the guts to actually do it.
i'm glad he did. i freakin' loved it.
An intelligent, naive young man takes on serial killers and would be dead if they could escape their jail cells. This is an unusual account narrated by a young college freshman who communicates with convicted killers. He is quite self-important.
This drags at times but is an unusual story told by an unusual young man.
This drags at times but is an unusual story told by an unusual young man.
A bizarre, fascinating story that's hard to believe is actually true. What compelled me to keep reading was the fact that the mind and motives of Jason Moss were more enshrouded in mystery than the serial killer's. A twisted, morbid read that I couldn't put down.
For those who love reading about serial killers, this one is for you. Digging deep into the minds of our most feared serial killers gives a shiver down your spine and the goosies on your arms. I will never forget some of the words of John Wayne Gacy...
I really had a hard time putting this one down. A gripping journey into the mind-games played by incarcerated serial killers. The author's detail in his description of his relationships with the killers, especially John Wayne Gacy, is terrifying and fascinating at the same time.
Fascinating book, but very graphic in some parts and gritty. Hard to read--not too surprising, considering the subject matter. What kept amazing me was the gumption this kid had, going toe-to-toe with some of the most frightening serial killers in the country. Rather a scary read.
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As an avid true crime reader, I have to say this is probably one of the most interesting accounts of personal interaction with some of the most notorious serial killers.
Definitely a MUST read for any true crime fan!
Definitely a MUST read for any true crime fan!
Gave me chills!!! I couldn't put it down. I think it could have been slightly better with more direct quotes. There is something lost in translation when the author interprets the interviews into his words
I truly enjoyed this book. It's sickening and too graphic at times so much so that I would have to put it down but it was very simple and to the point. This is what Jason Moss experienced, and this is how it messed him up. I found it interesting how badly he wanted to understand the darkest parts of the most evil minds, and couldn't stop himself from delving deeper and deeper regardless of how much damage it was causing his own mind.
And to think I read the whole book. Although the author thought he got into the minds of serial killers, I believe they played him like a yo-yo. He suffered more mental problems than the killers.
Trisha
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Recommended to Trisha by:
Ben from work
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This book is very sexually graphic, and not in an appetizing way. Chances are, if you walked by me while I was reading this, I would have a very disgusted look on my face. And that's coming from a social worker who sees sick stuff at work every day. Maybe my problem was that I read it for a book club and I was embarrassed that we were going to have to discuss this book. Maybe I would have liked it otherwise. But the thing is, I didn't learn anything from the book. It's like all the graphic...more
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