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Slashed: The Untold Shocking True Story of Richard Speck and the Night Chicago Screamed
THE UNFORGETTABLE TRUE STORY THAT HAUNTED A GENERATIONOn a sweltering July night in 1966, Chicago’s South Side descended into madness. Eight young student nurses—each with a dream, a future, and a purpose—were bound, brutalized, and murdered inside their shared townhouse. The man responsible, Richard Speck, would become one of the most infamous names in American criminal history. The nation would never be the same.
“The night Chicago screamed” was more than a headline—it was the night America lost its innocence.
THE KILLER WHO CHANGED AMERICA FOREVERRichard Speck wasn’t a monster born overnight. He was a drifter, a drunk, a man shaped by violence and neglect, carrying with him the invisible scars of childhood and the festering rage that would one day ignite. From the small towns of Illinois to the oil fields of Texas, Speck left behind a trail of broken jobs, bar fights, and whispered warnings no one listened to—until it was too late.
When he found himself in Chicago, unemployed and seething, fate placed him within walking distance of a townhouse full of young nurses. What followed was one of the most nightmarish crimes in the twentieth century, a story so disturbing that reporters wept as they covered it and police officers carried the memory to their graves.
THE INVESTIGATION, THE TRIAL, AND THE AFTERMATH The Untold Shocking True Story of Richard Speck and the Night Chicago Screamed exposes the investigation that followed—the massive manhunt, the citywide panic, and the single miraculous survivor whose courage would help bring a killer to justice. Through meticulous research and cinematic storytelling, author Miles Donovan reconstructs not only the crime, but the society that allowed it to happen.
From the chaotic police efforts and legal battles to the media frenzy that turned a murderer into a myth, this book strips away the sensationalism to reveal the deeper that the real story isn’t about evil, but about failure—systemic, social, and human. And about the voices of eight women who refused to be forgotten.
BEHIND THE MONSTER UNMASKEDInside Stateville Prison, Speck became a dark legend—his life behind bars marked by drugs, violence, and shocking rumors that blurred the line between punishment and spectacle. When he died of a heart attack in 1991, he left behind not repentance, but a chilling reminder of how thin the line is between civilization and chaos.
What makes a man like Richard Speck—and what does our fascination with him say about us?
THE LEGACY OF THE NURSESAt the heart of this book are the women who lived, loved, and dreamed before that night. Corazon Amurao, Valentina Pasion, Merlita Gargullo, Pamela Wilkening, Gloria Davy, Patricia Matusek, Nina Schmale, and Suzanne Ferriss—names that should be remembered not as victims, but as healers. Their story, and the quiet dignity of the survivor who carried their memory, became a call to reform police work, reshape nursing safety, and awaken a nation to the reality of its own darkness.
TRUE CRIME. TRUE HISTORY. TRUE HUMANITY.SLASHED is more than a retelling—it is an act of remembrance. A powerful, fact-driven narrative that pulls readers into the humid alleys of 1960s Chicago, the smoke-filled courtrooms, and the claustrophobic cells where evil learned to speak softly.
“The night Chicago screamed” was more than a headline—it was the night America lost its innocence.
THE KILLER WHO CHANGED AMERICA FOREVERRichard Speck wasn’t a monster born overnight. He was a drifter, a drunk, a man shaped by violence and neglect, carrying with him the invisible scars of childhood and the festering rage that would one day ignite. From the small towns of Illinois to the oil fields of Texas, Speck left behind a trail of broken jobs, bar fights, and whispered warnings no one listened to—until it was too late.
When he found himself in Chicago, unemployed and seething, fate placed him within walking distance of a townhouse full of young nurses. What followed was one of the most nightmarish crimes in the twentieth century, a story so disturbing that reporters wept as they covered it and police officers carried the memory to their graves.
THE INVESTIGATION, THE TRIAL, AND THE AFTERMATH The Untold Shocking True Story of Richard Speck and the Night Chicago Screamed exposes the investigation that followed—the massive manhunt, the citywide panic, and the single miraculous survivor whose courage would help bring a killer to justice. Through meticulous research and cinematic storytelling, author Miles Donovan reconstructs not only the crime, but the society that allowed it to happen.
From the chaotic police efforts and legal battles to the media frenzy that turned a murderer into a myth, this book strips away the sensationalism to reveal the deeper that the real story isn’t about evil, but about failure—systemic, social, and human. And about the voices of eight women who refused to be forgotten.
BEHIND THE MONSTER UNMASKEDInside Stateville Prison, Speck became a dark legend—his life behind bars marked by drugs, violence, and shocking rumors that blurred the line between punishment and spectacle. When he died of a heart attack in 1991, he left behind not repentance, but a chilling reminder of how thin the line is between civilization and chaos.
What makes a man like Richard Speck—and what does our fascination with him say about us?
THE LEGACY OF THE NURSESAt the heart of this book are the women who lived, loved, and dreamed before that night. Corazon Amurao, Valentina Pasion, Merlita Gargullo, Pamela Wilkening, Gloria Davy, Patricia Matusek, Nina Schmale, and Suzanne Ferriss—names that should be remembered not as victims, but as healers. Their story, and the quiet dignity of the survivor who carried their memory, became a call to reform police work, reshape nursing safety, and awaken a nation to the reality of its own darkness.
TRUE CRIME. TRUE HISTORY. TRUE HUMANITY.SLASHED is more than a retelling—it is an act of remembrance. A powerful, fact-driven narrative that pulls readers into the humid alleys of 1960s Chicago, the smoke-filled courtrooms, and the claustrophobic cells where evil learned to speak softly.
321 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 8, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 10, 2026
SLASHED: A Masterclass in Repetitive Inaccurate Drivel
If you enjoy the content-mill drivel of a malfunctioning AI-bot that churns glaring inaccuracy and repetitive cliches, while insulting the victims of a heinous crime, this is the book for you!*
Miles Donovan has achieved the impossible: he wrote a "true story" about the Richard Speck murders and apparently found one of the eight victims so "unforgettable" that he entirely forgot to include her. Certainly a miss when other attempts to pad the word count were so blatant.
The Writing: A Carousel of Cliches
Prepare yourself for a drinking game where you take a shot every time the author uses a "gritty" cliche.
• "The night Chicago screamed."
• "A loss of innocence."
• "A darkness that stained the city."
By chapter three, you’ll be legally dead from alcohol poisoning. The prose doesn't just lean on cliches; it lives in them. Every street is "mean," every shadow is "menacing," and every realization is—of course—"chilling."
The Absurd Repetition
The repetition in this book is truly a feat of endurance. Donovan doesn't just tell you a fact; he tells you, then rephrases it, then tells you again in the next paragraph, and then reminds you of it three pages later as if you have the attention span of a goldfish. It reads like a student trying to hit a 10,000-word essay requirement by saying "the killer was bad" in fifty different, equally boring ways.
Final Verdict:
• Notes? None.
• References? Nowhere to be found.
• Ethics? Non-existent.
• Talent? Nada.
It takes a special kind of "skill" to turn a horrific tragedy into something this insulting, poorly researched, and mind-numbingly repetitive.
Save your sanity and your Goodreads goal for a well-researched nonfiction book about the Richard Speck murders that deserves your time, such as “The Crime of the Century” by Dennis L. Breo and William J. Martin.
*AI was ABSOLUTELY used to generate this review. I learn from the best.
If you enjoy the content-mill drivel of a malfunctioning AI-bot that churns glaring inaccuracy and repetitive cliches, while insulting the victims of a heinous crime, this is the book for you!*
Miles Donovan has achieved the impossible: he wrote a "true story" about the Richard Speck murders and apparently found one of the eight victims so "unforgettable" that he entirely forgot to include her. Certainly a miss when other attempts to pad the word count were so blatant.
The Writing: A Carousel of Cliches
Prepare yourself for a drinking game where you take a shot every time the author uses a "gritty" cliche.
• "The night Chicago screamed."
• "A loss of innocence."
• "A darkness that stained the city."
By chapter three, you’ll be legally dead from alcohol poisoning. The prose doesn't just lean on cliches; it lives in them. Every street is "mean," every shadow is "menacing," and every realization is—of course—"chilling."
The Absurd Repetition
The repetition in this book is truly a feat of endurance. Donovan doesn't just tell you a fact; he tells you, then rephrases it, then tells you again in the next paragraph, and then reminds you of it three pages later as if you have the attention span of a goldfish. It reads like a student trying to hit a 10,000-word essay requirement by saying "the killer was bad" in fifty different, equally boring ways.
Final Verdict:
• Notes? None.
• References? Nowhere to be found.
• Ethics? Non-existent.
• Talent? Nada.
It takes a special kind of "skill" to turn a horrific tragedy into something this insulting, poorly researched, and mind-numbingly repetitive.
Save your sanity and your Goodreads goal for a well-researched nonfiction book about the Richard Speck murders that deserves your time, such as “The Crime of the Century” by Dennis L. Breo and William J. Martin.
*AI was ABSOLUTELY used to generate this review. I learn from the best.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2026
Poorly written
This could have been an interesting account of an unusual young man operating at a turning point in the history of serious crime in the U.S. Unfortunately, the ridiculous number of repetitive facts and phrases made it extremely frustrating to read.
This could have been an interesting account of an unusual young man operating at a turning point in the history of serious crime in the U.S. Unfortunately, the ridiculous number of repetitive facts and phrases made it extremely frustrating to read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews