There But For The Grace of God

by Fred Rosen

Presents the first-persona accounts of people who came all too close to being victims of some of the most notorious serial killers & mass murderers of the 20th century, including Ted Bundy, Son of Sam, BTK, Jeffrey Dahmer, the Green River Killer, Richard Speck, & more. 278 pages with 2 Appendix, Bibliography, & 8 pages of black-and-white photos. Hardcover book is completely clean & tight in like DJ (unclipped, no price, so may be BCE). NO writing or underlining or highlighting, nice white pages, appears never read. Only flaw is former owner's address label of first blank page. Please see our photos! Description copyright Gargoyle Books 2013. All orders process by Noon (Pacific) ship That Day, else next Day (except Sundays & holidays).

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, True Story

278 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

American true crime author and former columnist for the Arts and Leisure Section of The New York Times.

Rosen's published works in the genre include Lobster Boy, There But For the Grace: Survivors of the 20th Century’s Infamous Serial Killers and When Satan Wore a Cross.

He is also the winner of Library Journal’s Best Reference Source 2005 award for The Historical Atlas of American Crime, and has written many other works of historical non-fiction including Cremation in America, Contract Warriors and Gold!.

Reviews

[Liza · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is some of the worst writing I've ever seen. The subtitle says the book is about the survivors of the 20th centruy's serial killers. It's not. It's 90% about the killers themsevles, and about the victims that didn't survive. And maybe 10% about the survivors. Plus, it's just terrible writing. I can't remember being so relieved to be done with a book. It will be going to McKay's, but I will be suprised if they offer me even a penny for it.

[Lucie Cavaroc · Rating 1 out of 5]

The entertainment for me in this book was to marvel at the incredibly poor writing. I had no idea something like this could even get published. I kept asking myself, "Where was the editor?"

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

The prose is terrible. Worse, the author comes across as high-handed and judgmental, making needlessly-disparaging remarks about law enforcement, perpetrators, and victims alike. Only my high interest in true crime kept me turning pages. (Thanks again to my friend Julie for passing this along to me! Despite the negative review, I am thankful.)

[Katja Labonté · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars & 2/10 hearts. I picked up this book under the impression that it was Christian or at least religious, and that it was about miraculous escapes where the hand of God was seen. Unfortunately, I was mistaken. The author is skeptical/nonreligious and seemed to have rather an offhand “these people think God protected them” attitude which bugged me. That was my first gripe. The second was that I expected the marvellous escapes stories to be the book. Instead, most of it was the serial killers’ biographies, before and after the marvellous escapes. The stories were sometimes so short that I didn’t even figure out they were the “marvellous escape stories.” I was annoyed that I picked up the book solely for miracles and instead got mostly gory biographies. That may be me, but I just feel that the “marvellous escapes” were really much less in proportion. I wasn’t here to learn all the ugly details of the serial killers’ past kills. Finally, I was bugged by the subtle anti-police attitude. I know that in some cases they acted wrongly, but in other cases they couldn’t do much more than they did do and the subtle eye-roll was annoying.
Of course, I did go into this knowing there’d be some disturbing details, but I wasn’t expecting all those biographies, so I ended up skimming a lot. There was a lot of content which I won’t even detail, but I’m pretty sure you can guess. The author didn’t whitewash. The cannibal just about did me in, and I'm not squeamish. Besides gore, there was a lot of sexual content. And much language.
The only thing I genuinely liked was the chapter on Son of Sam. I read one of his tracts but did not realize he was a serial killer, so I was interested to read about him. The author never mentioned David’s (Son of Sam’s) conversion, but perhaps he didn’t know of it or perhaps it hadn’t happened yet. But wow. Our God is so amazing!!
Overall, I was disappointed. This wasn’t the book I thought it would be, and I wouldn’t have picked it up if I had known what it really was. I feel like I wasted my time. I was expecting a book where I’d be left awed at God’s power. There were one or two amazing stories where God’s hand was definitely at work, but overall I was left feeling dirty and gloomy.

[Jana Denardo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Usually I can find something redeeming in a book but not here. It's not really about the survivors and when it is, there is no sympathy/empathy for them. Mostly they're a vehicle for mocking the police and FBI which I think is the only reason this book was written. The writing is also atrocious.

[Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!} · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Cornerofmadness · Rating 1 out of 5]

I almost never give one stars. I try to find something good in a book but no, this one deserves it. I've read others by Mr. Rosen and they were nearly equally bad. Honestly, I think he's in the true crime genre merely to bash the police and FBI because everything I've read by him reads that way.

This could have been either very good, giving the survivors of serial killers a voice, to take the focus off the monsters that hurt them (which if you think about it is rather lurid and some of the more recent mass murderers have stated that they did what they did in part because the media would insure their names are remembered) or it could have been salacious and exploitative.

It was neither. It was still mostly about the killers and occasionally people he met that had nothing to do with anything (like people in a diner) but mostly it's about how much Rosen hates the police and the FBI. Here are a few samples.

"The big shots told the small town cop that the FBI had come in with one of their profiles and, by gum, it had to be right because it was the FBI."

"Showing the kind of stupidity even a memoir writer can't make up."

"In this case, and others, blatant racism built in the FBI response to a serial killer running amuck."

"The feds advice, as in all such cases, was absolutely worthless."

About the only blatant prejudice you'll see in this book is Rosen's own. He hates cops but he'll give their 'duh moments' (he actually had the cops going duh in one spot but rereading this for quotes is painful) a pass if he can blame the FBI. This book was written for one reason, as a mental masturbation exercise on the author's part. Not sure why he has a hard on for the FBI but his disdain is more than obvious and some of what he has here isn't just his opinion but an outright lie. Unless of course you prescribe to the idea that all proof that the FBI profiles have helped solve some cases is a lie (and all those dozens of books out there about those cases are just bull).

There are a lot of good crime writers out there. Go read one of them. Don't make my mistake and buy this laughable piece of work. Don't even get it out of the library. You can do better.

[Mirjam Penning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I liked the book, it wasn't as good as I hoped. From the named victims two were only spoken about, not with. I really would have liked to read what the surviving victim of Speck, Corazon, would have to say. But it seemed she didn't wish to be found, which is understandable. Of all the cases in the book, the Dahmer case appealed the least to me. That story somehow never got to me and again didn't this time.
The book did give me info I didn't know before, that scored points with me. I probably could've found those somewhere, but I didn't look for it.
One of the things I didn't agree on with the writer is that he felt that surviving a serial killer comes with a responsibility. Somehow he seemed so blame Tracy Edwards that he wasn't thinking back on his ordeal like that in relation to his further life. He just continued his life as before, expanding his criminal record with petty crimes.
Another minus point was a small part of the book was more about describing surroundings and what the writer was drinking or the person he interviewed..well, you get the picture. Just useless page filling to me. But all in all worth reading.

[Dawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book got crappy reviews on Amazon, but I saw it at the library and picked it up. I don't have high hopes, but I'm a sucker for serial killers.

**LATER**
I read the first chapter or two of this book and had to put it down. The writing is too awful. Seriously. It's un-readable. Find yourself another serial killer book STAT.

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had the potential to be MUCH MUCH more.

[npaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of psycho killers but wasn't a big fan of the writing. Could have been so much better. Great idea, wasn't executed well.

[``Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting true crime book and great stories of survival against all the odds.

[Kathleen Garber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve had this book on my TBR shelf for a while and I finally picked it up and read half of it and then stopped reading much for a while. I picked it back up after New Year’s and quickly read the other half.

This is a small mass market paperback which feels like just the right size to read about such horrible details. I’m assuming someone picking up this book knows the basics of some serial killers but if you know very little, you will be in for a shock, especially with Jeffrey Dahmer.

It was interesting though to read about the survivors instead of focusing on the stories of the serial killers themselves. How did the victims meet them, how many were killed before the survivor. How did they survive? The most interesting one I read was Corazon Amauro who survived Richard Speck.

I like that the chapters are titled by the survivor’s name and not the name of the serial killer. I also like the insert with black and white photographs from the different cases.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book fell a mile short of its potential, but it was still fairly interesting to me, a true-crime aficionado. There was actually very little about the feelings and lives of the people who encountered these famous serial killers and "lived to tell." The author chose instead to approach each story with the details of his own travels to the location where he met the survivor, an account of the very mundane discussion between himself and the survivor, and then a summary of the serial killer's infamous actions.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a great premise--better than the execution to be honest--but is still worth reading. It is a collection of stories about would-be victims who survived their encounters with notorious killers, often suggesting that a higher power was at work. I've read a lot of Fred Rosen's books over the years, and never had a clue that he harbored any kind of spiritual leanings.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Basically just an excuse to rehash some fairly well-known serial-murder cases without really bringing that much new or revealing to the table. Not that it is poorly written or anything, but one almost feels you got suckered. He also doesn't seem too impressed with police or FBI agents.

[Mario Pimental · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeesh. Low quality writing with very little focus on the victims. Went in expecting survival stories (which only lasted 2-3 pages per chapter) and left with mediocre retellings of popular serial killer rampages.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author used a lot of the same turns of phrase over and over again, to a point where it got annoying. But it was a rare glimpse into survivor stories, which kept me reading.

[Bandie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Save yourself the time and don’t read this book. Just don’t!

[Victoria Esquivel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Badly written, almost unprofessional. Author has a very obvious hatred of cops since he spends a lot of time insulting them in the book.

[Tori C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives a look into the minds of 7 of the most infamous serial killers. It also gave some insight into what had happened to some of the survivors of these serial killers. All of them not meant to be alive. It detailed their experiences, the cases that made national headlines and the story of the lucky few survivors of these heinous acts. It would give an explanation of the minds of the serial killers, before and after. It also showed the lives of the survivors and their experiences before and after their run-ins with these infamous killers.
I feel like this book had potential to be really great, but the writing style wasn’t too great. It seemed like the author was telling the story of the killers and survivors through his own eyes. So sometimes it seemed biased. If you’re going to write a book on serial killers and their survivors, you don’t need to add in a bunch of personal things that have nothing to do with anything. There were parts, like in the beginning of chapters that were all about what the author was doing. It didn’t really matter what he was doing. I liked learning about the serial killers and everything, but I could have done without the commentary done by the author.
I gave this book 4 stars because of the author adding in his personal thoughts on the serial killers and their victims. The purpose of the book wasn’t to talk about him, it was to talk about the people who survive the serial killers and have told their story.

[Eva Fleming · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was terribly written, many of the sections are incoherent and impossible to follow, the plot wanders aimlessly, the facts of crimes are horribly misrepresented (Ted Bundy's last victim, 12 year old Kimberly Leach, was abducted and killed in and around Jacksonville, Florida and not in Utah as the book states in an attempt to force fact to conform with the author's theory), and the survivors, which the the author and jacket claim are the topic of the book, are barely even included. It's obvious that the author would go to any lengths to force his saved-by-god's-mysterious-intervention theory to explain how these victims survived serial killers, while ignoring explanations that fit with the facts (e.g., a potential rape-murder victim who was being sexually abused at home used her familiarity with such situations to survive by making the abuser see her as more than a victim). I would not recommend this book. My first edition (purchased used) will be going back to the used bookstore.

[Annika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so, this book is not well-received at all, so it's kind of funny to make this a 4 star...but I did like this book a lot. Yes, there were glaring grammatical errors and the editor of this book should be fired, but I honestly didn't think the writing was that terrible. I was hooked. I mean, once you start on Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer (back to back chapters) you can't very well just stop. (Side note...I did want him to mention the possibility of Dahmer being the Adam Walsh abudctor...he did not mention it. Allegedly it is laid to rest. I still think about it uneasily.)

As a true crime fan, I would recommend it to others who are as well. There are parts that it skips around from the author's finding of the survivors to the actual events unfolding from what trials, witnesses, and detectives have uncovered so we have a more complete story. I had an e-book so maybe the format was different for telling the stories...it was a little confusing at those times, but nothing worth giving it a bad review.

[Kylie Stoneburner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting and terrifying glimpse into the worst yet luckiest nights of these survivors' lives. I have a thing for horror, or even better, true horror so I loved the recounts of these events. HOWEVER, the grammar/writing was so distracting because there were too many errors. And what made it worse was that the errors were typically the victims' names or names of locations. The author would report a victim's name and then spell it differently the next time it was used, or do the same for the name of the hotel or something. I found it to be poor editing and just plain lazy writing since it is a collection of short stories so why can't you spell one name the same way the 3 times it's used? Not to mention the blatant disrespect for the victims if the author can't even use the same spelling for their name when they obviously volunteered to recount those horrible events with us.

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a let down of a book. Research is lacking as well as the voice of the surviving victims or the dead victims. Seven chapters of rehashing some of the killings of serial killers with a sprinkle of the survivors stories. Some stories are a very dry read and lack depth of the situation. One story, Jeffrey Dahmer, is over the top detail about the ones he killed. Again, is this book not suppose to be about the ones who survived. Chapters are short and is a quick read but not worth the read. There are a few picture of the killers and a few pictures of survivors but nothing that has not already been in other books.

[Juli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only gave this book a 3 out of 5 stars becuase of how little atention is actually devoted to the individual survivors. Although Mr. Rosen does provide fairly in-depth narratives of the serial killers' actions, relatively little is divulged about those who survived their infamous attackers. The dearth of information may be due in great part to the survivors' understandable quest for privacy and freedom from these events. At any rate, it still is an interesting read.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing in that it doesn't really provide any new information about the serial killers or their crimes, and doesn't even greatly explore the whole "hand/grace of God" aspect of the survivors' stories... the author doesn't even speak with one of the survivors whose story he uses! Completely skippable.

[Renae · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the author's writing style, but the book was a lot more of a vague overview than I was expecting. I don't feel like he actually taught me anything by recounting his interviews with the survivors.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always been fascinated with the various aspects surrounding notorious criminals, especially serial killers. When you read on the topic, you rarely have a major focus being on the victim. This book was interesting and easy to read.

[Billie Seeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had really high hopes for this book despite the lack of satisfied reviews. The concept sounded well enough, but the actual book is too deep into description about things that didn't need describing. It was poorly written and in the end, the reviews are justified.