Luke Karamazov

Great Lakes Books Series

by Conrad Hilberry, Emanuel Tanay (Foreword)

Luke Karamazov is the true story of two brothers who were convicted of serial murders. In 1964, Luke Karamozov (née Ralph Searl) confessed to killing five men over a three-month period; following in his grisly footsteps was his younger brother, Tommy Searl, who was sentenced for the rape and murder of four young women in or around the brothers’ hometown of Kalamazoo.

The events described in the book have the drama of fiction, but are very real events. Conrad Hilberry based his account on interviews with the two men, their friends, the woman whom they both married, and prison officials. Choosing to focus more on the texture of the men’s lives than on the crimes themselves, Hilberry explores the movement of their thoughts and the ways in which they have each dealt with their brutal childhoods and their lives in prison.

Luke Karamazov is an unusually vivid and detailed study of two contrasting psychological types. Drawing on Ernest Becker’s Denial of Death, Hilberry presents Karamazov and his brother as extreme instances of behavior and states of mind that, surprisingly, are not uncommon. The result is a story that is at once bizarre and psychologically interesting.

Genres: Audiobook, True Crime

189 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1987

About the author

Conrad Hilberry was the author of several books of poetry including Until the Full Moon Has Its Say (Wayne State University Press, 2014) and Sorting the Smoke, which won the Iowa Poets’ Prize. Additionally, he had a long career teaching literature and creative writing at Kalamazoo College.

Reviews

[Bill reilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

After watching the film He Went That Way, I was led to this book which was used as source material. It is only a very small portion and I was very disappointed with the rest of the story.
The real life killers, Larry and Danny Ranes were interviewed by the author and he mostly covers the life and crimes of Larry. He freely admitted to killing five men during robberies and the strangest part was when he was picked up by a famous animal trainer and his chimpanzee while hitchhiking. The monkey had appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. Larry pled guilty to his crimes but his brother Danny denied any involvement in the rape-murders of four women. At least one of the men was an honest killer.
Danny married a woman and his brother later made the same lady his wife. Daddy dearest beat the boys and their mother and surprise, surprise, the sins of the father were carried on by the children. Luke Karamazov is not a very good read.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not your normal true crime book it is more like a documentary not to say it wasn’t a good listen it was. It is based on the brothers to the why, how, what life in prison was like, and their emotions at the time of the crime and today. I thought it was an interesting read but at times I found my mind wondering and had to pull myself back in. You won’t get to know the victim but you sure get to know the killers. Two brothers who want what the other has will not be out done by the other. Did they turn out this way because they were set against each other at a young age with a father demanding they compete against the other or was it because their father was abusive or could it have been that he left them and didn’t want anything to do with them, maybe it is just a gene that went wrong , or where they just evil from birth…you decide. Many questions are asked some are answered but in the killer’s words is this truth or fiction? There are many sides to each story, most likely the truth is somewhere in the middle of the two brothers tales. I am not sure we will ever know all the true facts but this was very interesting to see somewhat through the killer’s eyes. Two brothers but kill in different ways, one feel and admit each killer the other said he never did it. How can they both be so different?

Luke I think we heard more about him it seemed he was admitting to the killings but didn’t have any feelings one way or the other. Tommy never admitted any crime and thinks he should be out. Both brothers dated and married the same woman. There are a lot of interesting facts. I would have liked to learn more about how the crime was commended the author does not go into much deals.

Mr. Gully narration was very good, when he was in character voice it was natural not with much feeling but that is how the killer is he really became the killer. I feel he did a wonderful job with the emotions when the brothers got excited, or mad you could really feel the emotion come through the speakers. From what I heard he only went into a few character voices but you knew who was talking and just what they were feeling. The volume stayed the same throughout if breaks were taken I could not tell. There are no background noises just a clean smooth audio with a very nice voice that really does pull you in. There is no repeat of words that the author did not have in the story. I would like to hear more from him with a normal audio where he goes more in to characters see the changes of voices. I thought his performance was outstanding he really had the cold dark voice down for the killers. I do look forward to listening to more of his work.

The author does repeat his self a few times going over what the killer said, repeating it and he might repeat it again. All in all this was a great documentary but I would have liked to have known more about the true facts both from the killer and the law. He talks about the trial but no details are given. I can tell you this I wouldn’t want to meet either of these men on a lonely cold night.