Jillian B's Reviews > Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers

Why were there so many serial killers concentrated in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s and 80s? The author of this book makes the bold argument that the neurological impact of heavy environmental pollution might be a root cause. She traces this story through the 20th century, interweaving her own experience growing up just outside Seattle in the serial killer era.

I found the author’s thesis both provocative and totally plausible, and I like the way the story was laid out as a linear timeline. I also liked the way she talked about how families that made their fortune in heavy polluting industries, like the Guggenheims, have laundered their reputations in recent generations through contributions to the arts, much as Purdue Pharma’s Sackler family did.

I didn’t love reading the descriptions of all the crimes. I am not a true crime girly, and reading about so many murders and rapes was not fun for me. However, as someone born in 1990, reading about the sheer number of random kidnappings and murders that occurred when boomers were young gave me empathy for all the parents who sparked panic about “stranger danger” when my generation was growing up. When they were young, strangers really WERE dangerous!

Overall, this was a tremendous work of narrative journalism that will appeal even to those who, like me, are not particularly into true crime.