The Serial Killer Whisperer: How One Man's Tragedy Helped Unlock the Deadliest Secrets of the World's Most Terrifying Killers

From New York Times bestselling author Pete Earley--the strange but true story of how a young man's devastating brain injury gave him the unique ability to connect with the world's most terrifying criminals.

Fifteen-year-old Tony Ciaglia had everything a teenager could want until he suffered a horrific head injury at summer camp. When he emerged from a coma, his right side was paralyzed, he had to relearn how to walk and talk, and he needed countless pills to control his emotions.

Abandoned and shunned by his friends, he began writing to serial killers on a whim and discovered that the same traumatic brain injury that made him an outcast to his peers now enabled him to connect emotionally with notorious murderers. Soon many of America's most dangerous psychopaths were revealing to him heinous details about their crimes--even those they'd never been convicted of.

Tony despaired as he found himself inescapably drawn into their violent worlds of murder, rape, and torture--until he found a way to use his gift. Asked by investigators from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to aid in solving a murder, Tony launched his own searches for forgotten victims with clues provided by the killers themselves.

The Serial Killer Whisperer takes readers into the minds of murderers like never before, but it also tells the inspiring tale of a struggling American family and a tormented young man who found healing and closure in the most unlikely way--by connecting with monsters.

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352 pages

Average rating: 8.89

9 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Anonymous
Apr 24, 2023
8/10 stars
I loved this.

This book is not for the squeamish. It tells about an accident that leaves Tony with a Traumatic Brain Injury that affects his personality. He becomes ostracized from his friends and eventually becomes obsessed with writing serial killers in prison.

The reporting is done well. The letters are graphic and made my stomach churn at times, but also showed surprising tenderness at other times. I was astounded by the love and care that Tony's parents and brother gave him after his TBI. This book quite literally shows the best and worst of humanity.
Nadia grey
Jul 23, 2022
8/10 stars
One of the first true crime books I really loved! It gets graphic at points, but is overall a fascinating look into the psyche of serial killers from the point of vien of a regular person rather than a professional psychologist.

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