Deviant, Harold Schechter
Deviant, Harold Schechter
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Deviant

Author: Harold Schechter

Narrator: R.C. Bray

Unabridged: 8 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/30/2025


Synopsis

Now with a new afterword read by the author.

From the author of “top-drawer true crime” (Booklist) books comes the definitive account of Ed Gein—the man whose shocking crimes inspired Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs.

The year was 1957. To his Wisconsin neighbors, Ed Gein was a slight, Midwestern farmhand with a twisted little smile. To an unsuspecting nation, he would become one of the most notorious crime figures in history, having lived for ten years in his own secret world of brutal murder and unthinkable depravity.

Here is the grisly true story of “the Butcher of Plainfield,” a deranged killer whose fiendish fantasies inspired such works as Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs. More horrifying than any movie or novel however, Deviant dares to explore in chilling detail the life and times of one of the most twisted madmen in the annals of true crime—one who still haunts us to this day—and how he transformed his small, nondescript farmhouse in the American heartland into his own private and inescapable domain of ghoulishness and blood.

About Harold Schechter

Harold Schechter is Professor Emeritus at Queens College, where he taught classes in American literature and myth criticism for forty-two years. His essays have appeared in publications including The New York TimesThe Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and many more. An esteemed true crime historian, he has written the definitive accounts of some of America’s most infamous murderers, including the nonfiction books FatalFiendBestialDeviantDerangedDepraved, and The Serial Killers File. He is the editor of the Library of America volume, True Crime: An American Anthology. He has twice been a finalist for an Edgar Award. His most recent books include Butcher’s Work: True Crime Tales of American Murder and Madness and Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects. In addition to his work in narrative nonfiction, Schechter is the author of an acclaimed series of detective novels based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. He lives with his family in New York. 


Reviews

Goodreads review by Paul on September 20, 2018

Harold Schechter is an author with Tourette's Syndrome - consider some of his book titles: Deranged! Depraved! Fiend! Bestial! Now imagine inviting Mr Schechter to dinner.... "Ketchup!" "Salt!" "Mayonnaise!" "Pickle!" "Hideous!" "Fiend!" "Vile!"......more

Goodreads review by Johann (jobis89) on May 03, 2021

Very solid and interesting true crime book. Maybe outdated at times in terms of mental health topics, but on the whole a great account of Ed Gein and his crimes.......more

Goodreads review by Susanne on June 29, 2013

I think I dated this guy.......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on November 28, 2011

Mothers, be careful how you raise your boys, especially if you're an overbearing religious wackjob who thinks the best lesson she can impart is that all women are wanton, wicked and deserve to be punished as this could lead to a host of mental illnesses and some terrifying life choices on the part o......more

Goodreads review by aPriL does feral sometimes on September 19, 2018

'Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein' is one of those books almost all of you, my primarily gentle and, sad to say, mostly duplicitous readers, will deny having the stomach to read at all. Many of you already insist that books in the true-crime genre are beneath you, especially ones like thi......more