The Man Who Killed A Boy Clifford Linedecker

Clifford L. Linedecker is the author of the book The Man Who Killed a Boy. It is a book meant to explain and analyze the assaults and killings that John Wayne Gacy performed on at least 33 young men and boys. This book goes into depth about his whole life, and the progressive offenses that built up to his killing spree. I chose to read this book because I have always been fascinated by true crime and the psychology behind the people committing such heinous acts. I have watched several documentaries on different serial killers, but John Wayne Gacy’s case has always interested me the most. That is because of how personable he was with everyone around him and how he created an (almost) perfect act to be able to carry on assaulting young men for

On the other hand, I feel as though there were a lot of details that were not so important to the contribution of the book. There were many insignificant details that were dragged out over the book, which made it seem like it was just filling pages. I believe the author accomplished his goal by writing this book, because he did not leave out any details of Gacy’s life. I felt that after reading the book I had a true understanding of all the horrendous acts that Gacy did and what led him to do them. I believe that the thesis the author was trying to convey was the awful and horrific acts that John Wayne Gacy had performed and his life leading up to them. The author of the book, Clifford L. Linedecker, had nearly eighteen years of experience at the Philadelphia Inquire, Rochester Times-Union, Fort Wayne News Sentinel, and many other news sites as a daily newspaper journalist. Linedecker joined the Navy in 1952 and was stationed on a small island. With limited men, there was very low morale among everyone, so the officers had assigned Linedecker to creating a newspaper for the men on the

Considering the author's background, he is a very experienced writer and investigative journalist. It could be assumed in his almost two decades of experience with different news sites and companies that he knows to provide all sides of the story. Although John Wayne Gacy led an awful and criminal life, Linedecker included the happy and prosperous life that Gacy was once known for before he was caught. This adds to the story because it shows the reader how much of a façade he put up to the people around him and how he could so easily lure people into his life. During one of his assaults, he was offering one of his workers drugs at his house when he gave him a rag to make his victim lose consciousness. As the assault went on it says, “He was still straining to get to his feet when Gacy returned and again pressed the cloth to his face. Snags lost consciousness once more” (106). On the other hand, the author had many examples of Gacy’s shining personality towards others such as, “Regardless of how busy Gacy became, he always had time to do little hobs in the neighborhood and to take care of the projects that kept coming up around the