(reviewed by JD Jung)
“If I didn’t kill them afterward, you’d say I was the perfect client, boyfriend, husband, or lover. And believe me, that’s the man I want to be, the man I tried to be. And failed.”
It’s 1849 London and after two years and fourteen killings, Kilcairn is reevaluating his life. The newspapers refer to him as “The Gentleman Killer” based on his method of killing his victims. But these murders are only part of the story.
Kilcairn was from a family of Irish sheep farmers, but highly educated in London. He was the son-in-law of a powerful businessman and eventually became the assistant to the future British Prime Minister.
So, what would drive such as successful man to commit such depraved acts of violence?
Confessions of a Gentleman Killer takes us through the life of Kilcairn from his own perspective. The story grabs the reader from the beginning and doesn’t let go. I found some of the events from Kilcairn’s professional life so remarkable, that I forgot (though only briefly) that he was a serial killer. This is not to say that I sympathized with him or understood his actions, but I gained a larger picture of him.
This dark story itself is fascinating enough. It explores issues of class within nineteenth century British society. However, if you’re like me, you’ll wonder what drove him to commit these murders. The author explores the killer’s psychology and presents enough background information for readers to come up with their own conclusions. In fact, I think that was done on purpose. I have my own ideas, but I don’t want to give anything away.
I highly recommend Confessions of a Gentleman Killer for fans of historical crime fiction that blends both psychology and sociology within the story.
