Murderland - Outside of a Dog

Hardcover, 480 pages

english language

Published June 10, 2025

Caroline Fraser grew up in the shadow of Ted Bundy, the most notorious serial murderer of women in American history, surrounded by his hunting grounds and mountain body dumps, in the brooding landscape of the Pacific Northwest. But in the 1970s and ’80s, Bundy was just one perpetrator amid an uncanny explosion of serial rape and murder across the region. Why so many? Why so weirdly and nightmarishly gruesome? Why the senseless rise and then sudden fall of an epidemic of serial killing?

As Murderland indelibly maps the lives and careers of Bundy and his infamous peers in mayhem—the Green River Killer, the I-5 Killer, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, even Charles Manson—Fraser’s Northwestern death trip begins to uncover a deeper mystery and an overlapping pattern of environmental destruction. At ground zero in Ted Bundy’s Tacoma stood one of the most poisonous lead, copper, and arsenic smelters in …

Caroline Fraser grew up in the shadow of Ted Bundy, the most notorious serial murderer of women in American history, surrounded by his hunting grounds and mountain body dumps, in the brooding landscape of the Pacific Northwest. But in the 1970s and ’80s, Bundy was just one perpetrator amid an uncanny explosion of serial rape and murder across the region. Why so many? Why so weirdly and nightmarishly gruesome? Why the senseless rise and then sudden fall of an epidemic of serial killing?

As Murderland indelibly maps the lives and careers of Bundy and his infamous peers in mayhem—the Green River Killer, the I-5 Killer, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, even Charles Manson—Fraser’s Northwestern death trip begins to uncover a deeper mystery and an overlapping pattern of environmental destruction. At ground zero in Ted Bundy’s Tacoma stood one of the most poisonous lead, copper, and arsenic smelters in the world, but it was hardly unique in the West. As Fraser’s investigation inexorably proceeds, evidence mounts that the plumes of these smelters not only sickened and blighted millions of lives but also warped young minds, including some who grew up to become serial killers.

A propulsive nonfiction thriller, Murderland transcends true-crime voyeurism and noir mythology, taking readers on a profound quest into the dark heart of the real American berserk.

4 editions

73pctGeek reviewed Murderland by Caroline Fraser

Interesting theory about PNW serial killers

3 stars

Why did a hotspot of horrific, and oddly specific crimes spill across part of the US, during certain decades?

Though Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers is well-written and interesting, I’m not sure I’d have made it through the chapters where Fraser lays out the crimes against humanity and nature wrought by industry. While informative, had I been unaware of the lead theory, I would have found it strangely off-topic, and possibly moved on to a different book. I’m still not sure there wasn’t more going on than just poison warping a generation of men, but I certainly don’t know enough to opine.

This book really does read like a True Crime novel, but though the author deftly manages to keep tension constantly mounting throughout, there is no final revelation to release it. And while the catalogue of horrors inflicted throughout the decades is …

Why did a hotspot of horrific, and oddly specific crimes spill across part of the US, during certain decades?

Though Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers is well-written and interesting, I’m not sure I’d have made it through the chapters where Fraser lays out the crimes against humanity and nature wrought by industry. While informative, had I been unaware of the lead theory, I would have found it strangely off-topic, and possibly moved on to a different book. I’m still not sure there wasn’t more going on than just poison warping a generation of men, but I certainly don’t know enough to opine.

This book really does read like a True Crime novel, but though the author deftly manages to keep tension constantly mounting throughout, there is no final revelation to release it. And while the catalogue of horrors inflicted throughout the decades is unflinchingly, and graphically recorded, Fraser is never lurid, and always shows empathy towards the victims.

As a history of serial killers, this is an astounding book. As a history of the poisoning of the Pacific Northwest, this is an interesting book. For me, the weakest part was the interweaving of the author’s own life. It felt superfluous, and I found it distracting. Taken as a whole? A cracking read.

Subjects

serial killers