First published 2019
Most people recognize the names Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffrey Dahmer. Israel Keyes remains unknown despite being one of America's most terrifying serial killers. For fourteen years, Keyes operated across the United States using a methodical system. He buried kill kits containing cash, weapons, and disposal tools in remote locations nationwide. Keyes would fly to cities, rent cars, and drive thousands of miles to retrieve his supplies. He broke into homes, abducted victims in daylight, and killed them within hours. Then he returned to Alaska where he lived as a quiet construction worker raising his daughter. The FBI called his methods unprecedented. A prosecutor described him as pure evil. Journalist Maureen Callahan discovered Keyes in 2012 and spent years investigating how such a killer evaded detection for over a decade. Through interviews with law enforcement officials and people from Keyes's life, plus research from classified FBI files, she reconstructs his capture and examines what his existence reveals about the limits of traditional police work.
Genres: american, crime, non-fiction, 21st-century, true-crime
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: true-crime
Setting: Alaska, United States
Period: 21st-century
285 pages · Hardcover · Viking
Content warnings: death, graphic-violence, murder