A Hunger to Kill

A Serial Killer, a Determined Detective, and the Quest for a Confession That Changed a Small Town Forever

By: Kim Mager, Lisa Pulitzer - contributor

Narrated by: Jennifer Blom

In this fascinating & profoundly chilling account, Detective Kim Mager, a real-life version of Clarice Starling, reveals how she closed in on—and broke—one of Ohio’s most infamous serial killers.

On September 13, 2016, in the small town of Ashland, Ohio, emergency dispatchers received a 911 call from a terrified woman who claimed to be kidnapped. The man holding her hostage was Shawn Grate, a serial killer whom the press later dubbed “The Ladykiller.” A key to his conviction and death sentence were Grate’s extensive recorded confessions—all extracted by one woman: Detective Kim Mager.

As an experienced specialist in sex offenses, Detective Mager was one of the officers assigned to Grate’s case upon his arrest. Grate immediately latched onto her, repeatedly demanding to speak to her and presumably convinced that he could somehow exercise his power over her in much the same way that he’d overpowered and controlled his female victims.

He was wrong.

Over a period of eight days, Mager conducted one interview after another, risking her life by sitting alone in the interview room with a malevolent predator. Using brilliant psychological strategy in a lethal game of wits, Mager successfully elicited his damning confessions to five murders, kidnapping, and multiple sexual assaults of women across Ohio.

Deeply personal and shocking, A Hunger to Kill takes listeners behind the scenes of one of the most appalling criminal cases in American history from the woman who stopped his murderous rampage in collaboration with New York Times bestselling author Lisa Pulitzer.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

©2024 Kim Mager and Lisa Pulitzer (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Like a master chess player, Detective Kim Mager used a combination of keen psychological insight, gut instinct, and real courage to bring a ruthless serial killer to justice. A Hunger to Kill is the story of her ferocious determination to prevent more innocent victims from falling prey to a monster."—John Douglas, Former Chief of the FBI’s National Center of the Analysis of Violent Crime and New York Times bestselling author of Mindhunter

"Mager delivers an unflinching study of a killer. This hums with the intensity of a real-life Silence of the Lambs."—Publishers Weekly, starred

“This book has all the hallmarks of a prime-time police procedural and Mager is a real-life Olivia Benson... Moving and methodical, this book belongs in the true crime canon."—Booklist, starred

An absolutely gripping story!

It was well-paced and well-written. The male voices were the only downside for me.

Gets better in the end

The beginning was drawn out mostly about the officer. Almost stopped listening but starts to get more exciting in the later chapters

Enthralling

The story pacing was good as was the first hand account. Performance was great. Recommended.

Compassion of author

Amazing interrogation skill and a compelling telling of the investigation of a disturbed serial killer.

Gets better towards the end.

Have to agree with some of the other reviews I see here. Too much backstory and detail about the author, and the intricacies of her personal life. Would rather have spent more time learning about the killer, and more time on the interviews.

Way too much religion/jesus for my taste. I don't need to have full scriptures read to me when I'm listening to a true crime book.

Narrator is good in theory, but has this way of almost trying too hard- the tone is forced and comes off as a bit fake.

I will say it picks up towards the end, and the trial portion is quite compelling.

This is average.

Not bad.

I liked it. The story was written from the perspective of the detective, the actual detective, not by a crime writer, trying to interpret the detective’s point of view.

Interesting psychology of a serial killer

Not terribly interested in the authors personal life and her feelings about her shower or arguments with her coworkers they’re not relevant to the interviews with the subject.

Aching weepy reading like too pensive and sad

It plodded along too long. The altruistic weepy reading became too much of a burden. Had to stop it at like three hours and I’ll try to return it.

Everything stood out most!

Great and interesting true story. I’m from Ohio and never heard of this serial killer. Well told and the best narration.

Interesting

Lots of good information. Very detailed and in depth. Enjoyed hearing this from the detective point of view. Kim Mager’s heart is pure and she has so much patience! I adore her!