Serial Killers: Real and Imagined

By: Emily Zarka, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Emily Zarka

Monster stories aren’t just meant to entertain. They’re meant to inform, even educate. Above all, they ask us to question our own humanity. Nowhere is this truer than in stories of serial killers. What are the origins of this monstrous archetype? Why are we so fascinated with such gruesome terror? What do they reveal about our fears and anxieties?

Explore these and other questions in Serial Killers: Real and Imagined, where public scholar Emily Zarka looks at the serial-killer trope across history, from murky 17th-century legends to 21st-century true-crime obsessions. Using an in-depth analysis of pop-culture texts, she offers various constructions of the serial killer as threat, as cautionary tale, and even as celebrity. You’ll explore why serial murderers become famous, how they’ve been captured (and have eluded justice), their prominent role in film and television, and how the dangerous blending of fact and fiction contributes to our real-world understanding of serial killers as monstrous—almost supernatural—figures.

Stories, Emily believes, are integral to our humanity. And as you’ll discover in this fascinating Audible Original, so are stories pulled from some of the darkest corners of the human psyche.

©2024 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC.

Very Informative and Interesting

The narrator was really good! This was very informative, with alot of background informative regarding serial killers, thrillers, horror films, and true crime. It was really interesting to learn more about the statistics, and what influences the culture. Also that true crime shows and podcasts(media as a whole) have actually freed wrongfully convicted people as well as helping put real criminals away!

The breakdown of each chapter was very interesting.

I like how the author broke down each section in easy to comprehend and understand for listeners.

I'm a bit iffy on h÷er conclusions

While I enjoyed the lectures I felt that, at times, the expert had not fully formed her ideas and was force fitting them to fit her narrative. A example of this is The Nightstalker did not use charm or charisma to lure his victims, he broke in to houses and use force and intimation to get what he wanted. This and several more only undermined her credibly on the subject.
I also found the voice that she choose to present the material sounded more like she was selling soap powder than talking about serial killers. A happy, bright, smiling voice is not really the tone that matches the subject.
Overall I was entertained but not to the extent I was hoping.

Informative

Loved they way she used crime examples from all different decades to explain her message.

Very informative

I liked the facts about how fascination with crime and violence evolved. Interesting how folk tales have influenced us.

Interesting

Zarka is less interested in serial killers per se, than in the public reaction to them. She starts with historical figures and explores how their reputations as horrific murders developed—often with a complete lack of any supporting evidence. She explores the desire to make them legitimate monsters—vampires and werewolves, for example. And again and again she comes back to the public fascination with these people. It’s an interesting book.

Very interesting info

I thought this was very informative and interesting. The narration was clear and easy to listen to.

Good comparison

I feel meh after finishing this story. It was a good comparison of the ways in which the public has dealt with murderers and serial killers through history.

Short but Entertaining

I really enjoyed the author’s enthusiasm on the subject and even though I did know a lot of what she discussed from other media, she took me back to some topics I had not considered in a while. Very enjoyable and interesting listen.

Enjoyable Easy Read with a But

I personally really enjoyed this. I’m a big reader and already into true crime, so it wasn’t really anything new. But I enjoyed the theories/themes of the lectures, and the vocal performance was very good.

All that being said - there are errors. For example, at one point she calls the Golden State Killer “James” DeAngelo. This is a small mistake (James is his middle name.) But when it comes to “The Great Courses,” I would like to think there has been editing, and that the information presented is factually pristine. So I was disappointed in that.