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A review by jessica42980
The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey Into the Mind of the Serial Killer by Jason Moss
4.0
All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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When you decide to begin a ‘hobby’ there are not many people who would do what Jason Moss did: write to prison inmates. And not just prison inmates, but infamous serial killers! Even more shocking is that Jason did this at 18 years old and his parents knew about it.
The Last Victim is Moss’ first-hand account of his writing to infamous killers and ‘getting in their head’ by posing as what would be their ‘ideal’ victim. Moss writes it as if he is talking to you. The Last Victim was released while I was in college and I read it twice. I was a psychology major and took as many criminal justice type classes as I could. I was going through my reading only true crime books phase, so this book was perfect for me at that time of my life. Also, Moss was just a few years older than me!
Now, Kim and I both chose to listen to the audible version she bought and bring you a double review. I did not have much memory of this memoir as it has been at least 15 years since I read it. The Last Victim is candid, shocking, and extremely disturbing. I don’t know if there is a difference between reading the book and having it narrated to you, but I found myself turning the volume down as I was driving when the book got to the graphic contents. I guess I did not want people to possibly hear what I was listening to! I don’t know what Gacy sounded like, but the narrator’s portrayal of him is just frightening!
Moss writes not just one, but multiple killers in the same time frame. He wrote John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez, and Jeffrey Dahmer among others. Moss shares his letters with candor and this book is not for the faint hearted. Gacy was extremely and heavily sexually graphic in his letters. Gacy’s writings are really things you do not want to know. Moss’ communications with Dahmer were short lived as he was murdered in prison. Dahmer was also sexually graphic in his writings. Moss was upset at Dahmer’s death as he felt he did not get to cover more with Dahmer.
It’s hard to comprehend someone writing to these killers, especially someone at Moss’ young age AND his parents also knowing! Granted, Moss kept the extent of the communication between him and the killers a secret. Even harder to believe is that Moss used his younger brother in his communications with Gacy. Writing these killers is disturbing enough, but Moss even talked on the phone and visited Gacy several times shortly before his execution. Moss naively thought he could ‘handle Gacy’ due to Gacy’s age and physicality, forgetting the fact that he killed more than 30 boys that were Moss’ age. The fact the people actually write these killers and look up to them is incomprehensible.
This experience obviously affected Moss as I saw an interview with him saying that if he could go back in time then he would not have written the first letter. Also, Moss also committed suicide on 6/6/06 and there is much speculation about the date of his suicide. The research he did to communicate with Ramirez must have stayed with him, as Ramirez was a Satanist.
This is a dark and disturbing true life account that has a sad ending. Even the title has a double meaning as Moss truly was Gacy’s last victim. This memoir will not be for everyone and I urge very high reader discretion before picking up The Last Victim.
Despite the content, The Last Victim is recommended.
~~~~
When you decide to begin a ‘hobby’ there are not many people who would do what Jason Moss did: write to prison inmates. And not just prison inmates, but infamous serial killers! Even more shocking is that Jason did this at 18 years old and his parents knew about it.
The Last Victim is Moss’ first-hand account of his writing to infamous killers and ‘getting in their head’ by posing as what would be their ‘ideal’ victim. Moss writes it as if he is talking to you. The Last Victim was released while I was in college and I read it twice. I was a psychology major and took as many criminal justice type classes as I could. I was going through my reading only true crime books phase, so this book was perfect for me at that time of my life. Also, Moss was just a few years older than me!
Now, Kim and I both chose to listen to the audible version she bought and bring you a double review. I did not have much memory of this memoir as it has been at least 15 years since I read it. The Last Victim is candid, shocking, and extremely disturbing. I don’t know if there is a difference between reading the book and having it narrated to you, but I found myself turning the volume down as I was driving when the book got to the graphic contents. I guess I did not want people to possibly hear what I was listening to! I don’t know what Gacy sounded like, but the narrator’s portrayal of him is just frightening!
Moss writes not just one, but multiple killers in the same time frame. He wrote John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez, and Jeffrey Dahmer among others. Moss shares his letters with candor and this book is not for the faint hearted. Gacy was extremely and heavily sexually graphic in his letters. Gacy’s writings are really things you do not want to know. Moss’ communications with Dahmer were short lived as he was murdered in prison. Dahmer was also sexually graphic in his writings. Moss was upset at Dahmer’s death as he felt he did not get to cover more with Dahmer.
It’s hard to comprehend someone writing to these killers, especially someone at Moss’ young age AND his parents also knowing! Granted, Moss kept the extent of the communication between him and the killers a secret. Even harder to believe is that Moss used his younger brother in his communications with Gacy. Writing these killers is disturbing enough, but Moss even talked on the phone and visited Gacy several times shortly before his execution. Moss naively thought he could ‘handle Gacy’ due to Gacy’s age and physicality, forgetting the fact that he killed more than 30 boys that were Moss’ age. The fact the people actually write these killers and look up to them is incomprehensible.
This experience obviously affected Moss as I saw an interview with him saying that if he could go back in time then he would not have written the first letter. Also, Moss also committed suicide on 6/6/06 and there is much speculation about the date of his suicide. The research he did to communicate with Ramirez must have stayed with him, as Ramirez was a Satanist.
This is a dark and disturbing true life account that has a sad ending. Even the title has a double meaning as Moss truly was Gacy’s last victim. This memoir will not be for everyone and I urge very high reader discretion before picking up The Last Victim.
Despite the content, The Last Victim is recommended.