One hundred years of the most depraved criminal minds-from H. H. Holmes and Ted Bundy to John Wayne Gacy, Ian Brady, and Myra Hindley.

Their monikers have become part of the true crime lexicon: among them, the Moors Murders; the Hillside Strangler; Killer Clown; Son of Sam; the Love Slave Killers; the Scorecard Killer; and the BTK Strangler. On a scale of evil, they are the world's worst serial murderers with a propensity for sadism and torture that is beyond the pale. What turned seemingly ordinary members of society into sick slayers? How did they justify their heinous deeds? And how did they get away with murder?

For answers, true crime journalist Nigel Blundell looks behind the headlines to delve into the minds of monsters: David Parker Ray an "average working guy" with a torture chamber in his backyard; Fred and Rose West, married serial killers who counted their own children among their victims; Ivan Milat, a ritual killer who hunted backpackers in Australia; Gerald and Charlene Gallego, a sadistic couple who cruised Sacramento with kidnapping and murder in mind; and former Marines Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, who videotaped the darkest depths of their depravity in their secluded cabin in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

Discover the truth behind the unspeakable crimes in this "anthology of evil . . . you can't put down" (Dr. Michael Stone, forensic psychiatrist).