Dean Corll - the Candy Man or the Man with the Candy. But don't confuse him with the man from the Sammy Davis Jr. song. This Candy Man was evil, evil to the core. He convinced young men to go home with him and then he would rape them and kill them. After a while, he paid 2 others, David Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley, to go out and get young men for him. They started to help, also and both men killed young men for Corll. In this book, Jack Rosewood goes through and talks about each and every victim. They are not forgotten in this book. I like that. He is, as always, straight-forward in this book and does not add anything extra, or any fluff just to fill the pages. The book is well-written and well researched. He really did his job here! I loved it! ( )

As with the other volumes in this series but one, this is well worth reading as a good factual account of the crimes.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing. ( )

I received a free e-copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Jack Rosewood takes us inside the life of a serial killer who haunted the streets of a section of Houston, Texas taking the lives of at least 29 young boys. It was a time when the thought of such a monster living, what many thought a normal life, could and would visit such horror on the children of a community. These criminals live among us without knowing. The children that were taken were on the edges of society and the police wrote most of them off as being runaways and did not invest the time in the search for them or following up any leads that may have come up in each case.

Rosewood explains Dean Corll's life and the instances of when because of a mother's love or because being gay was something that was not out in the open that he was able to slip between the cracks and carry out his fiendish desires. Corll was smart because of his use of other young boys to draw in his victims and to involve his accomplices enough that they would not inform on him. He did not stay in one place very long but continued to change his residence so that he would not draw undue notice on himself or his activities. These reasons gave him the freedom to keep up his killing. Many believe that the body count of 29 is low.

This is a good review of the case against a serial killer that many people may never have heard of in our modern world. More victims of Corll may be found and some are in the process of still be identified with the new DNA technology. Rosewood should be commended for bringing this case to light. ( )

I received a copy of this book from Librarything for an honest review

I rember seeing news reports about this heinous crime but never realized to what extent the victims suffered. The book is very graphic in details of the torture of what the young men were put through. It is hard to believe that anyone would be capable of such violent acts. As Dean was growing up, he didn't have a stable family life and seemed to be on his own a lot. The more he was own his on, the more he was able to become a very vicious, but persuasive young man. He was known around the neighborhood as the "Candy Man." He passed out candy to young boys and lured them to his house. This started taking place in the 1970's , when some referred to that generation as the hippie generation. It didn't seem to strike the police department as strange that teenage boys were suddenly disappearing.

It always unnerves me to think that anyone would be capable of controlling someone else. Dean was a master at it. He was able to manipulate two young men to help him lure young boys to their eventual torture and death. Dean was good at controlling his little accomplishes with promises of cars and money. As the killings continued, the author talks about how the bizarre behavior and torture soon took on a thrill for the accomplishes .

Where were the police during this unexplainable event of missing teens? Some figured they had run away and didn't seem overly concerned about their safety. That must have been devastating to the families when they realized not much was being done to find their sons. I don't think we will truely know the depth of torture these young boys endured, but the author does a tremendous job in capturing those moments with precise details .

It seemed to all come to an end when one of the accomplishes , Wayne Henley, shot and killed Corll. He told the authorities it had been in self-defense. During his reign of terror , Dean Corll tortured and killed at least 28 young men. It is possible that there were other victims. As the news spread, Houston was gaining attention as having the most grisly mass muder Texas history and the worst in U. S. history.

The book is well written and you can tell much research went into this book. It is a story that will not be forgotten. For the victim's families their nightmare will never end. As the police began to uncover bodies buried in the boat shed and other areas, it shows that there was no remorse or even feelings for these victims . I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys true crime. It is one of the best written, most precise account of a crime that is almost to hard to comprehend. ( )

I received an e-book copy of this book in connection with previous books I’ve won from this author and the following is my honest opinion.

As I read more and more about the murders in this book I couldn’t help but hear lines from “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” by Peter, Paul, and Mary. There was no:

Where have all the flowers gone? Or
Where have all the young girls gone? And neither was it,
Where have all the young men gone?
Etc.

Here the question running through the minds of the residents of the area in Houston, Texas known as The Heights had been “Where have our young boys gone? And just like the song the question raised another question it raised the question of “Why are the police merely placating everyone by telling them they’re just runaways?”

I’m a child of the 1950’s and by the time these murders took place, the 1970’s, I was already in my 20’s. Looking back in retrospect I can see why the police thought this way as many teenagers did precisely that. It had been the so-call hippie generation and countless youth ran away from home to join in and to look for the freedom from their parents they’ve heard so much about. Luckily, the many returned home eventually after discovering things weren’t as they’d imagined.

Unfortunately there was a degenerate individual at this time, by the name of Dean Corll, running amok enticing teenage boys with the aid of two young accomplices, who had been threatened with bodily harm if they didn’t assist him. Once they and their victims were alone the trio then killed all the boys they’d lured. In the beginning Croll’s two young accomplices reluctantly did as they’d been told, but as time passed the same depravity had infected them as they began to more or less enjoy the thrill of the kill. Eventually one of these accomplices, Wayne Henley, shot and killed Corll in what he said had been self-defense.

Jack Rosewood has once again written a cohesive and quite readable story detailing all the facts involving the case of this serial murderer without leaving out any of the horrid details. We’re also told about Corll’s history of growing up and what might have cause him to act in this manner of depraved indifference.

For educating those who read this book regarding this “king” of the serial killers, I’m giving Mr. Rosewood and his book 5 STARS. ( )