Beyond Cruel - Stephen G. Michaud

The most interesting book I read during the first semester was “Beyond Cruel” by Stephen G. Michaud. Although this book was very sad and based on true story of a sadistic killer it was very interesting to look more into the investigation and to see how the story unfolds. The book is based on “the worlds most sadistic serial killer” James Mitchell “Mike” DeBardeleben it tells the crazy stories of how he executed his crimes and got away with them for so long and about the many occasions he was very close to being caught but then would hide out.  

The story all starts with DeBardeleben kidnapping women then he moves on to counterfeiting. Investigators began to call him “The Mall Passer” because of the simple fact that he would go to the mall and use his counterfeit. DeBardeleben  targeted women only he would typically be charming some victims said but then he would show his true colors kidnapping them and sexually assaulting them. He kidnapped many women sexually assaulted them then let them go but on occasion he took as far as murdering them. When DeBardeleben was finally caught years later he was sentenced to 375  years in prison. 

In all honesty this book is very dark and goes very deep into detail with crime scene evidence and how things played out which can be very uncomfortable to read. This book definately isn’t for everyone but I would recommend this book to people who are interested in reading true crime books and would like to learn more about “famous” serial killers.