Very dark, graphic and intricate plot just the way I like. I would have given this book a much higher rating if not for two issues. First, I think the book could have had a less pages and been just as good, it was pages long. I do not mind a long book at all; however, it seemed to me that the author used alot of words at times when he could have made the point with much, much less.
Secondly, I was a little disappointed in the ending. I thought the author took Quite a long ride this book! I thought the author took all this time to tell the story, then rushed the ending a bit. Still, the plot was great and it never once entered my mind to not finish. Overall, good book, long journey. Come quando si va in visita agli Universal Studios Jul 31, Rob Twinem rated it it was amazing Shelves: If you are a fan and I use the term loosely of serial killers such as Edmund Kemper the you will love By Reason of Insanity.
The story of mass insane killer Thomas Bishop and the fixation of a young hungry reporter Adam Kenton to find Bishop and bring him to justice. This is a brutal and at times graphic story travelling deep into the mind of a mass murderer as he conducts his war against the world in his attempt to explain and show his hatred of women as he butchers his way across America.
If I was to level one small criticism I would question the constant introduction of new characters some remaining for a very short time which tends to make the storyline a little over complicated causing the reader to have to refresh his memory on occasions. For a big novel the storyline moves at a frantic pace and makes for a fantastic read with a little unexpected and well thought out "sting in the tail" on the very last page I actually rated the book 4.
Some will say this is the book by which all other serial killer novels should be compared and judged and they are not wrong! Jun 09, Jack Thornsberry rated it it was amazing Recommended to Jack by: Stephen King referenced this author in one of his books so after much searching I located it at a used bookstore in Clifton Ohio, UC campus. I lived by myself at the time in a very dark neighborhood - raccoons and dogs regularly plundered around at night.
I started in on this book and could not stop - had to make frequent trips around the house to check on things as I was sort of freaked out. It did not help that I kept hearing sounds and getting startled. Scary crap from beginning to end.
- See a Problem?.
- Dunstan by Conn Iggulden.
- Curious Myths of the Middle Ages/Bishop Hatto!
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- Noël en famille à Riverbend - Rencontre avec lamour (Horizon) (French Edition)?
- By Reason of Insanity!
It Stephen King referenced this author in one of his books so after much searching I located it at a used bookstore in Clifton Ohio, UC campus. It reads like it is real, messed up from page 1 to the end. I read this book probably years ago, but it has always stuck in my mind as a very thought provoking book, shame that it's now out of print. Jul 15, Robert Burnett rated it it was amazing. Jul 06, La. Creature oscure e irrazionali si infiltravano attraverso i muri. Demoni sanguinari che balzavano, straziavano, strappavano i muscoli dalle ossa.
Identificandosi dunque con il presunto stupratore della madre, e innalzando questa figura a suo personale dio malato. Il fatto di aver avuto un altro padre fu dimenticato. Nella memoria ferita del ragazzo, colma di mostri e demoni infernali, di sofferenze e di punizioni spaventose, di donne che soffrivano e di uomini che le facevano soffrire, il nome di suo padre brillava. Voleva diventare come lui.
Mettevano al mondo la vita nel dolore, sapendo che l'unica conseguenza sarebbe stata la morte. Questa consapevolezza, viscerale e inevitabile, le faceva impazzire oltre ogni sopportazione. Nel loro orribile tormento si scagliavano contro gli uomini, contro quelli che avevano dato loro il seme della vita e le avevano condotte quindi alla dannazione e alla morte. Usando ogni possibile stratagemma, seducevano, asservivano e distruggevano ogni uomo alla loro portata, istintivamente, in una titanica battaglia senza tregua per la sopravvivenza, in un mondo totalmente impazzito.
Ma non potevano vincere, naturalmente. Che il male incarnato e la sofferenza inaudita potessero abitare nello stesso corpo gli appariva normale quanto una donna con due seni. Thomas accetta di perpetrare a sua volta violenza, accetta il ruolo a cui sua madre l'ha destinato in quanto maschio. Non avendo mai amato io le forse inevitabili forzature e spiegazioni stiracchiate presenti nelle trame di genere, trovo questo libro semplicemente spettacolare.
Seguiamo insieme a loro l'evolversi naturale della follia omicida. Ci sono tre cose che non mi sono piaciute di questo romanzo: Apr 01, Brent Soderstrum rated it really liked it. Stevens tells an enjoyable tale about Thomas Bishop who escapes quite masterfully from a mental health facility and begans to cross the US killing women in vicious ways.
This book was written in the 's right when mass murders were becoming the rage with the likes of Charles Manson and such. Stevens gives you a look into Bishop's backround. He was raised by a mother who beat him with a leather strap a lot till he couldn't take it anymore and he killed her resulting in his residencey at Will Stevens tells an enjoyable tale about Thomas Bishop who escapes quite masterfully from a mental health facility and begans to cross the US killing women in vicious ways.
He was raised by a mother who beat him with a leather strap a lot till he couldn't take it anymore and he killed her resulting in his residencey at Willow, which was a mental facility. His father was killed in a robbery by one of his fellow robbers. His mother was also convinced his real father was Caryl Chessman who was arrested, convicted and killed for robbery and rape in the 's.
Thus Thomas thinks Chessman was his father and he begins murdering women to please his father. Some enjoyable twists at the end. Aug 07, Anji rated it it was amazing Shelves: An absolutely enthralling journey through the life of a Psycho-sociopathic mind,I read this book in my teens and have to say I enjoyed every aspect of it,although "enjoy" is not the right word to use. This book preceded and is far superior to "American Psycho" by Brett Easton Ellis and I have often wondered why it was never adapted for the screen.
It is a well-written novel and is far superior in terms of style of writing,characterisation, and storyline,than many other serial-killer novels. This is one of the most harrowing books I have ever read. I have loaned this book to many of my friends. It is so dogearred and taped. It is also out of print. I actually would look over my shoulder to check if anyone was in the room while reading. Few books can do that to me, but this one is a winner.
Jan 02, Serena.. E quindi mi sono state detto mille volte le stesse cose.. Qualche pagina l'ho bellamente saltata e non me ne pento! D , era davvero troppo - lo stile: Shane Stevens ha la fastidiosa e decisamente poco gradita abitudine di intervenire random nel testo con commentini, previsioni e anticipazioni..
Ho apprezzato l'idea di ricostruire le vite delle persone che volenti o nolenti entrano nella sfera di Thomas Bishop.. Ma alcune parti sono inutili e fanno perdere il senso..
In certe pagine si alternano anche 4 POV diversi!! La me 14enne teleidiota ha visto mille puntate di serie tv con adolescenti brillanti, festaioli e socievoli.. Se si fosse limitato a questa, sarebbe un capolavoro. Per questo ho arrotondato a tre stelline: Jun 19, Lauren rated it it was amazing. This was one of the best books I have ever read. I love the fact that this book was based on non fiction relating to the story of Caryl Chessman and then transitioning to fiction about this psychopathic mass murderer. I learned a part of history that I did not know about and I became spell bound in the methodical and insane mind of a killer.
I wish Shane Stevens still wrote. The other books that I have found for him have great reviews but are impossible to find. No longer in print. Someone should really make his books available. Ritmo altissimo dalla prima all'ultima pagina, un incredibile viaggio nella follia umana, scene cruenti, una caccia all'uomo spietata.
Era da tanto che non leggevo un thriller degno di essere definito tale, capace di tenermi incollata alle pagine fino a notte inoltrata. Una facciata tra la folla, perso nella massa, un lavoratore, capace di scivolare dentro e fuori, di apparire e scomparire, indistinguibile, irriconoscibile, invisibile. Non come la lebbra, lenta e globale. Ma come la peste, rapida e mortale. E ancora mi chiedo come una mente umana abbia potuto concepire simile Capolavoro del Male assoluto: Infernale e totalmente affascinante. Nonostante la mole, questo romanzone del macabro di Shane Stevens, non perde mai attrattiva.
- The Butterfly Connection (The L & L Mysteries Book 4).
- Ailbe of Emly - Wikipedia.
- By Reason of Insanity by Shane Stevens;
- Ailbe of Emly.
- Dishonest Money: Financing the Road to Ruin.
Non mi sorprendo che abbia ispirato autori come Stephen King. Il Fascino del Male. On parcourt donc sa vie en survolant l'histoire de ses parents, ainsi que son enfance et son adolescence difficiles. When I started this book I fell in love with the writing and for the first pages I was enamoured and really hooked up. But with the time my fascination faded, because the writing changes slightly and also because the author really loves to give head ups, and I do not share the love.
But it was a really good reading, captivating and interesting and I liked this book a lot, even if his characters are almost all misogynists, one way or another, and sometimes this was a little bit too much. But, When I started this book I fell in love with the writing and for the first pages I was enamoured and really hooked up. But, again, I really liked this book!
May 04, Andy rated it really liked it. A dark and compelling portrait of a pychopath.
Cold Pursuit
Thomas Bishop, who kills his own mother, and escapes from the institute he is placed in and goes on a killing spree, that has the police,the mob and the press all after him. First published and read 30 years ago,By Reason OF Insanity is still a classic serial killer thriller. Feb 25, Joan Durney rated it it was amazing. Absolutely loved it from start to finish. Very dark and graphic but compassion never lost. Further material is provided by the lives of related saints such as Patrick.
All include numerous miraculous events and obvious inconsistencies and anachronisms. Other early mentions of Ailbe are in the 8th century Navigatio Brendani "Voyage of Saint Brendan " [16] and in the Martyrology of Tallaght and Martyrology of Oengus from the early years of the 9th century [17] The Navigatio describes the visit of Saint Brendan to an 'island of Ailbe' where there is a monastery, of whom the 'patriarchs' are Patrick and Ailbe. In a legend that goes back to the weirdest Vita , or 'Saint's Life', Ailbhe's father fled King Cronan before the child's birth and his mother's servants—ordered by the king to put the baby to death—instead placed him on a rock in the wilderness where he was found and nursed by a she-wolf [18] Long afterwards, when Ailbe was bishop, an old she-wolf being pursued by a hunting party ran to the bishop and laid her head upon his breast.
Ailbhe protected the wolf and thereafter fed her and her cubs every day from his hall. A tradition also going back to the earliest Vita Vita Albei 9 held that he went to Rome and was ordained as a bishop by Saint Hilary who was then pope. Upon being ordained in Rome, he was said to have fed the people of the city for three days before returning home. Returning from the faerie world, he went back to Emly to die and be buried.
The earliest Vita states that Saint Ailbe was baptised by Palladius Vita Albei 2 , something that might be compatible with the tradition that made him a 'pre-Patrician' evangelizer of Ireland since Palladius was recorded as having been sent to Ireland in , most likely before Patrick's time.
The year of his death — - that is recorded in the 'Annals of Innisfallen' compiled at Emly probably in , [20] is not, however, compatible with a 'pre-Patrician' career. It may well be, though, a reflection of the fact that many such obits records of the date of death of Irish saints were retrospectively added to the annals. Ailbhe was said to have founded the monastery and diocese of Emly Irish: Imlech [21] , which became very important in Munster.
He was said to have been responsible for King Aengus 's donation of island lands for Saint Enda 's monastery. The Life of Saint David, written by Rhigyfarch in the late 11th century, [23] states that Ailbe baptized Saint David , [24] [25] the patron saint of Wales.
In Welsh traditions, he then fostered the boy [1] while serving as bishop of Menevia present-day St David's before leaving to missionize southern Ireland.. He was also regarded as the founder of Llanailfyw or St Elvis in Pembrokeshire , [14] [26]. Late Welsh sources [27] give him a British ancestry. Thus the 16th c. This would make him a descendant of Guorthemir Modern Welsh: Vortimer the Blessed , and a cousin of saints David , Cybi , and Sadyrnin.
That the connection with Saint David goes back a long way, in any case, is demonstrated by the fact that in the earliest Irish Vita perhaps of the 8th c. As noted above the earliest Irish Life records that Ailbe was taken by Britons from Ireland to Britain and could therefore be seen as coming back from there to Ireland before performing his missionary work. Arguably this might have been a story invented to reconcile his Irish birth with an enduring tradition of his actual British origin. The 'divine hound' Ailbe defended Leinster, the chief centre of which was Aillen , whose female eponym, Aillen , owned a marvellous lap dog Ailbe , according to the 'Metrical Dindsenchas '.
An Ailbe was also daughter of Mider , son of the Dagda. The name Ailbe was explained in the Vita Albei as derivative of ail 'a rock' and beo , 'living'. It is clearly related to the story of his being exposed behind a rock after his birth, before being cared for by a wolf Vita Albei 2 [37] and looks very much like a folk-etymology. Nevertheless, we can note a sporadic association of Ailbe as saint or mythological figure with ' rocks' Irish ail. The root albho- 'white, bright' as in Latin albus , 'white' appears to figure in the names of various deities or semi-deities, or names with likely mythological associations: However the root albho- 'white, bright' does not figure in Irish or in fact in any of the extant Celtic languages.
It may figure in the Celtic language of ancient Gaul as in the names above but there it may in fact have been borrowed from the ancient Ligurian language the root is very common in place names from ancient Liguria. All of this renders the precise form of the name Ailbe , in Irish, arguably, somewhat mysterious. Philip Thornhill [52] has argued that the Irish cult of Ailbe represents in origin a localised version of the cult of the British martyr Saint Alban. The latter is explained as being rooted itself in pre-Christian religion or mythology but also as bearing some relation to Albion as the ancient name for Britain and designed to serve as a symbol for the corporate identity of the Britons in the new Christian era.
It will have been, according to this argument, to some extent a 're-invention' designed to serve a political purpose in unifying the Britons, probably under the dominance of Verulamium the modern Saint Albans where the cult of the martyr Alban was most probably based. Critical to the theory is the interpretation of the Elafius mentioned in the Vita Germani , or Life of Saint Germanus , as a mis-hearing, in a garbled version of the story of Saint Germanus's visit to Britain, of the name Albios or Albius , as an alternative name for Albanus — the latter possibly representing a later version of the name, perhaps introduced by Germanus.
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The ei in the Welsh form Llan eilfyw would be explained by the process of i -assimilation, a feature of the development of the Brittonic Celtic languages and a process which would have been underway by the 5th century. Thornhill quotes Prosper of Aquitaine [54] who reports the sending of Palladius said in the Vita Albei to have baptised Ailbe in , a few years after Germanus visited the cult centre of Saint Alban in Britain in For the 'British connections' of the cult of saint Ailbe see above. Thornhill argues that these medieval sources represent not only ancient pagan mythology but also syncretic influences that might have been at work from the 5th century onwards.
The name Ailbe would have entered into the folk tradition through the displacement of an original pagan cult at Emly which it may have become identified with and through the typical pagan-mythological, probably solar, associations of the root albho- which may have had their equivalent in Irish tradition. Thornhill points in particular to a likely assimilation to the pagan probably solar deity Aillil or Aillen , connected with the Ui Aillelo associated with the second saint 'Ailbe of Sencua', the warrior Aillil on whose chariot the head of the 'divine hound' Ailbhe ends up being impailed and the female eponym of Aillen , near the Mag Ailbhe , whose marvellous lap-dog was called Ailbhe.
Thornhill suggests that a parallel assimilation occurred in Britain to the Al- of Alauna a Celtic toponym and theonym and related names, and that a typical outcome of this assimilation was the element El- found in several Brittonic saints' names.
In Pursuit of the Flying Dutchman
In Emly , there is a Catholic church dedicated to St Ailbe which dates to the late 19th century. An ancient and weathered Celtic cross in its churchyard is known as "St Ailbe's Cross". The early 19th-century church of St Ailbe is now used as the village hall.