Title: The Killing Game: The True Story of Rodney Alcala the Game Show Serial Killer

Author: Alan R. Warren

Book Length: 145 pages

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Genre: Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime

Read Start Date: October 9, 2018

Read Finish Date: October 20, 2018

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: In 1968 young girls went missing in California and New York, massive searches started and soon bodies became to turn up! This is the story of Rodney Alcala, the charming, good looking photographer that was in NYU studying under Roman Polanski and even once had won on the popular TV game show ” Dating Game” but now he is wanted for rape, torture and murder of several young girls! he would make the girls suffer until they passed out, then rape them, and when they came too , he would beat them again before killing them! Alan R. Warren best selling True Crime Author and Radio Show host takes you through each step of the story in shocking details including lots of details from the trials and the appeals that have been going on for over twenty years while Alcala is on Death Row!

My Review: Rodney Alcala, born in 1943 in San Antonio, Texas, is believed to have raped and murdered around 130 people. Alcala committed his first known crime (rape of an 8 year old girl) in 1968, at the age of 25 while a student at UCLA.  Due to the unavailability of the witness (she had moved back to Mexico with her family), Alcala was given a sentence of only 1 year to life, and released on parole after 34 months.

That was just the beginning of the horrific crimes of torture, rape, and murder that Alcala would commit during his lifetime.

I am giving the book 3 stars out of 5, as I neither really liked, nor really disliked it.

While I usually enjoy a true crime story, I found that this book while being extremely detailed and obviously well researched, lacked the human element — both in the telling of the background story of the killer himself, and also in the telling of the story of the victims.  I felt like I was reading some legal document, which was spelling out the facts of the case to a judge, rather than a novel.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”