Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of The Want-Ad Killer

The Want-Ad Killer
The WantAd Killer
Author: Andy Stack, Ann Rule
ISBN-13: 9780451155511
ISBN-10: 0451155513
Publication Date: 9/1/1983
Rating:
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 18

4.2 stars, based on 18 ratings
Publisher: Signet
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

26 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 64 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I wish she would have written this one later in her career as the book would have been even more detailed. Nonetheless, it is a story that can make the hair on your neck prickle from the absolute evil in some people.
gigi avatar reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 355 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Only 229 pages long, but this true story of a brutal man who rapes and bludgeons women to death, along with 8 pages of photos, makes for a good read if you like Ann Rule.
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 136 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Creepy, creepy, creepy.
CodiAvonSales avatar reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 24 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I love true stories this one did not disappoint me .....a true crime story based in Anchorage Alaska..a crime that began in Washington state that began in the summer of 1957....about one of the most savage sex killers of our time...
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 14 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This book scared the pants off of me
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 6 more book reviews
Great read if you love true crime.
wallyngina avatar reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 4 more book reviews
I love a good Ann Rule book. Greeat account of what happened to these women. Very sad, but at least justice was served. Although I am sure not enough for the families. I wanted to reach in the book and hurt this sick man. For some reason I was drawn in this book for the plight of the women.
jjares avatar reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 3413 more book reviews
This is an earlier Ann Rule novel, before the time of fancy forensics and DNA. Harvey Carignan was apprehended in 1974, and this book was first published in 1983. Ann Rule molded the true crime novel into what it is today. Her careful attention to detail and explanation of the victim's feelings evokes sympathy and compassion in the reader. Perhaps the author chose this title because it was catchy, but most of Harvey Carignan's victims were opportunistic, not solicited by the newspaper.

Harvey considered himself to be brilliant and far more intelligent than any policeman. He ensured his victims were found in different areas of the state (Minnesota) or other states so his trail would be hard to trace. He knew various police departments had limited interaction with each other (at that time). The book's first part explains Harvey Carignan's rageful and violent attacks on women. Some of the descriptions are absolutely unbelievable. It is stunning that a human could survive such punishment. Then, the author takes readers through the trials.

Minnesota law limits a person's incarceration to 40 years. During the second trial (for additional crimes), the judge complained (!) that Carignan had already been convicted and sent to prison for 30 years, so what was the point of spending the money to heap more time when the limit would be another ten years?

The prosecutor explained that the purpose was two-fold. The victims needed to have their day in court, and when Carignan came up for parole, having multiple sentences would give parole boards pause before they decided to release the man. However, the second jury gave Carignan another 30 years in prison!

The third trial for the death of Eileen Hunley (whose only crime was trying to lead him into religion and deciding that she did not want to be his girlfriend anymore) ended in a conviction. Now he had a prison sentence of a total of 100 years plus life. Unfortunately, they would run concurrently; he could seek parole after 17 years. The Minnesota Supreme Court listened to his appeal in 1977 but unanimously upheld Carignan's conviction.

It is unknown precisely how many women Harvey killed. The range offered is between three and more than five. This book recounts five murders (and convictions) and more than three violent attacks. However, it is expected that there were more that were never found. Incredibly, Harvey Carignan is still alive today. He is 95 years old and still in a Minnesota maximum-security prison.
kdcperez07 avatar reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on
This book was just ok, I'm not sure why it was a book instead of a story in a collection book. Her writing has improved since this book.
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 23 more book reviews
Anne rule doesn't quit in another of her gripping stories!!! Great book!
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on
Very good book! Got kinda creeped out and had to read during daylight hours!
ca1ypso avatar reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 9 more book reviews
Typical, intriguing Rule book. I was hooked.
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on
I loved the book.. very well written
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 36 more book reviews
From the back cover:
A shocking true-crime story of a man who was sentenced to die - yet lived to rape and kill again...and again...and again...
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 18 more book reviews
What eles can you say It's a Ann Rule book
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on
Ann Rule is one of my favorite writers--you just can't put her books down!
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 171 more book reviews
good book
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 63 more book reviews
A book about a man who contacted possible victims through a want ad for help at his gas station. This enabled him to lure victims to him.
As always, Ann Rule has done a great job in making the true story very interesting.
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 118 more book reviews
Great book.. couldnt put it down.
sarah5775 avatar reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 386 more book reviews
Chilling.
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 72 more book reviews
This book was written in a way that made it seem like a fictional story. Unfortunitly the events in the book actually took place. Sad but excellent. Gave me nightmares. Very quick read
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on
This is a decent book from Ann Rule. Nothing like any of her current work, as this book was originally written in 1983 and her work has improved by leaps and bounds since then.
However, don't let this stop you from reading the book, it's a chilling story of a man with no conscious, no concern and a lust for terrorizing young girls. It will truly make you look at "want ads" a little differently.
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 37 more book reviews
Rule is wonderful!!! This story hit a little closer to home as a lot of it took place in my state of Minnesota!!
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 19 more book reviews
This is a scary tale and should be read as a precaution by every teenager. Goes to show that trusting strangers is not the thing to do. Very well written and highly recommend this book.
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 176 more book reviews
After his first grisly crime, Harvey Louis Carignan beat a death sentence and continued to manipulate, rape, and bludgeon women to death--using want ads to lure his young female victims.

And time after time, justice was thwarted by a killer whose twisted legal genius was matched only by his sick savagery.

Here, complete with the testimony of women who suffered his unspeakable sexual abuses and barely escaped with their lives, and of the police who at last put him behind bars, is one of the most shattering and thought-provoking true-crime stories of our time.
reviewed The Want-Ad Killer on + 715 more book reviews
An earlier work of Rules, written as Andy Stack. 8pp's photos, #1 NY Times bestselling author...story of a man sentenced to die---yet lived to rape & kill again, and again, and again & ???...Harvey Louis Carignan....PB, 286 pp's