Charles Manson was the illegitimate child of a teenage prostitute; in 1969, on his orders, eight people were hacked to death in an orgy of violence.

Ted Bundy had the power to charm women. With his arm in a fake sling, he used to ask them to help him get his sailboat down off his car, but first they had to go to his house …

Joanna Dennehy stabbed her lover Kevin Lee in the heart, dressed him in a black sequin dress, and dumped him in a ditch. To celebrate, she played Britney Spears’ ‘Oops!… I Did It Again’ down her phone and then helped torch Lee’s Ford Mondeo.

Serial killers are the ultimate outlaws. They step outside not just the law but all human norms. They are fascinating because they are almost impossible to understand. It’s comforting to know that all the serial killers featured here are now either dead or behind bars. Nevertheless, this book is not for people of a nervous disposition.