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If you hear him lock the door, you are already dead!

This book contains the shocking dramatization of real events carried out by the serial killer, Henry Howard Holmes.

*"An atmospheric dramatization of a true crime mystery using source documents and the investigations carried out by detective Frank Geyer to portray a believable and disturbing account of the heinous murders and crimes of the serial killer, Henry H. Holmes."

"Insightful thoughts of some characters during their impending death make it too easy to identify with the horror of what they experienced. By the time I got to the end of some parts, I was out of breath, literally!"

"Grabs your concentration by the throat with every horrific and appalling act carried out by Holmes and never lets go. The scenes are so well written that you find yourself witnessing everything as if you were there."

"This well researched dramatization of the Chicago serial killer, Henry Holmes, because is based on actual events, isn't something that's always easily digestible; it sits in your gut and gnaws at your insides. It becomes part of your subconscious. You think of it long after you have laid the book aside. No punches are pulled to describe the horrendous crimes carried out by this cold hearted killer."

"Hammott's writing is easy to read. He has a real knack for creating great descriptions of scenes, characters, and murderous action."

"Absorbingly horrific. As if it were a plane crash that you just can't look away from, because you're intrigued as to how and what will happen next."

"An absorbing read that will remain with you long after you've turned the last page."

"The prose is very descriptive and emotive. It actually gave me quite an emotional kick in the gut when Holmes's murderous appetite focused on the children. No one was safe from this man."

"As fascinating as it is shocking."*

America's first documented serial killer, Henry Howard Holmes, holds a dubious and ghastly record that few serial killers in history have surpassed. The 19th century killer is thought to have committed over 200 murders, but, for unexplained reasons, appears to have been overlooked by many true crime enthusiasts. Set partly in the era when "Jack the Ripper" was terrorizing the foggy streets of London with his gruesome slayings in the 19th century, Holmes was committing his nefarious crimes in America, undetected.

Holmes, a handsome, well dressed gentleman with high intelligence, was a murderer and accomplished conman. Charm and trust were his most effective weapons and he welded them as expertly as any surgeon would a scalpel.

To achieve an easy way to entrap and dispose of his intended victims, Holmes constructed a huge building that when his crimes were revealed, the newspapers of the time named the "Murder Hotel." And this is a fair description as there can be no doubt the building was constructed for the sole purpose of killing his victims and the disposal of their corpses. Though the majority of his victims were women he charmed and ensnared in his murderous grasp, he also murdered men and children.
As the trial judge said when charging the jury responsible for convicting Holmes: "Truth is stranger than fiction, and if the story is true—(and it was proven to be true)—it is the most wonderful exhibition of the power of mind over mind I have ever seen, and stranger than any novel I have ever read."

After 2 years of research and consultation with modern day serial killer profilers, I believe this to be the most accurate dramatized account of America's first documented serial killer, Henry Holmes.