Rampage

Bloodlands collection

By: Harold Schechter

Narrated by: Steven Weber

Length: 1 hr and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1949, things like this just didn’t happen: A quiet New Jersey resident took a morning walk with a 9 mm Luger pistol. In twelve minutes he murdered thirteen neighbors...and then went back to bed.

Howard Unruh went from obscurity to infamy overnight. Even after his obsessive diaries were discovered - a catalogue of simmering rage, petty grievances, and sexual repression - the anomalous crime seemed incomprehensible. Succeeding decades would confirm that Unruh’s “Walk of Death” was just the beginning. The prototype for the modern mass murderer, he would usher in a new age of violence in America.

Rampage is part of Bloodlands, a chilling collection of short addictive historical narratives from bestselling true-crime master Harold Schechter. Spanning a century in our nation’s murderous past, Schechter resurrects nearly forgotten tales of madmen and thrill-killers that dominated the most sensational headlines of their day.

©2018 Harold Schechter (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Decent, but not enthralling.

It's a decent diversion. I had never heard of the criminal in focus here, so at least that part was interesting. Other than learning about a new-to-me criminal, it was a pretty average listen. Didn't hate it - didn't love it.

An Unnerving Act Of Monstrous Violence

Rampage is the story of Howard Unruh, a man who, in 1949, would murder thirteen of his neighbors (and people passing through his neighborhood) before returning to his apartment and returning to bed because he'd run out of ammunition. As the killer himself indicated during an interview, he'd have killed a thousand if he'd had sufficient ammunition.
Repressed homosexuality, experiences during the conflict of WWII, and assorted petty grievances against his neighbors simmered for years until finally exploding in a cold, meticulous series of killings that would thoroughly destroy the relative peace of Camden, NJ.
Considered the face of modern mass murder, Unruh had no apparent interest in committing suicide at the end of his bloody rampage, nor any plan to be killed by the police. He simply wanted to kill the people he perceived as being aligned against him or of having committed one slight or another, and once Unruh started, he didn't seem interested in stopping until he had no choice but to do so.
The descriptions of the murderer's flat affect and calm demeanor both during the rampage and during the subsequent questioning, while a bullet remained lodged in his thigh, were unnerving in a way I can't quite put into words.
Steven Weber's narration was as high quality as it has been for the rest of the Bloodlands stories, and I would love to hear him narrating further true crime audiobooks and even documentaries.

another good one

another good story in this series can't wait to move on to the next one. if you haven't read or listen to any of these then o highly recommend it.

Disturbing (SPOILERS!)

Captivating story. No detail left out. Felt very sad at the end of it though. Unfulfilling that he survived almost all of the people whose lives he affected in a negative way.
Would have been better for everybody if he had just been executed immediately after being caught. I have no doubt that the gay disease in his mind, conflicting with his Christian values, drove him to lunacy and made him commit those horrible crimes.
Very disturbing indeed.

I was so bored.

I thought it would be interesting to hear about how someone snapped. it wasnt at all as entertaining (?) as it seemed. It was like a historical recounting.

Interesting

Mass murder isn’t a new thing, apparently. The story told here is clear and concise.

A detailed accounting

Maybe too detailed as every major and minor player in this tragedy is given their own spot light several times over. Last third of the tale seems to drag which does reflect a long span of time that it encompass. The writer and narrator try to inject some life into the telling but at the end of the day that segment is just a recitation of data.

Obvious Moral Compass

This story is clearly meant to show that gun violence is not new and that it would be preventable with stricter gun control. It almost outright says it, and says mass murder is something like an American tradition. I didn't need the preaching, but I do agree with the conclusions. The story was interesting enough but not five -star interesting. I like the narrator. I'm mostly giving him stars I think.

A Mass Shooting that Isn't Well Known

A history of a man who snapped. The result: 13 dead neighbors and strangers. Well researched and we'll presented.

Terrifying

These are all so well written and absolutely captivating to hear. The stories are horrifying while at the same time super gripping. Great listen.