Lemuel Smith and the Compulsion To Kill: The Forensic Story of a Multiple Personality Serial Killer

By Denis Foley

Book Overview

Lemuel Smith and The Compulsion To Kill: The Forensic Story of a Multiple Personality Serial Killer by Denis Foley is a true crime shocker about one of New York’s most notorious serial killers.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0972238301
• ISBN13: 9780972238304
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: New Leitrim House Publishing, LLC
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Chilling account

Having grown up in this locale and having known the killer, though not well, the book was very chilling, indeed. However, any reader would find the account a detailed and rather insightful look at a subject which is horrifying. I recommend it to mature readers with a caveat that it is not a pretty story.

great read on ny's most high profile serial killer

Denis Foley does a great job setting the scene and detailing the acts of Lemeul Smith. The book is a fast and exciting read. I think the time Denis spent interviewing Lemeul in prison really paid off.

Very good book about a "very bad man".

Overall, well-written book with good insight into Smith's personality(ies), the people involved and the crimes themselves. Foley very clearly did a lot of homework and was even able to get in the good graces of Smith himself. Far better than your run-of-the-mill true crime book. My biggest personal complaint is a lack of impartiality. Foley obviously believes that Smith had multiple personalities and, at one point, even writes as though Smith and his alter ego both got into either side of a car to attack a woman - borderline cheesy. The chronological flow of the book is poor at times and you get lost as to which event occurred first. Clinical details like exact dates are sometimes missing but I'll concede I may be too picky on that front... All of those complaints amount to one star so the book is definitely worth getting.

Try to decide if he's mentally ill or just BAD!

Lemuel Smith and the Compulsion to Kill is the true account of a serial killer who kept the cities of Albany, Schenectady, Colonie, Amsterdam, and Saratoga on high alert for almost two decades. Lemuel raped, stabbed, sodomized, strangled, bit,and mangled most of his victims. One victim was particially decapitated. The book graphically details the murders committed by this one man who claimed to have more than one personality. The author, Denis Foley, documents the crimes, with careful attention paid to all the details that encompass bringing a criminal to justice. Many police agencies, departments, and jurisdictions collaborated jointly to end the wrath of Lemuel Smith. As a result of total team work between the cities involved, Smith's arrest, trial, and conviction occurred, to the relief of thousands of people in the Capital District of New York State. Foley makes certain the reader is aware of the leg work and incredible effort that was put forth to bring Smith to incarceration.

lemuel smith and th ecompulsion to kill

I have just finished reading the above book.All I can say is this.It is one of the scariest and best books I have read in a long time.I remember the Dorothy Waterstreet Murder. It has stuck with me for a very long time, as i was born and raised in Amsterdam.I remember my parents telling me about this murder of Dorothy Waterstreet. I really enjoyed it, because of the area in which the murder happened,and the people involved.