CLEWS Interviews True Crime Author John Leake

Entering Hades: The Double Life of a Serial Killer is the North American title of first time author John Leake’s foray into the true crime genre. The same book will be The Vienna Woods Killer in the UK. CLEWS got a sneak peek at the book (now available for preorder, on sale Nov. 17). I was impressed, and I’m certain the book will get a lot of attention. This is a dense and complicated story of a baffling serial killer. The book reached uncommon depths of research. The author, an American educated in history and philosophy who has lived in Vienna for years, told the story well.

Jack Unterweger had so many extraordinary facets to his personality that it is hard to even know where to begin. He was, for one thing, a serial sex killer. And he was a journalist who covered his own murders. As the press copy for the book explains, Unterweger was "a murderer, writer and cause célèbre of the Viennese intellectual elite in the ‘80s.... Drawing from Unterweger’s diaries and letters, court records, police documents and countless interviews with those most closely connected to the case, Leake offers unparalleled insight into one of the only international serial killers ever documented.”

Jack Unterweger murdered women from California to Austria – when he wasn’t busy simply seducing every female who came within hailing distance. The record of his conquests short of murder is in and of itself incredible. Unterweger seemed to have a mesmerist’s ability to get a woman to do literally whatever he wanted.

Recently CLEWS had a chance to talk to the author of this fascinating new book; we got to chatting about psychopaths and the women who love them and about our favorite literary genre. Here is the Q&A.

Q. After studying this man Jack Unterweger so intently, why do you think women were drawn to him like moths to fire?

I am hoping that the book will generate a discussion about why women (at least some women) find guys like Jack so fascinating, so I was glad to see that your review focused on this point.

In doing my research, I tried very hard to avoid speculating about the psyche of Jack's girlfriends. Instead I probed them as deeply as I could with questions. Many of the women told me that Jack was "exciting," "fascinating," and "funny." Sometimes he was boldly assertive, macho, and sexually aggressive; other times he acted like a "wounded little boy in need of maternal protection."

When the police searched his apartment, they found a letter written by one girlfriend who proclaimed: "The whore in every woman and the mother in every woman is awakened by Jack."

Another girlfriend wrote him a poem titled "Sleeping with a Murderer" in which she described the fascination, the fear, and the feeling of doing something highly forbidden.

A couple of general observations from the perspective of a man:

1. Women are attracted to men who are confident, and like many narcissists, Jack presented himself with spectacular confidence.

2. Like other notable predatory psychopaths, he refined the art of studying people, trying to learn everything he could about them. He asked women about their lives and listened intently. They believed he was genuinely interested in them, when in fact he was looking for ways to seduce and exploit them.

3. Jack appealed to a deeply romantic streak in Western culture that perceives the artist and the outlaw to be exceptional, creative, high-spirited men who cannot be constrained by the norms of ordinary ("bourgeois" and "boring") society. We might be inclined to dismiss this idea as sophomoric. On the other hand, people with a wild streak do tend to be more entertaining than people who are reserved and straight-laced. As one woman told me, "I didn't want to hang out with a boring banker or lawyer."

Jack himself was a great admirer of the German actor Klaus Kinski, who was legendary for his extravagant and reckless behavior. Finally, Jack was a minor celebrity. Henry Kissinger once remarked that "power is the greatest aphrodisiac." It seems to me that celebrity is even more potent.

Q. Personally, I think some men work on a woman's brain the way video games work on boys. A man who completely understands women can turn them into puppets.

You know, the same is true the other way around. We men often find a loving, gentle, decent girl to be boring, and the selfish, unreasonable, bitch goddess to be captivating.

Also, I've often heard guys talk about how "the crazy ones are the wildest in bed." I'm afraid there may be some very primitive evolutionary biology at work. The assertive and aggressive are the people who stand out from the herd. I did a little web search yesterday and came up with this: An article on the new book Why Women Love Bad Boys. Notice the bit about "bad boys" being "exciting."

I suspect this is the key to the whole thing. Even a psychopathic killer is better than a bore.

Q. Do you remember the first true crime book you ever read?

The first true crime book I ever read was In Cold Blood. My mother gave me a copy when I was about fifteen and told me that I would never forget it. That I haven't forgotten it probably has more to do with the book's beautiful prose, narrative structure, and characterization than with the intrinsic drama of the actual events that Capote chronicled. I suppose it's as much novel as it is true crime.

Q. Who are your favorite authors in the genre?

Recently I enjoyed The Poet and the Murderer by Simon Worrall. I admired the research and discipline that Philip Sugden put into The Complete History of Jack the Ripper.

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For more information about John Leake’s new book, see the website Entering Hades.

Comments

[Katie]

Hey Laura! I just ordered The Vienna Woods Killer. I am extremely interested in it and can't wait to read it. I love reading about cases of this sort. How long does it usually take to ship from the UK?

[Laura]

Hey Katie,
I've ordered books from the UK a few times and they seemed to get here (Detroit) about the same time as other books I ordered used off Amazon - a week or so. Enjoy!

[Françoise Valentin du Lac]

I do not usually read "true crime", but 'Entering Hades' grabbed my attention precisely due to the psychological warfare that Unterwegger is famous for having conducted agasint his girlfriends and victims. John Leake's book carefully presents facts that reveal the psychosis of a serial killer in an insightful and approachable manner. If you read one book this year, make it 'Entering Hades'!