Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix (ARC)

[M. Alan Thomas II]

I obtained an ARC (Advance Reading Copy) of Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix and noticed several sections that discussed the Satanic Panic, including a two-page spread on Mazes and Monsters and its imitators. I am attaching a scan of related pages. It is all quite in our favor with the possible exception of the linking of Silence of the Lambs with the spike in FBI "serial killer" statistics, which is noted without any argument for exactly what happened there. (It doesn't claim that the books caused serial killers; the phrasing suggests to me that the FBI started classifying more cases as serial killers after they had entered the public consciousness, but this isn't made explicit.)

Because this is an ARC, the text is subject to change before final publication. Indeed, there were a number of "TK"s in the text, noting places that content needed filling in. I would encourage someone to grab a copy when it comes out, go through it more carefully, and update these scans.

—Alan