Cellar of Horror: The Story of Gary Heidnik by Ken Englade is a disturbing look inside the life and crimes of one of our nation's most disturbing cases of kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder. With the intent of kidnapping ten women to impregnate them and have a family, Heidnik was caught after kidnapping six women, two of whom were killed before rescue. To further illustrate his derangement, Heidnik fed a mixture of dog food and one of the murder victims to his other kidnap victims. He was eventually convicted of his crimes (and put to death by the state of Pennsylvania by lethal injection on July 6, 1999--That part not being covered by the book). The book takes you through much of his life before the crimes and continues through his conviction. It also includes botched opportunities to discover his victims, pretrial events, and some of the odd and prejudicial rulings of the judge presiding over his case.

This book is good for anyone interested in true crime or books about the criminally insane. But the reader should be aware that some of the contents are disturbing, though Englade doesn't go into obviously unnecessary detail.

I especially liked the little details Englade gave which brought about a feeling of being there. For example, he described Heidnik's kitchen walls as being "...half covered with pennies which had been meticulously glued in place" (Englade, 13) and his hallway walls as "...partially papered with one- and five-dollar bills." (Englade, 14)

The title, "Cellar of Horror" seems a bit cheesy to me, though it's certainly an accurate depiction.

I want to read more about Gary Heidnik and look for other things written by Ken Englade.

This book made me feel shocked at human depravity and sad at the repeated failings of humans and systems.

Ken Englade did an excellent job of showing us a well-rounded view of Heidnik without boring us, alternating early chapters between Heinik before and during the criminal events for the first third of the book, then reading chronologically throughout the rest with the second third describing pretrial events and jury selection and the final third of the book covering the trial. There is an epilogue that covers the aftermath.

I'd recommend this book because it's an interesting account of some horrific crimes. This isn't for the feint of heart, but it's a fascinating, though disturbing, read.

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Created Jun 06, 2016 at 6:52pm • Submit your own review...