The Most Evil of Them All, Sam Human, Penguin Random House, ISBN: 9781776391103
WHENEVER we read or hear about serial murderers and/or rapists, the fundamental question on everyone’s mind is ‘Why?’
Why did these people commit these horrific and inconceivable actions against another human being? The book explores a possible answer to this question which is often left unanswered. For the longest time, psychologists have postulated that mental disorders, such as antisocial personality disorder (previously known as sociopathy) or schizophrenia could be a possible source behind these unforgivable actions.
However, recently, pathological narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) have gained weight as an alternative hypothesis to help us understand the motivations and psyche of serial offenders.
While everyone has narcissist traits (as it is important for self-preservation), the book focuses on an extreme level of narcissism. A kind where the person has, for example, delusions of grandeur, an insatiable demand for instant gratification, a lack of empathy and/or a sense of entitlement.
In the 200-odd pages, Dr Sam Human, an academic researcher and post-graduate research supervisor with a PhD in psychology, delves into the lives and monstrous misdeeds of both infamous and lesser-known serial offenders from across the globe – including Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Cecilia Steyn and Moses Sithole.
In each chapter, Human illustrates how the behaviours of these offenders can be linked back to an unhealthy level of narcissism, suggesting that NPD and pathological narcissism could play a major role in shaping rapists and murderers.
This book is a fabulous read for both true-crime junkies and psychology fiends. It provides a very rudimentary introduction to both NPD as a personality disorder and the criminals and their crimes, however, the novel insight that the book brings makes it worth the read. In case the title of the book was not obvious enough, it is not a read for the faint of heart and also explores cases of necrophilia, child abuse and cannibalism. – Mariclair Smit 3/5 stars
