cover image Angel of Darkness: The True Story of Randy Kraft and the Most Heinousmurder Spree

Angel of Darkness: The True Story of Randy Kraft and the Most Heinousmurder Spree

Dennis McDougal. Grand Central Publishing, $28 (336pp) ISBN 978-0-446-51538-2

Perhaps the most prolific serial killer of modern times, Randy Kraft murdered at least 60 young men in at least three states, usually torturing and sexually abusing them first. A factor that hindered his capture was Kraft's apparent normality; a successful computer programmer, he was a helpful and obliging co-worker, and he sustained two long-term gay relationships during the 12 years of his murder spree, 1971-1983.tighter. aa Los Angeles Times reporter McDouglas here draws a multidimensional portrait of a psycho- and sociopath, not sparing the reader details of the incredible cruelty that Kraft inflicted on his victims, of the scorecard he kept to record his ``successes'' and of the impaired lives of the families whose sons, brothers and husbands he slaughtered. Kraft was convicted in 1989 and now lives ok?aa/no, restore; to say now lives seems incredibly callous. gs on San Quentin's death row. A fine true-crime book. (May)