In Contract Killer: The Making of a Murderer, Rodney Timms takes you behind the boundaries of acceptable behavior and into the dark abyss of the mind of mass murderers-and the homes that incubated them. Timms will lead you through his own shocking story of child abuse and then reveal the common denominators between Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski; Charles Manson; The Co-ed Killer, Big Ed Kemler III; serial killer Henry Lee Lucas; the Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo; and Jeffrey Dahmer. During the period from 1957 to 1992, the murder rate in the US doubled. During that same time, the rate of aggravated assault-attempting to maim or kill-multiplied many times. Seeing this trend, police officials warned that we would soon see mass murderers as young as 12 years old. Today that prediction seems prophetic. If you've ever been alarmed and wondered why it was happening, this book will answer your questions. This book is a must read for parents, social workers, law enforcement and health care workers. It is a wake-up call for America. One study revealed that 100 percent of the serial killers studied had been abused as children either through violence, neglect, or humiliation. More than 70 percent had witnessed or been victimized by sexually stressful events. The most staggering difference was found in psychological abuse. While only two percent of the general population reported psychological abuse, that figure soared to 50 percent in serial killers, making it the highest risk factor."