The Man in the Monster

June 8, 2015
From 1981 to 1984, Michael Ross raped and murdered at least eight women before finally being caught, convicted, and sentenced to death. Though his death sentence was overturned after years on death row, he argued for his own execution, which was finally carried out in 2005. In an attempt to understand what had driven Ross all his life, journalist Elliott spent years studying the case, in the process befriending Ross and gaining his trust. Never losing sight of the killer’s monstrous deeds, Elliott delves into a myriad of factors—an emotionally abusive childhood, a poorly treated mental illness, a tumultuous love life—to paint a picture of a man consumed by uncontrollable urges and self-loathing. The interviews and firsthand accounts further strengthen this image of Ross as a repentant killer with incurable problems; Elliott encourages readers to sympathize with him as a human being, but to condemn him for his actions. The details are often disturbing or even downright scary, especially as they come straight from Ross himself. “He didn’t want to be remembered as a monster, but he also didn’t want anyone to forget the monster’s deeds,” Elliott says. Some might criticize Elliott for getting too close to her subject, but her portrayal is honest and her presentation of the facts is thorough and accessible, making for a strong true-crime narrative. Agent: Wayne Kabak, WSK Management.

June 1, 2015
The story of a journalist's decadelong friendship with a convicted serial rapist and murderer. Elliott's relationship with Michael Ross (1959-2005) began in 1995 while she was the Connecticut Law Tribune editor in chief on a long assignment to interview the death row inmate and explore "the complexities of mental illness and the death penalty." The author writes of her initial fascination with Ross after he guiltily lobbied for his own execution after the six death sentences he'd been handed were overturned in 1987 due to unpresented key psychiatric evidence. Initially feeling imperiled, her trepidation soon dissolved once she met Ross, whom she describes as a "sensitive, articulate" Roman Catholic Cornell graduate (where his killing spree began) desperate for atonement. In chilling detail, Elliott diligently retraces Ross' abusive childhood on a chicken farm and then moves through each of the killer's grisly murders-eight random girls and women between the ages of 14 and 25-intimately acquainting readers with these innocent women, who were sexually violated, then strangled. While Ross considered himself possessed by a homicidal "monster within," Elliott believed she only truly interacted with the "lonely, haunted" side of a man unable to comprehend his inner demon's motivations. That was until she received Ross' petrifying six-page letter describing his active paraphilia and intricate inner thought process during a ritualized rape. The author also explores Ross' diagnosis of sexual sadism and the attempts to avert his violent compulsions via castrative female hormone therapy. A staunch opponent of capital punishment, Elliott believes Ross' undiagnosed and untreated mental illness perpetuated his murderousness and ushered in the end result of his execution at age 45. However, readers may still bristle at her almost exculpatory rendering of him as "a caring, thoughtful person who exhibited true remorse." A disturbing and multifaceted expose of both a ruthless killer and the sympathetic, merciful journalist at odds with his capital fate.

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August 1, 2015

Michael Ross was a serial killer who raped and murdered eight young women. After 20 years in prison, he was executed in 2005 by the state of Connecticut. Intrigued by the case, television and newspaper journalist Elliott interviewed Ross regularly during the last ten years of his life to come up with this study that is groundbreaking in many ways. How could this man, who, in person, appeared nothing like a monster, be such a demon? Elliott looks at Ross's childhood with an erratic mother and his life on a farm where he was forced to kill chickens with his bare hands. She examines Ross's years as a young adult when he developed his fixation for women as a student at Cornell University. Finally, she talks about his turn to religion in his final years. Readers beware! Some incidents involving Ross's life and crimes are described in very graphic detail. Although Elliott injects her own opinions here and there, she largely leaves the evidence to speak for itself, and for readers to decide if early intervention could have prevented the misdeeds. VERDICT This should be a welcomed volume to both general readers and criminal justice professionals.--Frances O. Sandiford, formerly with Green Haven Correctional Facility Lib., Stormville, NY

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2015
Elliott notes that although many books on serial killers explore how humans can become such horrific murderers, her book focuses on one man, Michael Ross, and why he turned to violence so many times. In the mid-1980s, he was convicted of eight rape-murders, sentenced, and, eventually, put to death. Elliott's strong opposition to the death penalty might have initiated her involvement in this case in 1995, but over the more than 10 years she got to know Ross, she became his friend (though she found that realization hard to admit, even to herself), coming to understand that killers are not prompted by the same motivations nor do they respond in the same way to personal injustices. Elliott studied and quotes from the literature on this heinous subject, and her sympathy for the victims and their families is palpable. She ultimately found that, with medical treatment, Ross was finally able to become more than just a monster. A fascinating, in-depth analysis for true-crime buffs, sociologists, and others grappling with nearly impossible-to-comprehend actions and their consequences.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)