From the Mouth of the Monster: The Joel Rifkin Story

by Robert Mladinich

Book Overview

A former cop turned journalist details his interviews with his former college friend, Joel Rifkin, a notorious serial killer convicted in the murders of seventeen prostitutes, offering keen insights... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743411528
• ISBN13: 9780743411523
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Length: 273 Pages
• Weight: 0.37 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

A Great, Great Book

In the late 1990s, Joel Rifkin was a serial murderer of prostitutes who is jailed for life in the New York prison system. Author Robert Mladinich was a New York detective and writer who, in college, had briefly known and liked Joel Rifkin. It was inconceivable to Mladinich that someone he had considered a kindred spirit could have committed the senseless murders Rifkin did - murders of people who had not threatened him nor harmed him in any way - and he began a mission to understand the soul of Joel Rifkin and ultimately of himself. Rifkin as an adult was insecure, fearful, and socially inept, and - as might be expected - was the same as a child. He was the sad child we have all known: friendless, excluded, and the perennial target of bullies. As an example, Rifkin's mother reports that Rifkin, a photographer who played a major role in the production of his high school yearbook, was subsequently not invited to the yearbook wrap party. This seems to have been a pattern throughout his life. Mladinch allows the personality, psyche, and soul of Rifkin to emerge through Rifkin's own words, provided to the author during numerous visits to Rifkin in prison and through Rifkin's letters to Mladinich. There is no bias and almost no personal judgement by Mladinch which is impressive given the despicably vile acts Rifkin committed. The reader can read Rifkin's words without any commentary by Mladinich about how he is supposed to feel. The resulting book is simply one of the most outstanding I have read of any kind. It is really not a true crime book at all, but rather in in depth, often painful, character study. Describing the aftermath of Rifkin's first murder, Mladinich writes, "As he sopped up the blood and cleaned up the mess in the living room of the home where had always found refuge from his tormentors, Joel did not realize that, in essence, he had died along with Susie on that cold, damp March morning." The last two chapters thoughtfully and in considerable depth summarize Rifkin's soul and, due to the bond Mladinich still feels with him all these years later, Mladinich's as well. "What was most apparent was that Joel, living within the artificial environment of a prison, was finally experiencing, in his own mind at least, what it was like to be normal. For the first time in his life he had....a social network of friends who were in no position to betray or abandon him." And, "Joel had finally found his utopia, a place where the disenfranchised and the dissociated were welcomed with open arms...." Even as he is repulsed by Rifkin's murders, Mladinich retains a bond of humanity with his old friend and, amazing to himself, finds him to be intelligent and in some ways still likable. He writes thoughtfully and intelligently and with a depth, personal honesty, and humanity which are extremely rare, resulting in a book of much greater value than either a dry psychiatric report or many of the often superficial true crime books currently written. This book

Great book, very absorbing

A friend gave me this book to read on the plane, I am glad I had it, we were delayed two hours. I really liked this book, it is a little different than the other true crime books I have read, the writer shares his life, his own shortcomings, fears and insights with the reader. I also thought the book a had a good pace, there was always something around the corner...

Honest author

This book was well written. I enjoyed the many comments directly from the subject of the book, and I really appreciated the author's sharing of his own thoughts-both good and bad. I felt the author was very honest with the reader and found it easy to identify with this author and his feelings of confusion.

Gripping, insightful, and intelligently written ...

It is very rare to see an author transform himself during the writing process. Mladinich, a seasoned NYPD Detective, lures the reader in with the gripping details surrounding the well-publicized slayings of serial killer Joel Rifkin. In the true form of a master interrogator, Mladinich draws Rifkin out of his "sociopathic lair" but at the same time enters the domain of a murderer's psyche. He succeeds in drawing parallels between his own seemingly "normal" life and that of a confessed executioner of innocent young women and asks, "what makes an individual cross the line?" It is a must read for any student of psychology as well as fans of the old-fashioned murder and suspense fiction novel ... only this story actually happened. Gripping, insightful, and intelligently written ... I anxiously await Mladinich's next book.

A book that is really tough to put down...

I really enjoyed this book. The writer parallels and contrasts his own life with Joel Rifkin, a notorious serial killer that he had met in college. The book is well researched and is a chilling journey into the life of a killer. I highly reccomend it.