In the last decade the world has witnessed a frightening surge in mass murders and serial killings. This rash of multiple murders - in the sheer number of body counts and volume of blood spilled - has shocked civilized society. With each new discovery of another serial killer, the level of brutality and gore seems to sink us even deeper into the abyss of inhumanity.

Why this sudden proliferation of multiple murders, be they the bloody trail of carnage of a serial murderer or the unexpected deadly explosion of a mass murderer? What makes someone go on a murderous rampage? How do serial killers and mass murderers differ?

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Criminologists James Alan Fox and Jack Levin - the nationally renowned authorities on multiple murder - have led the field in investigating these phenomena for over a decade. In this absorbing work, they hold a magnifying glass to the minds of the perpetrators of these hideous crimes to explain the seemingly inexplicable. They produce profiles of the kinds of people who follow these murderous paths and examine the reasons behind their vicious acts.

They also describe the latest law enforcement methods used to track down these heinous killers.

What could possibly motivate the seemingly ordinary - Jeffrey Dahmer - to lure victims to his home so he could drug, lobotomize, sexually assault, and then devour them? What could explain why Daniel Rolling committed the horrifying and grisly murders of students at the University of Florida in Gainesville? What could have motivated Joel Rifkin - avid gardener and "boy next door" - to strangle victim after victim?

Did Colin Ferguson "go berserk" when he emptied two cartridges of bullets into the bodies of his fellow passengers on the Long Island Railroad? What could drive James Huberty to walk into a fast-food restaurant in southern California and cold-bloodedly murder the patrons in a stream of bullets? - a not uncommon event these days.

Fox and Levin probe these and other provocative questions as they explore why multiple-murder sprees are erupting not only with greater frequency, but in more gruesome ways, both here and abroad. The authors leave no stone unturned in examining the psychological, sociological, and biological explanations behind these savage misdeeds. They investigate what prompts some people from "dysfunctional" families to become "killers" on Wall Street while others become killers.

This engrossing book is the culmination of years of original research as well as one-on-one interviews with mass and serial murderers. Because of the unparalleled breadth of its subject matter and its penetrating and thorough analysis, this groundbreaking work is destined to become a classic in the annals of criminology.