Ever since I watched the Netflix series on Jeffrey Dahmer a few months ago, I've been trying to get ahold of this book. Jeffrey's father, Lionel, tries to figure out how he missed all the warning signs that his son was developing into an evil monster. Jeff started out as a normal kid, despite his mother's difficult pregnancy. Joyce Dahmer took a lot of medication to treat her crippling anxiety. It wasn't until Jeff needed hernia surgery at a young age that Lionel noticed some changes in his formerly happy little boy. He became shy and withdrawn. Lionel was disappointed with Jeff's apathetic approach to life and his drinking. He tried to encourage him, paying for college, which led nowhere. Jeff eventually joined the Army, but was discharged for alcoholism. He drifted to Miami for a time, then called home, broke and asking for money. Lionel and his new wife, Sheri, sent him a plane ticket. Lionel encouraged him to get a job, which he did, but again, he put no effort into anything. Lionel blamed his drinking. When Jeff was arrested for molesting a boy, Lionel asked the judge to keep him in jail longer so he could get the treatment he needed for his alcoholism, but the judge released him anyway. Jeff lived off and on with his grandmother until he moved into the apartment where he killed all those young men. Lionel's horror and anguish at how his son could have done such terrible things was gut wrenching. I can't even imagine what it was like for anyone involved in that case. Such a horrible tragedy that no one stopped Dahmer before it was too late for all those poor victims.
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