American Demon; I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

 

"American Demon" was about the Cleveland Torso Killer (who was never caught) and the downfall of America's golden boy, Eliot Ness. 

Ness was riding high off of his success of bringing down Al Capone when J. Edgar Hoover batted him back down. Not interested in having someone on the FBI who got more press than he did, Hoover refused to entertain Ness's application. Ness moved on to become the safety director of Cleveland. He had a good start, cleaning out corrupt cops and shutting down illegal gambling dens, but his luck ran out when it came to trying to catch the killer who was cutting people up and leaving them in dumps. Combine that with his fame going to his head, and Ness started making some unfortunate career ending mistakes. He ended up resigning a step ahead of being fired in disgrace (he caused a car accident after imbibing). Ness's life ended rather anti-climatically, just a few months before the book based (loosely) on his life, "The Untouchables" came out. He died of a heart attack, poor and forgotten. A sad ending to a promising start. He just peaked too soon. As for the Torso Killer--many theories over the years but no resolutions. 

After "American Demon" I wanted something light and funny, so I picked up a book I own and have read numerous times, "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" by Tucker Max (and I say this with a smidge of shame). 

Max started a website in the early 2000s, regaling the internet with stories about his drunken debauchery. He ended up making a pretty good career for a time off his tales of drinking and sleeping around before he grew up and stopped. Believe it or not, he's married now and has four kids and is living on some compound in Texas where he's busy preparing for the end of civilization as we know it. 

Not would I would have predicted for Tucker, but hey, to each his own. While I enjoy his stories I know I've grown up because they no longer make me laugh like they did when I was in my late twenties.