The premise is a grind house fever dream.

There's no definitive solution to the murders in American Demon, but Stashower's portrait of Ness is layered and he vividly re-creates a broken system where a well greased cop often called ahead so gambling houses could tidy up before an imminent bust..

... grisly.

Stashhower, in his first section, writes about Ness’s growth as a lawman. To speak about the ones chasing the killer is usually problematic for nonfiction police procedurals. Since there is limited information about the serial killers themselves, writers tend to focus on the not-as-compelling narrative surrounding the killings. American Demon, however, is successful in making Ness an enthralling, flawed protagonist who got credit for Chicago’s infamous Al Capone’s incarceration, even though he did not have much to do with it.

Stashower offers a clear-eyed view of Ness.

Based on numerous sources, including Ness’ own papers, this account is a gripping true-crime thriller.

Stashower approaches this material with a pit bull's tenacity, and he writes with the steeliness of an old-school journalist, suiting the book's place and time.

Definitive.

The author deftly sets Ness’ battles against institutional antagonists against an engagingly told, suspenseful account of the search for a notorious killer. Stashower is particularly incisive in his explorations of Ness’ lapses as an investigator and his portrait of the crime fighter’s personal and professional decline. Rather than a simple idealization of Ness’ often uncanny efficiency, we get a nuanced text about a deeply principled and exceptionally accomplished—though all-too-human—reformer.