In 1971, fourteen-year-old Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr. met a man named Dean Corll via another local teenager named David Brooks. Corll’s family had once owned a confectionary company and he was known to distribute the sweets to the youth of Houston, Texas, earning the affectionate nickname “The Candy Man”. Unbeknownst to those in his community however, he had groomed David and then Wayne to bring other boys to his house so that he could sexually abuse and murder them, ultimately killing upwards of 20 people, though the true number may never be known and is likely much higher.

The Houston Heights neighborhood that Henley hailed from was poor and many of its children came from abusive, neglectful, or broken homes. Their unfortunate circumstances made them easy targets for Corll and furthermore led to the local Police being dismissive of the numerous reports of missing boys, typically writing them off as runaways. This allowed Dean to continue operating undetected for years, sadistically torturing and then murdering an unfathomable number of children. Henley and Brooks would often be coerced into participating in these acts, partly for Corll’s amusement but also to give him leverage over them, making them feel that they had no choice but to continue to assist him lest they be punished for their actions. That is until Wayne is finally pushed to the breaking point and kills Corll before turning himself into law enforcement and leading them to all the bodies he was aware of.

This book is not for the faint of heart. While the authors avoid using these tragic deaths for lurid thrills, they are still discussed in fairly graphic detail and will certainly impact the reader. Since Corll was killed, it is unlikely anyone will ever know exactly why he committed such atrocities, though the authors make an attempt, using other serial killers to try and explain his actions. They were able to interview Henley in prison, and so can better ascertain his motivations and offer a fascinating yet disturbing look at how someone like Corll was able to gain so much influence over the young man. Again, other similar cases are also examined and the book closes with a list of signs parents should look for to keep their own kids safe.

The Serial Killer’s Apprentice will upset readers and leave a lasting impression on them. While Corll was ultimately stopped, if adults had listened to Henley sooner, or if the Police had taken the wave of missing boys more seriously, his reign of terror could have been ended much sooner and many lives would have been spared. There have been and will always be others like him, as evidence points to him being at least loosely connected to a ring of child sex traffickers, so hopefully Henley’s story can be used as a lesson and a warning to prevent something similar from ever again going unnoticed for so long. ★★★★

★★★★★ = Excellent | ★★★★ = Very Good | ★★★ = Good | ★★ = Fair | ★ = Poor