About the Book
The District Attorney began his opening statement with, “If you don't know what hell is like, you're about to find out.”
In 1979, Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris went on a rape and killing rampage. The pliers, screwdrivers, hammers, sledgehammers, and ice picks they used on their victims became their calling card and moniker: The Toolbox Killers. They were soon apprehended and convicted for their atrocities, but for decades, refused to reveal the location of their victims' bodies. More than two decades later, criminologist Laura Brand had the opportunity to interview this sadistic pair as they sat behind bars, probing the depths of their depravity right up to the days of their deaths. Over this relentless six-year period, Bittaker finally gave Brand what he had withheld from law enforcement and families alike: the precise locations of two victims' remains. Brand's investigation tore open sealed police reports, court transcripts, and witness accounts, and unearthed brutal and shocking new findings: undisclosed victims, forgotten evidence, and chilling new insights that resurrected this nightmare in unimaginable ways.
God's Not Here, Only Devils is told through a powerful blend of narratives: the voices of Bittaker himself, his victims, traumatized witnesses, the tenacious lead detective, and the hardened District Attorney. This book pulls the reader into a visceral retelling of the horrors that unfolded and the legacy of terror the Toolbox Killers left behind.
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Lawrence Bittaker
Introduction: What the World Deserves
Chapter 1: We're All Mad Here
Chapter 2: Folie à Deux
Chapter 3: Nancy Drew
Chapter 4: Birds of a Feather
Chapter 5: Why?
Chapter 6: No Witnesses, No Worries
Chapter 7: Built For It
Chapter 8: The Making of Murder Mac
Chapter 9: A Serial Killer's Sanctuary
Chapter 10: Homicide Hits Home
Chapter 11: Grab the Toolbox
Chapter 12: Killer Keychains
Chapter 13: The Gift You Never Wanted
Chapter 14: Model Behavior
Chapter 15: Universal Love
Chapter 16: The Angel Who Pleaded to Pray
Chapter 17: Always Here for You
Chapter 18: Fireworks
Chapter 19: When You Wish Upon A Star
Chapter 20: Wildfire
Chapter 21: Pretty Please, Can I Go to Prison?
Chapter 22: Tell God I'm Hanging out with Satan in the Parking Lot
Chapter 23: The Devil's Den: San Quentin's Death Row
Chapter 24: I Died so a Siren Could Rise
Chapter 25: Reign of Terror
About the Author
Index
About the Author :
Laura Brand is a criminologist leading the largest collective study of serial offenders ever conducted, having interviewed over 50 serial killers as part of her groundbreaking work. She has recently teamed up with licensed forensic psychologist Dr. John White to analyze and publish these findings. Laura holds a degree in forensic psychology from Curry College. Over the past decade, she has spent significant time inside San Quentin's notorious death row, interviewing some of the most dangerous criminals in the nation. Her investigation was the basis of the true crime documentary, The Toolbox Killer, now streaming on Peacock and Oxygen.
Laura's unparalleled skills have garnered the attention of law enforcement agencies across the country. She has assisted the San Francisco Cold Case Unit on the Charles Ng & Leonard Lake, David Carpenter, and Joseph Naso cases. Currently, she is working with the Dennis Rader BTK Task Force.
Laura's work has been featured in major outlets such as NBC, Fox News, Newsweek, The Independent, Daily Mail, LAPD Bible, Our Culture Magazine, E! News, and The Hollywood Reporter. She is in the final stages of her first book, which chronicles her tireless re-examination of the Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris case. In collaboration with Strong Island Films, she is also working on another true crime series, hoping to secure funding for victim recovery and identification efforts.
In addition, Laura co-hosts the podcast Partners in True Crime: Serial Killer Whisperer alongside Cindy and Rob Dorfman, the CEOs of Strong Island Films. The series delves into her experiences and explores the extractions she has obtained from other serial offenders on San Quentin's death row.
Review :
The full story of the horrific Toolbox Killers, Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, has never been fully told since their arrest in 1979, until criminologist Laura Brand went into the cage with them and persuaded them to reveal to her their remaining secrets and the darkest depths of their depraved murders shortly before they died.
Laura's insight into the mind and life of a notorious and demonic serial killer is truly compelling. Having been involved in serial killings as an investigator for 26 of my 38 years in Law Enforcement, I only wish that other investigators would read this book as a road map of how to conduct interviews by listening and understanding while keeping personal feelings outside the interview room.
For true crime devotees, this is a must.
As a long time victim advocate and a board member of Parents of Murdered Children and Surviving Family Members of Homicide, I have learned the stories that truly matter are the ones we refuse to look away from the truth. In Laura Brands God's Not Here, Only Devils, she does exactly that. Her work on serial killer Lawrence Bittaker, is not sensationalism, it's based on meticulous facts of a predator who destroyed so many lives and devastated so many families. What sets this book apart from others in the serial killer genre is her compassion and respect for the victims whose lives were stolen from Bittaker. This is the kind of work that ensures victims are not considered to be footnotes by glamorizing the killer. Laura Brand brings clarity where there has long been a distortion, and she does it with the attention and integrity that victims and their families deserve. God's Not Here, Only Devils is a vital contribution to victim centric true crime and a reminder that truth handled with care can be a powerful form of advocacy.
This gripping true crime account of one woman's journey into the darkness is reminiscent of Capote. Laura Brand's raw chilling dive into the mind of the world's most sadistic serial killers is unmatched. Highly recommend for anyone who wants to understand the mind of a serial killer.
I've known Laura for years and I am still astonished by how she manages to delve into the abyss occupied by the most violent and demented killers without losing her humanity. Her conversations with Lawrence Bittaker, for example, give us insights that people never want to experience first hand. As an FBI Profiler I studied the crimes of the notorious “Toolbox killers” and listened to their heinous recordings. As distasteful as it was, it was a tremendous learning experience as well. What's amazing is how deftly Laura shares her what she has learned in a way that will educate every person who reads this book.
You thought you knew killers; but no one knows them like Laura does. Nobody gets this kind of access to evil. Cancel your plans. Lock the doors. Open this book, if you dare.
