Born evil cover

Born evil

by Adrian Havill

Homeless and living in his truck, forty-year-old Hadden Clark often drew stares in Bethesda, Maryland. He also slept with a teddy bear, and, dressed as a woman, strolling through town, he carried 28 carving knives, a straight razor, and a gun in his truck. When the reclusive loner was arrested in 1992 for the stabbing murders of two local girls, no one was surprised. It was after his incarceration that the surprises came, popping up like half-buried corpses. While serving a seventy-year sentence, Hadden confessed to having a split personality, dominated by a psychotic mother and daughter who were vying for attention. He also admitted to murdering at least a dozen more women-- the ones he could remember-- cannibalizing them, using their leftover body parts as fishing bait, and burying their remains everywhere from a local cemetery to a sand dune on Cape Cod. Authorities didn't believe him-- until Hadden took them on a personal four-state tour.

More by Adrian Havill

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?