Boys Enter the House

As investigators brought out the bagged remains of several dozen young men from a small Chicago ranch home and paraded them in front of a crowd of TV reporters and spectators, attention quickly turned to the owner of the house. John Gacy was an upstanding citizen, active in local politics and charities, famous for his themed parties and appearances as Pogo the Clown. But in the winter of 1978-79, he became known as one of many so-called 'sex murderers' who had begun gaining notoriety in the random brutality of the 1970s.

As public interest grew rapidly, victims became footnotes and statistics, lives lost not just to violence, but to history. Through the testimony of siblings, parents, friends, lovers, and other witnesses close to the case, Boys Enter the House retraces the footsteps of these victims as they make their way to the doorstep of the Gacy house itself. Amid the ragged streets of the Uptown neighbourhood, Samuel Stapleton and Randy Reffett play out a boyhood rivalry across gangs and girls that turns into a long-lasting friendship. Frank 'Dale' Landingin and Billy Carroll attempt to break free of turbulent family lives, but find themselves navigating the gay underworld to get ahead. On the eve of starting their own lives, Gregory Godzik and Johnny Szyc juggle jobs and relationships as their paths gradually lead them to the home at 8213 Summerdale Avenue.

United by one man's act of depravity, these victims step forward to share boyish dreams of love and sex, family tragedies of abuse and addiction, and adolescent journeys through the neighbourhoods of Chicago and the vibrant decade of the 1970s.

'Heartrending and poignant, this is an excellent sociological examination of life in Chicago's Uptown neighbourhood in the 1970s.' - Library Journal

'Nelson succeeds in giving Gacy's victims a voice. This is a must for true crime fans.' - Publishers Weekly

'Sometimes in the numerous writings and TV shows on the story of John Wayne Gacy, and in fact in projects on many serial killers, it's the startling and disturbing number of victims that stands out. But too often they remain not much more than that - numbers. Not so in Boys Enter the House. Here is a work that emphasizes the full view of the lives of those young people that Gacy took. Their worlds that they were removed from too soon. It is essentially the Gacy story in reverse. Victims first.' - Jeff Coen, author of Murder in Canaryville and Family Secrets