A fantastic narrator. This is a very famous and talked about case and it was really interesting to hear more details about it and from an interesting perspective.

I remember reading this book many many years ago when it was first released, but as I am an audiobook junkie, I needed to listen to this one.

This book does not hold back it does go into all of the gory details so if this is something that makes your stomach turn I would steer clear.

If though you are like me and are obsessed with reading about serial killers, just a really wonder why they are what they are, this is a great read.

if you haven't watched the Des drama that was brilliantly done on ITV I would highly recommend it David Tennant is scarily similar to Dennis Nilsen, and plays him brilliantly.

I ended up accidentally letting my request for the audiobook be archived so I bought the book instead!

I’m a huge fan of true crime in general and I have always found the story (or at least what I knew of it) of Dennis Nilsen to be darkly fascinating. This book showed me how little I actually knew! If you like true crime podcasts etc then I imagine the audiobook version would be the perfect choice of format.

I read the paper version of this title many years ago and was pleased to revisit the title in audio format. The narration throughout is superb. When in Nielsen character, the narrator makes much of the story sound as chilling as it truly is.

The detail around his formative years are interesting and there are glimpses into a background which perhaps paved the way for later atrocities. But Nielsen is an individual who defies understanding at any level. There’s no professional or medical explanation for his actions. He was very much a Jekyll and Hyde person, able to appear relatively ordinary whilst committing the most appalling acts of violence on other human beings. I have no sympathy for him and he clearly enjoyed the attention given to him by Masters when he was interviewing him for the book. It is a singular and unremittingly unpleasant book but compelling nevertheless. If you are interested in true crime, this is a must. It’s a sadness that the perpetrator is remembered better than his numerous victims.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this audio title via Netgalley.

After watching and thoroughly enjoying the ITV adaptation of 'Des' I was eager to find out more and read Brian Masters book. I was thrilled to find that Jason Watkins narrated the audiobook, which perfectly matches his role as the author from the show. He was an exceptional narrator and was one of the main reasons I wanted to listen to the audiobook.

It took me a long time to get through this book. Not because it's badly narrated or poorly written, but because of the gruesome content! At times it's difficult to listen to due to the sheer amount of detail and the recounts Des had written.

The story explores Des's psychology and whilst interesting, there's so much of it towards the end of the book it becomes dull.

If you enjoyed the TV show and true crime, this is worth a read.

I did not enjoy this book, I was bored very early on and kept hoping it would improve but it didn't! There were points where I found the psychology behind serial killer quite interesting but the actually story behind the serial killer was DULL, it also felt like a vanity project and I really disagree with someone who, from what I could gather, killed people in the hope of becoming famous, having a book that looked at him and his life in depth. It was disappointing as it had potential to be so fascinating but it just didn't work for me. I listening to this on audiobook, I think if I had read it I would have put it down and left as a DNF as it was LONG but I stuck through it. I am planning to watch the TV series to see if it is any better.

If you are like me, you sought out this audio book after watching the brilliant Des on TV. The narrator played Brian Masters in the TV adaptation so it was some great continuity. His narration added so much to the book and his talent for accents is amazing! The book itself is incredibly in-depth and full of knowledge and information. It stays away from being grisly for the sake of it and from sensationalism but doesn't shy away from the gruesome details. Absolutely fascinating and a must for any serial killer enthusiasts.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free audiobook of this in exchange for an honest review.

This is a bit of a weird one to rate and review but I’ve given it 4 stars to reflect my appreciation of the research done in creating this book.

If you watched the ITV programme ‘Des’ and, like me, were intrigued by Nilsen’s actions and personality, this book is definitely for you. I listened to the audiobook and loved that the narrator was the actor who played the author in the tv programme!

There is a lot of analysis of Nilsen’s actions and some gory details, so if that isn’t for you, please don’t read this book. It does, however, show a really interesting insight into Nilsen as a person, and we learn a lot more about his life than you see in the programme.

Masters is clearly a very academic and intelligent author, and I can imagine reading this book physically would be quite difficult due to the lengthy words and sentences Masters uses. But the audiobook completely removed this difficulty.

If you’re interested in true crime, this is a very interesting read.

My thanks to W.F. Howes/Whole Story Audiobooks for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘Killing for Company’ by Brian Masters in exchange for an honest review. It was narrated by Jason Watkins with a running time of 13 hours, 50 minutes at 1x. I also had its ebook edition at hand while listening.

This book was originally published in 1985 and has been recently released in a tv tie-in edition to coincide with the 2020 ITV miniseries, DES. As I knew little about the case I decided it would be useful to read/listen to the source before watching the tv series.

‘Killing for Company’ was written with the full cooperation of its subject, Dennis Nilsen. Despite the nature of the murders, Masters avoids the sensationalism of many true crime accounts and opts for an objective psychological portrait.

The sections recounting Nilsen’s accounts of the murders and his disposal of the bodies were harrowing. I admired Brian Masters ability to present these scenes while retaining a calm perspective. He also includes philosophical musings on the nature of murder.

It is a thoughtful book in this respect, recognising the complexity of the case and the factors that contributed to a quiet civil servant becoming a serial killer.

The audiobook opens with the Preface to the 2017 edition. Jason Watkins was cast as Brian Masters in the miniseries and so was the perfect choice to narrate the audiobook. His voice is rich and mature, though at times I found it a bit strange to listen to the horrific descriptions recounted in such a calm, polished manner. Watkins also demonstrated his skills not only by changes in tone between Nilsen’s own words and Masters’ writing but by adopting various accents when required.

Overall, this was an excellent true crime biography. I likely will look out for other of Masters’ non fiction writings. Warnings for content as might be expected.

This one was archived before I got the opportunity to listen. My fault, but based upon the recent TV series Des, I would love enjoyed it.

This is the chilling true-crime account of British serial killer, Dennis Nilsen's, brutal murders and the inevitable discovery of his horrific crimes.

The book opens with the detection of his heinous killings, which meant scenes of the most despicable nature were almost immediately presented to the reader. From this point, Masters has his readers engaged and takes them on a journey through Nilsen's ancestry, family life, and early years. I felt it a cleverly deployed tactic to introduce the reader to the killer before the person and this perspective ensured I was intrigued to understand how the former grew from the latter, throughout.

Nilsen's own thoughts and words also pepper the narrative and the the narrator did a great job in differentiating between voices and ensuring this an atmospheric as well as an informative listen. Again, I found this heightened the disturbing quality of the contents as Nilsen often demonstrated an artful and sensitive penmanship, which was totally at odds with the brutal and repeated murders he also delivered.

The court proceedings also get a decent amount of exposure before the conclusion moved to more philosophical musings and a focus on a number of renowned serial killers from across the continents and throughout history. I found these ruminations of equal interest to the earlier chapters, devoted exclusively to Nilsen.

I'm an enthusiastic listener of true crime podcasts, having been caught up in the My Favorite Murder craze back when it started, but have read very few true crime books. While I've moved on to better and more responsible podcasts, my interest in true crime remains. When the opportunity to read Killing for Company crossed my path, I decided to give it a go, despite some of my discomfort around true crime reporting and attitudes.

Before we dive in, I did (and still do) have some concerns with reading true crime -- especially a book written in the 80's like Killing for Company. Murder, especially when committed by the 'heavy hitters', has a tendency to be sensationalised, the victims forgotten, or the killers themselves turned into objects of fascination or worship. I have a huge issue with those true crime aficionados who treat it as pure entertainment -- I've seen some awful things be said to and about victims and their families over the years -- and have always been worried that true crime books will fall into this category of sensationalism and awfulness. One of the reasons I enjoyed The Five so much is that Rubenhold remembered the women who lost their lives and didn't fall into the trap of seeing Jack the Ripper as some kind of fascinating and mysterious man.

Now that we've got that out of the way (sorry), I really felt like Masters did a great job of reporting on facts of the case in this book. A wealth of the information, as he explains in the opening pages, was provided by Neilson himself after his arrest and his his own words are often used in the book. Nilson filled dozens of notebooks with writings on his life and experiences (as well as questionable poetry) while in prison and gave the author access to everything. Of course, much of this means we have to rely on Nilson being truthful about his actions and state of mind, but I felt Masters did a good job of reminding the reader of this -- just because it's a first hand account doesn't mean it's an honest account.

The book acts as a biography for the murderer, starting from his childhood in Scotland to his lonely adulthood in London. Masters speculates on where this man's fascination with death and instinct to kill may have come from, as well as why he's held up as such a fascinating case for psychologists, as he doesn't neatly fit the mould of any particular mental illness like psychopathy or narcissism. He lets Nilsen describe the acts of murder he committed in his own words -- a little unsettling, to say the least -- and speculates on why he killed some men, but let others go. It has an incredibly in-depth and detailed account of the trial and post-conviction reactions, and is generally a very well-written book.

The one issue I did have with Killing for Company is one that I think would have been hard for Masters to have completely avoided -- it is far, far too sympathetic to Nilson. It's understandable that Masters connected with this man through all of their years of correspondence and interviews, however I felt that there were several points in which Masters really tried to make Nilson seem like a kind of tragic figure -- a victim of his circumstances. Sure, he was a lonely man living a sad life, however that doesn't even remotely excuse his actions. Masters seemed to have lost sight of the fact that he was speaking about a mass murderer at times, and this really rubbed me the wrong way.

If you're looking for an incredibly thorough investigation into one man's mind and heinous actions, you should absolutely give this book a try, however I'd warn against falling into the same trap as the author himself and finding the subject sympathetic. I'd highly recommend the audiobook, which is how I read it, as the narrator is absolutely fantastic! It is a totally compelling listen and I binged it in two sittings.

I'd be very curious to see how this translates to TV, as it has been recently adapted with David Tennant starring as Neilson.

If you're unaware of Neilson's crimes, content warnings for: murder, sexual assault, dismemberment, homophobia, and discussion about necrophilia.

An in depth biography of Dennis Nilsen, a man who murdered up to fifteen young men between 1978 and 1983. Masters developed a relationship with Nilsen when he was in prison and the book was written with his full co-operation.

A fascinating, although disturbing, look into the mind of one of Britain's most prolific serial killers. This is a must-read for anyone who is interested in true-crime. However, this book was a thoroughly comprehensive look at this man, his history and his psychological profile, which is great for the most part, but there were some long passages on Nilsen's ancestry near the start of the book and some repetitive points closer to end that felt unnecessary to me.

I alternated between reading the e-book and listening to the audio-book and I can recommend both formats. If you choose the e-book you will be able to see some of Nilsen's drawings, his “sad sketches”. John Watkins narrates the audio-book and he does a really great job, especially in differentiating between Master's narration and Nilsen's quotes.

Thank you, #NetGalley W.F. Howes and Random House UK for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was surprised that Killing For Company was almost 14 hours long - that's a lot of discussion on Dennis Nilsen. However, on the whole the length of the book is justified. It's an insightful and unbiased look at what made a seemingly ordinary civil servant into one of the worst serial killers this country has produced. Brian Masters has done an excellent job, the analysis follows a time line. Nilsen's early life is examined and various emotional upheavals not employed as an excuse for his actions. It was only at the end, when there was a look at necrophilia, that I felt the book could have done with a bit of harsher editing. I feel I know more about necrophilia than the average person has any need to know. It was the only section of the book I felt was too much and unfortunately, because it's at the end, it's rather stuck with me. On the whole though I think Mr Masters has provided us with an intelligent and thoughtful biography, which has been thoroughly researched. He's dedicated a great deal of his life to this book and it really shows in the listening. Jason Watkins turns in an excellent voice performance, switching between Masters and Nilsen with ease. Definitely worth a listen, especially if, like me, you remember the unmasking of the monster at the time.

WOW. This is truly an extraordinary listening experience. I've yet to finish, but that's only because this is not an easy book to listen to. It is straight-up, in-depth reporting on an utterly horrifying crime that takes a certain amount of strength to endure. Brian Masters' work is generally always exceptional and it's fascinating to revisit this book all these years later. There's something so chilling about this kind of writer navigating these events. As such, his perspective is unique and his approach transcends standard investigative analysis. The narrator is exceptional here. His switch in accents and tone between Masters and Nilsen is clever and chilling. A hard listen due to the subject matter, but an educational and insightful one.