This is a detailed and comprehensive look at one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers. I found that Master’s really had a fine handle on his subject matter and researched tirelessly both academically and by interviewing Nilsen himself to provide such a detailed account of Nilsen’s criminal timeline and motivations. Considering this book was written originally in the 1980s, Masters is sharp with his analysis of psychology, criminology and academic case law to bolster his findings on Nilsen. Many of which are still relevant and sound in those fields of academic study today. This book is ultimately, morbidly fascinating as an academic reference for those who wish to study or are interested in the study of the criminal mind.

Trigger warnings for those that have a sensitive nature. Nilsen’s commentary on his murders and the ways in which he disposed of his victims bodies,as well as Nilsen’s own sketches of some of the dead bodies at the back of the book make for harrowing and disturbing reading. If you are easily upset or repulsed I would not recommend you read this book.

However I found this book incredibly well written and done in a respectful and sensitive way. Master’s had a clear intention with this book which he executed brilliantly(pardon the pun!). Master’s structured the chapters clearly and elaborated very articulately on the points he wanted to address. While Master’s points of conclusion aren’t concretely accurate or without some faults, this book started the conversation on a wider area of study still being mined today. A very impressive book to add to the criminology and criminal profiling cannon.

Thank you to the author, Random House UK and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

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.

As someone who has read quite a lot of true crime, including Brian Masters later book about Rose West: She Must Have Known, the overriding feeling I got with this one was one of repugnance. Of course that has far more to do with the crime itself than a slur on the author.

The fact that the author had a relationship with the subject of course makes it a unique look at the man behind the awful crimes. However even with a foray into Denis Nielson's childhood and background the lack of reason, even an off the wall one, for him committing all of his despicable deeds meant that I found this faiIrly hard to stomach.

Unusually I found the TV series easier to handle.

I read this in one evening after watching the tv programme. What an evil man and no remorse. Give me Goosebumps. It is so brilliantly written

This book is a reprint of the 80’s classic and, apart from the updated cover, nothing appears to have changed. But then, why alter something which was so masterfully written in the first place?

This book has aged well, it is almost quaint to realise that the term serial killer is not once mentioned in the text, Masters interest in crimes of this type predates the media and Hollywood hype of such occurences. This, then, should serve as a clue as to the style of writing. Unsensational, unconcerned with glorifying gore and certainly not interested in reducing the victims to ciphers or extras in the drama of Nilsen’s life. To have done so would have been a similar sin (albeit of lesser magnitude) to those of Nilsen himself.

What we have here is a brief but detailed biography of a man beyond classification, a man that cannot be given a taxonomy by the branches of medicine, law, psyhcology or philosophy. He is the ultimate expression of the duality of man, on the one hand given to acts of kindness and, on the other, thinking nothing of strangliing to death an inebriated man asleep on his armchair.

Masters admits to bafflement. Cleverly he opens this up and states that his analysis as an author is worth no less than those whose field of expertise should allow them to define and explain Nilsen.

The book works very well, the structure and pace is necessarily whirlwind, packing a life into 300 odd pages requires brevity and getting to the point. After the early years are explained, the crimes detailed and the subsequent trial, Masters makes attempts at getting to the dark heart of Nilsen. It is interesting that Nilsen was the rarest sort or murderer, one who wrote and drew about his crimes in great detail and seemed to make strong efforts in interpreting and explaining his own behaviour.

This book is an essential read as it provides as much insight into the character of Nilsen that one could expect to be privy to. In a straightforward manner Masters unpicks a complex and, ultimately, unknowable soul.

The writing is uniformly excellent and the subject matter never flags. Some books simply hold the reader in their thrall throughout their duration and this book is an exemplar of such writing.

Highly recommended.

Wow, just wow.
When I said I wanted to learn about murderers and what motivates them to commit their crimes, this book is precisely what I meant.
There are small paragraphs of Nielsen's background, particularly the information about Scotland that I felt were unnecessary, but most of it added to the reader's understanding of Nielsen's upbringing.
Whilst I spent most of the book shaking my head in disbelief, this was a crazy read that I couldn't stop. Masters is clearly fascinated by Nielsen and his crimes, and does an excellent job of getting into his mind. This book will stay with me longer after finishing it. Terrifying stuff.

I actually read the original copy of this book back in 2011 when i wrote my dissertation on him.
This books is so informative and provides everything you need to know about him.
Its so informative and at times repulsive. But its true and you cant change the facts. It leads to the same question every time. Are serial killers born or bred?

An absolutely fascinating account of the serial killer Des (Dennis) Nilsen. The book starts with the days up to his arrest. He was unbelievable cooperative on his arrest, telling the police everything, not holding back on anything. The detectives who arrested him didn't need to do anything more than listen and fact check his story, which all checked out. This is why this book is so good. The author was able to visit Des in prison to get all the details before he later died.

This book has so much detail, so many detailed facts because they came from Nilsen. His thoughts, his reasons, his version. This is one of the best true crime book I've read. No guesswork, just pure facts!

I really liked how this book is written. It is pretty shocking and disturbing of course. Would recommend if you are interested in reading about serial killers