Inside the Mind of Rose West: A Direct Look Jeremy Daniel and Tanya Farber’s "Inside the Mind of Rose West" aims to dissect the psyche of one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers. This book is not intended to be a sensationalized retelling of her crimes; instead, it strives to understand the factors that contributed to Rose West's monstrous actions. The authors delve into West’s childhood, marked by abuse and instability, to trace the development of her personality. They analyze her relationships, particularly the manipulative and destructive dynamic with her husband, Fred West. This is not to excuse her actions, but to provide context and offer a glimpse into the environment that shaped her. The book offers a chilling portrait of a woman capable of unimaginable cruelty. It explores the potential for learned behavior, the impact of trauma, and the complex interplay of nature and nurture in the formation of a criminal mind. Daniel and Farber directly confront the uncomfortable questions raised by West’s case, pushing the reader to grapple with the darkness that can reside within the human spirit. Ultimately, "Inside the Mind of Rose West" provides a stark and unflinching examination of a truly horrific figure. It's a difficult but necessary read for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of criminal psychology and the chilling realities of human depravity. The book avoids embellishment, preferring to lay bare the facts and allow the reader to draw their own conclusions about the forces that drove Rose West to commit such unspeakable acts.

Inside the Mind of Rose West by Jeremy Daniel and Tanya Farber was a challenging read with triggers and it was one of the hardest books I have read for a long time. It a book about one of the most sickest minds out there. Rose West and her husband Fred West they were just are pure evil, and they even killed their own children and step child.
Low and behold her husband took the "Cowards way out,"

Now, Rose Pauline West, has changed her name to Jennifer Jones, is in prison where she belongs, shame Hanging was not an option!!!!

A shocking disturbing book.

I recommend this book to true crime fans as it is very interesting.

Very well written with a full review of not only Rose West's life but her husband too. It details all the murders but doesn't go into all the full sadistic and graphic specifics as other books on the subject (which I personally appreciated). The book also informs what happened to their remaining children to present as well as Rose. A good read for any true crime buff. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

It is so hard not to dock this book purely because of the sheer brutality and EVIL of the crimes committed by the subjects. As a true crime podcast, Dateline-watching girl I knew about the Wests in the broadest terms. I knew they killed girls together and killed at least one of their own children and buried her in the backyard. That, however, was where my knowledge stopped. I picked this up to branch my true crime knowledge out of the US (though, we’re hardly hurting for content over here...) and it did exactly that.

There isn’t a word strong enough to describe the Wests. Evil just doesn’t do it justice. This was a brutal read, murders aside the abuse that was endured by their victims and their own family members and children (who are also victims) was unfathomable. Rose, in pictures, looks like a slightly pudgy, bespectacled woman who maybe got in over her head with her husband’s crimes. But no. She’s not that. She’s just as evil, manipulative, depraved, and heartless as her husband was - if not more.

I appreciated that the authors of this didn’t lean into sensationalism. They presented the facts clearly and added in just enough narration here and there to connect the pieces and make it read less like a court briefing. They also took the time to focus on the depravity of their personalities versus the acts themselves. I don’t know that I could have finished this if they went much more into detail about the torture endured by the victims, so I appreciated that restraint.

An excellently written true crime book!
This case makes for a hard read but the writing style makes it balanced . ( As balanced as it could be with such a gruesome case.)
The book highlights the abuse of the West’s children , what a life they must have endured! Putting Rose at the forefront of the abuse .
I did feel angry when I read about the type of life Rose West was living at certain times in her prison sentence, when the victim’s families are broken due to the crimes the couple committed .It was very hard to swallow .
A difficult read at times but the victims stories should be told and never forgotten !

Thanks to NetGalley and Gemini Book Group.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Inside the Mind of Rose West.

This was a BRUTAL read. And might I also offer the triggerierest of trigger warnings, it will rip your guts up.

I do love me some true crime, but even I have my limits, and I probably could have lived a happy life without this one. That is not a criticism of the authors at all, they did a great job. But there is literally zero hope or redemption about this story, except the fact that they were finally caught.

I'm not going to tell you not to read it, just know that I really doesn't get much worse in terms of heinous crimes against women and children. It will be a stark reminder of the dangers of generational violence and how far reaching the consequences can be.

This book deftly captures one of the most gruesome stories I have read. My knowledge of Rose West and her husband, Fred, was only gleaned from their Wikipedia page. And, I left it there. Never once wanting to know more about the woman and the man, always concerned more about the survivors — the children who had to witness against their wishes the dastardly acts of their parents. To be told in no uncertain terms that their siblings have left, knowing that they have gone the same way as the many innocents who disappeared from their home.
The authors have included their survival stories towards the end of the book, and for that I am grateful. While it is good to know that most of them have survived, they are doing their best to live and destroy within them perhaps the nightmares inflicted by their parents.
After finishing this book, I wasn’t sure whether their parents were created as monsters or simply born that way. Some people are just born to the shred the tapestry of humanity.
The book chronicles their (Fred and Rose) childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, revealing a pattern of reckless behaviour. Their actions were emboldened by each other's company and the failure of authorities and parents to intervene.
The authors avoid sensationalism in their reportage, presenting the facts clearly with just enough narration to not overburden it with facts and figures or an overt detailed of their torture and murder acts. To focus instead on their dreadfully evil personalities instead of focusing on their torturous methods is a wise choice. Often the latter overrides the former to sell more books but misses out on the nuance — why?
In most cases, we would never get the answers. Fred West committed suicide while awaiting trial, and Rose refuse to speak. But, with the peppered information that the authors have sprinkled throughout the book, their own reasoning, perhaps, one can at least look in the direction to the answer to why.
The book doesn’t overwhelm, though I still would recommend to balance it out with something hopeful, and offers a mature and measured exploration into the infamous minds and lives of Fred and Rose West.

I read a lot of true crime reads and have read a few books on this case but this one is one of the most interesting I have read. This case is absolutely shocking and horrific and it a very tough read. If you read a lot of true crime add this one to your reading list.

Inside the Mind of Rose West by Tanya Farber and Jeremy Daniel is a true crime novel.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Gemini Books, and the authors, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.



My Opinions:
This was a horrific tale of sexual abuse, torture, and murder.  Fred committed suicide in prison in 1995, and that in itself was tragic, because he left behind so many unanswered questions.  He had said there were more bodies, and those poor families may never know what happened to their children.  Rose continues to serve her life sentences, and will never get out of jail, but she never admitted any guilt or remorse, even for her own children's tragic lives.

This book really looked at the victim of these terrible crimes, including the children of Rose and Fred West.  For even the surviving children struggled with the crimes of their parents, and those still alive still struggle.  The author really brought the victims to life, which made the book a little more bearable.

There were so many people that could have changed the situation, could have saved innocent lives.  The education system, the police, friends, neighbours....they all could have stepped up, but didn't.  Some of the children blamed themselves, but I did not.  They were victims.

Overall, this was a very sad, brutal tale.  It was very hard to read, as the authors spared no details as to the crimes.   We learned a lot about the childhood of Fred and Rose, but personally, no amount of childhood abuse or lack of wealth could ever justify the horrendous acts which this couple perpetrated.

This book had me going down the rabbit hole of reddit after reading it!
Rose in my eyes was born evil so at 15 when she met and then married 27 years old Fred, Rose knew what kind of monster he was.
Fred and Rose would pick up women, take them home, abuse them physically and sexually and then rid of them after killing them. The farther in the book I got the harder it was at times because Rose and Fred started also abusing their own children. Reading about the horror that the young children were forced into and all the family members involved, disgusted me.
How they got away with it for some long kinda blows my mind, it wasn’t that hard to put 2 and 2 together but, I understand that this was back in the 70s and things were different.

To this day while Fred took his life in prison, Rose is still there, sitting and rotting. In total her and Fred kill 12 women. Also, why and I mean why did it take 27 years for someone to look into this??!!!

As a true crime lover, I thought I truly had heard and read it all. I had never heard of this case and could barely get through this book. It was so disturbing on so many levels that I honestly, in good conscious, can't rate it, nor do I recommend it.

Thank you, NetGalley, the authors, and Gemini Books Group for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read quite a few books about the Wests over the years, so I went into Inside the Mind of Rose West wondering if it could offer anything fresh. Sadly, it didn’t really give me anything new or different from what I’d already come across. That said, it was still an insightful read and undeniably well written.

What stood out was the depth of research. The authors packed in plenty of detail, and you can tell they put in the work to piece together Rose’s complex and disturbing psyche. It’s thorough and carefully structured, offering a clear view into how she became the person she did.

I suppose I don’t know exactly what I was hoping for — having read so much on the subject, I knew there wouldn’t be groundbreaking revelations. But I still wanted a bit more, maybe a different angle or something unexpected to keep me fully engaged. It felt familiar, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it didn’t leave a lasting impression.

Overall, it’s a solid, well-researched book. If you’re new to reading about the Wests, it would be a great starting point. But for someone like me, who’s already deep-dived into this case, it just didn’t quite hit the mark.

This is a great book for anyone looking for an interesting look into the case or any true crime fans.
#netgalley #cromwellstreetmurders #rosewest

The crimes of Fred and Rose West were ones that I heard a lot of during my teens, it shocked me then as it does today and this wasn't an easy read but it gave lots of information on Rose that I hadn't previously heard.

Rose West, Fred West, 25 Cromwell street, the house of horrors. Murders of children and young women spanning two decades. If you tell me you don't know what im talking about then I wont believe you.

This book is a must read for all true crime fans. I literally could not put it down. We are talked through Rose and Fred's childhoods, how they met, how they brutally murdered their victims ( and yes there are gory details), we get to know more about the victims lives, we also hear about the conviction, trial and incarceration which includes a brief friendship with Mira Hindley, reading that just gave me chills. I have so many emotions reading this book, I felt sick, angry and terribly sad, just the fact that they should have been stopped many times over by authorities and the very people and institutions who have a duty of care for these victims and the West children. They were let down terribly and it just breaks my heart.

There are non stop facts here, I thought I knew most of what there was to learn about these evil people and their victims but I was wrong.

It's a very captivating book on life and crimes of the monstrous Rose West. It wasn't an easy read based on the content. The book is well- researched and detailed - a must read for true crime fans.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this advanced copy. I loved the writing and the describing of everything, I was able to follow along the whole time. Sometimes in true crime that is not the case. What a messed up story! It's hard to believe there are people like this. Scary

The most messed up but interesting story I’ve read in awhile. It’s hard to believe that some people live such crazy lives- the life of monsters but do.

Definitely check the trigger warnings but if you have a love for true crime this will be for you.. and you won’t regret it!

After human remains were found at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, husband and wife Fred and Rose West were arrested on suspicion of the murder of their daughter. Little did the police know what they were about to discover. What followed was one of the most horrific murder cases Britain has ever seen with the murders of at least 12 girls and women (two of them their own daughters) being attributed to the couple. Inside the Mind of Rose West looks at the case as a whole, posing the question whether Fred was, indeed, the driving force or whether Rose played a much more key role in everything that happened.

Over the years, I have read many books on Fred and Rose West but this brings a new perspective on what actually happened. By telling the life stories of Fred and Rose chronologically, the authors really help to build up a clear picture of their lives before they met and how depravity followed them both through life from an early age. With Rose West never speaking about her crimes, it is difficult to actually get inside her mind as the title of the book suggests, but we do certainly get more of an insight into the serial killer.

One of the things I liked most about this book is that the victims are treated more than just names in the life story of the Wests. Here, we discover more about the women and girls, their families and the lives they would have led if they had never met Rose and Fred. It is important to give the victims of crime a voice and the authors certainly do this here – I really felt I developed a clearer picture of the victims, something I have never felt after reading other books on the subject.

If this is the sort of topic that interests you, I have no hesitation in recommending Inside the Mind of Rose West.

I found this to be a fascinating read.
I feel like this is a case not wildly discussed in America. I only heard about it for the first time on the podcast MORBID.
The podcast did a great job at introducing me to the absolute depravity of the case.
My interest has been peaked in this case ever sense.
This book did a great job of laying out who Rose and Fred were and how they came to be the scum they ended up.
I really think this book was able to really honor the victims well.
These books that look into the minds of some of the most depraved humans are important, but please check your trigger warnings first to see if this book will be right for you.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.