Book Review: My Life with Murderers: Behind Bars with the World's Most Violent Men by David Wilson

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

My Life with Murderers is a reflection by renound professor of criminology David Wilson on his time as governor and assistant governor at a number of British prisons and the numerous encounters with murders he has had along the way. However, it’s also more than that, as it follows Wilson’s musings on  what it is to be a murderer and the various types of murderers there are, from spree and hitmen to serial and beyond. 

It’s clear that Wilson knows his stuff. Without having read any of his previous novels, it’s clear that he has years of experience dealing with various psychopaths and murderers and knows their personalities inside and out. He takes a more scientific approach compared to his American contemporaries too, relying more heavily of the psychology of victims and evidence based practice compared to ‘one off interviews’ and showman ship. It’s a refreshing and more reliable approach to others I’ve read (ie John Douglas, who gets a sound dressing down here). 

I liked the mix of murder types described here, and felt the book did a good overall job at addressing various types of murderers and how they came to commit them, with a mixture of individual and social circumstances. In particular, I liked Wilson’s account of a documentary he made interviewing Bert Spencer, the man accused of murdering Carl Bridgewater. During the course of making the documentary, Wilson came to the conclusion that Spencer was a classic psychopath and goes into great depth to explain why he thinks this, and why and how he thinks Bert came to murder Carl. I’m now desperate to watch the documentary to see the final confrontation between the two. 

I also thoroughly enjoyed the little titbits into prison life with Charles Manson (I laughed out loud at the, in all honestly, bizarre scenario of Manson threatening to stab the prison guards with his mustache while stark naked and covered in shoe polish) and a ‘Furries’ convention that Wilson inadvertently ended up getting in the mix with. I would have enjoyed some more of these personal insights, as they added some much needed light relief to a heavy topic. 

This was a great addition to the true crime genre, and takes a true academic approach to the general audience. A refreshingly British read, and I’ll certainly look to this author for further reading.

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

As a dabbler in true crime fiction, I’ve got to the stage where I feel I can appreciate a really good, well researched book. And this is such a book. It follows the jagged history of the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker (later renamed the Golden State Killer by McNamara) and his reign of terror and misery through Sacramento and the surrounding areas during the 70s and early 80s before mysteriously vanishing without a trace. It’s a story of countless victims, and the ongoing hunt to find the man responsible. 

Michelle McNamara lived and breathed the Golden State Killer case, and this comes across in I’ll Be Gone In The Dark. It’s heavy on details, descriptions and the numerous ways that she and others have tried to find this illusive serial killer over the years. It’s an obsession that she readily admits too, and this book is essentially years of labour and the delicate piecing together of every bit of evidence and clue that could possibly relate to him and his journey from burglar to serial rapist and murderer. The passion and determination for the case and the need to solve it is obvious in every page. 

It’s also the style of writing that drew me in. It’s at once captivating and personal, with sections reading almost like a memoir of Michelle’s life and what initially drew her to this case. It’s endearing, and I couldn’t fail to like Michelle and her relentless pursuit of a man she’s never met yet knows so intimately. 

What makes this book all the more interesting is the fact that a suspect was arrested in April 2018. Two years after Michelle’s death, a man may finally feel that cell door close behind him as justice could be just around the corner. The fact that he was found via DNA from a genealogy site - a suggestion that Michelle herself alludes may help to find him, makes this all the more bittersweet. It’s also always with hindsight that we can see the clues and hints that were missed. Reading this through the eyes of someone who knows a little about the arrested made the clues and trails that Michelle goes down that little bit more exciting, as I could see how tantalisingly close they were to discovering who this man was. 

I found the third part of the book set a different tone to the rest due to Michelle’s untimely death leaving the book unfinished, resulting in her researchers having to piece together her thoughts from notes and old transcripts. This left the last third feeling a little more disorganised than I would have liked, however this was an excellent true crime novel overall, made all the more interesting through recent break through sin the case and the hint of personal reflection involved. If only Michelle were still here to see what she has helped to accomplish.

 - 4 stars

Book Review: However Fights Monsters by Robert Ressler

I’ve read a few of these FBI non fiction murder books now, most noticeably Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit, which I found more interesting than this. Unfortunately I found Robert Ressler not as charismatic as Douglas in his examination and explanation of various cases - although his knowledge is undeniable. He’s just a bit more sedate and academically inclined compared to Douglas’ more sensationalist approach. I will say his personality is slightly less irritating than Douglas though, as he tends not to self congratulate as much (it does happen though). I would have preferred more talk about the various cases rather than Ressler’s personal background too, but understand that it might have been necessary to include it to gain an insight into Ressler’s way of thinking etc.

The book is also obviously dated, with no new chapters referencing anything past the early 1990s. I really need to find more modern texts, but so far nothing is quite as superior as these for definitive facts and information relating to violent crimes etc.

Overall, this was good but historical, and covers a fair few crimes I hadn’t heard of and examined them in a clean analytical way. Any recommendations for something more recent would be appreciated!

 - 3 stars